help with pizza delivery service

Savvy_Sue

richie_beckett wrote: »

One thing i dont understand is the post about the delivery driver and PAYE/NI etc. Aren't most delivery drivers either self employed/cash in hand? When i was doing delivery work a short while back after being made redundant (had relivant buz insurance) i was told it was a self employed role and i would be responsible for my own tax etc. The company gave me £20 then £1 per delivery and £2 for longer distance travels.

That may be the way it's often done, but I'm not sure HMRC would see it that way, especially the idea of paying cash in hand (which is still, by the way, subject to tax!).

And frankly, if you want your drivers to turn up on time, reliably, and do the job well, it's worth being a good employer.

brooklyn07

Thanks all for your replies, especially the part about the social impact.
I hadn't completely thought it all through which is why I posted here for everyone to give me views from all angles which was very helpful apart from comments about me selling aldi's pizzas, not quite sure where that came from :think: but yes I was speaking to my OH about this on the weekend and he said that eventhough it seems a very good idea in theory and on paper that my social life will completely go down the pan as it will be just a weekend thing and again the comment about if my delivery drivers dont turn up will be another devastating effect.

A few of my friends had volunteered to help me for 2 or so months just to get it off the ground and so i dont have to worry about employing people and they not turn up and messing up the business before it even takes off but he had another good point about if they are willing to help then I cant very well rollock them if they are late or mess something up becuase they could simply walk...

I had ideas about running it for 6 months then once it got going letting someone else take it over on the weekends but it seems that wouldnt be a very good option financially? I dont know i mean how many people have started off a business then let someone else run it a year or 2 down the line?

lincroft1710

brooklyn07 wrote: »

Thanks all for your replies, which were very helpful apart from comments about me selling aldi's pizzas, not quite sure where that came from.

I had ideas about running it for 6 months then once it got going letting someone else take it over on the weekends but it seems that wouldnt be a very good option financially? I dont know i mean how many people have started off a business then let someone else run it a year or 2 down the line?

I think when you posted this:

although i dont know how much cooking would be involved in just putting some pizzas in an oven...

people thought you were going to buy ready made pizzas and just heat them up.

As for letting someone else run the business, it will depend on whether the business is profitable enough for you to employ a manager. 6 months is a short time, it could take you this long just to get known and established

paulwf

brooklyn07 wrote: »

A few of my friends had volunteered to help me for 2 or so months just to get it off the ground

Before you open you'll get a fantastic number of genuine and sincere offers of help...and after the first week the novelty will wear off and you won't see them again. Basically use all the help you can get to open but don't push your luck once you get there, that's when you need to hand over the jobs to paid staff that you can rely on.

As to employing staff to run it if you don't mind less profits - and the business is profitable - then I can't see why not, as long as you accept it will still take up a lot of your time one way or another. One concern I would have with your business model though is that as the hours are unsociable you'll have to pay a premium to get decent managers. You wouldn't catch me running a shift at midnight on a bank holiday without a substantial incentive anyway

Savvy_Sue

As for putting a manager in, if you can make it work for yourself, I'd worry that a manager would decide to make it work for themselves rather than for you, if you see what I mean. You might find you could get staff in for the short term, but some of them might just be getting enough experience to work out how to do it better ... just as we advised you to get experience before trying this for yourself!

brooklyn07

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

As for putting a manager in, if you can make it work for yourself, I'd worry that a manager would decide to make it work for themselves rather than for you, if you see what I mean. You might find you could get staff in for the short term, but some of them might just be getting enough experience to work out how to do it better ... just as we advised you to get experience before trying this for yourself!

ohhh i didnt think of this! :-(

Couldnt i have some clause in the contract that states they cant nick my idea and run??

Savvy_Sue

brooklyn07 wrote: »

ohhh i didnt think of this! :-(

Couldnt i have some clause in the contract that states they cant nick my idea and run??

You could. Whether you could a) enforce it and b) afford the costs of enforcing it are another matter entirely.

Seriously, you could have a clause requiring people to work for you for a set period or repay the costs of any training you've paid for - and they'd probably all have to do Food Hygiene and if you're sensible most of them First Aid too. But for a pizza business, more than that is unlikely to be workable.

Savvy_Sue

brooklyn07 wrote: »

ohhh i didnt think of this! :-(

Couldnt i have some clause in the contract that states they cant nick my idea and run??

Just spotted this thread, which covers that area quite nicely, albeit in a different field.

lincroft1710

brooklyn07 wrote: »

Couldnt i have some clause in the contract that states they cant nick my idea and run??

You don't have an "idea" to "nick", cooking and delivering pizzas isn't unique! At best you could only insert a phrase into the manager's contract along the lines that they do not start up a similar business, within x miles and x months. However a court might even say that that is an unreasonable condition.

At the moment it's not really relevant as you've not even started up yet. Wait until you're in a position to see how the business is going before you start worrying about situations which may not happen.

If you do decide to go ahead please let us know how it goes.