Opening a Tea Room/Cafe

Savvy_Sue

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

But if the OP does play music in the cafe, that needs licence fees to!

Not, apparently, if you get copyright free music. Although whether you'll convince the PRS of this is another matter.

paulwf

paddyrg wrote: »

When considering premises, never underestimate the value of a couple of covered but outdoors tables!

A good point, and this in itself is a minefiled! Firstly you want to observe the property at several times of day to make sure it actually gets the sun, if you are on the wrong side of the road that could impact on trade. Secondly you ideally want your own curtilage. Councils are getting very strict but if you have your own curtilage you probably won't need licenses for tables and chairs (check first though) and you will be able to do flyering and other promo activities on your own land. As soon as you step over that land many councils now require notice in advance, only use an approved area, £10m public liability insurance and so on, it will kill any attempt at doing promos...you won't even be able to hand out free samples.

Make sure you also have air con or the building has the ability (and planning consent) to allow it. This is essential as staff productivity will go right down if they overheat (coffee machines kick out an insane amount of heat), your stock will start melting and it will put customers off. Air con runs into the thousands, especially if you don't already have the structure in place.

Pennywise

A final thought, choose your coffee machine carefully as to its speed. There's nothing worse than just wanting a simple black coffee and having to wait 5/10/15 minutes behind people in front who are wanting something frothy and it's taking the counter staff forever to make it. You may think that if you're a cafe then it doesn't matter, but you have to remember that you're paying for someone to stand there twiddling their thumbs whilst the machine is dribbling water into a cup, so you'd probably find you'd have to double up on your staff to keep the place moving. I'd suggest that you invest heavily in a top spec coffee machine that is faster but also has the ability to make several cups at once, or buy two or more machines that can be operated simultaneously by one person.

lr1277

Nothing about a tea shop, but I wouldn't count on getting all of that £35k redundancy money. AFAIK, the first 30k is tax free. You get taxed on anything above that, I suspect at your highest tax rate.

If their employer allows, some people put the amount over 30k into their company pension.

Onguard

I've just found this thread! We have a tearooms and you have been given some very good advice so far re the financial angle BUT have you considered the work angle? 7 days a week is a lot of time are you going to be doing the cooking? because to employ a chef would cost more than your budget of £480 per week.

Also be aware that one day you could be busy but the next could be quiet depending on your chosen site, ours is in a rural position and the chef gets downhearted at the up and downness of the business.

If you could buy a leasehold business you may be lucky to get living accomodation too in case you want to live 'over the shop' saving on your current living costs.

paulwf

Pennywise wrote: »

A final thought, choose your coffee machine carefully as to its speed. There's nothing worse than just wanting a simple black coffee and having to wait 5/10/15 minutes behind people in front who are wanting something frothy and it's taking the counter staff forever to make it. You may think that if you're a cafe then it doesn't matter, but you have to remember that you're paying for someone to stand there twiddling their thumbs whilst the machine is dribbling water into a cup, so you'd probably find you'd have to double up on your staff to keep the place moving. I'd suggest that you invest heavily in a top spec coffee machine that is faster but also has the ability to make several cups at once, or buy two or more machines that can be operated simultaneously by one person.

Without exception every blinking Costa branch I have been into has had the slowest staff ever. They just haven't been trained in speed and working to a good system. I used to be a barista for Pret and could personally make 2000 coffees a week at high speed, it is all about getting good staff, training them well and having a good well thought out workflow i.e. a dedicated till person and a dedicated barista not everyone faffing about trying to do the same job.

I sort of agree with pennywise in as much as a coffee machine will be you largest capital expense - but I also sort of disagree in that getting good staff is more important than having a high capacity machine. Similarly a good till person can upsell and cover their extra wages ten times over. How some of the big coffee chains can get it so completely wrong is beyond me!

I'd also say keep your menu simple, especially at first. As Pennywise says if you want a normal coffee you want it now, partly the big chains fail because a extra shot decaff caramel skinny latte can take 2 members of staff 5 minutes to make (it shouldn't but you have to work within your staff limitations).

Actually pennywise has made me think, at peak times get a filter coffee jug (cheap as chips) so you can pour coffee in seconds, to be honest the average customer doesn't give a toss whether its a flat white or latte...and anyway filter coffee is lovely so not a compromise. OTOH when it is quiet there is nothing worse than filter coffee that has been left to stew on the hotplate for hours so tailor the system to your shop.

Apologies for the coffee rant

Suarez

jexygirl wrote: »

If you are adamant on self employment, spend 1k of that redundancy on a decent catering trailer (don't dismiss it till you read on!).
Jex

I would dismiss that before you read on. Spending just £1k on a Catering trailer is a recipe for disaster. If you want to attract customers to a catering unit you will need a clean, well equipped trailer that will cost a minimum of £5k...

The rest of the post is quite good though...

Highview

I'm a coffee shop user - most days in fact! As a consumer what are your unique features, you say you have planned, that will attract me in?

coupleuk

1) Do NOT buy coffee machines to begin with. Most of the actual coffee suppliers will give you a free machine on loan as long as you buy your ingredients from them. Of course, you will pay slightly more for the coffee etc but at least it will save you a few thousand at the start. Don't sign up for anything longer than 6 months though.

2) With the number of catering businesses (especially pubs) closing down, there are loads of places to buy cheap furniture. Do NOT buy new as you will be paying 3x what you need to. IF you're business is going well, buy your coffee equipment in this way too.

3) Drinks chillers (coca-cola etc) come FREE if you stock their products (you can even have a % of competitors products in them as well now). The same goes for Ice Cream freezers.

4) Consider the layout carefully - people who want to grab a coffee on the way to work dont want to walk the length of your shop and climb over tables chairs etc. When it is baking hot outside, fewer people will want a hot drink. Locate your cold drinks where people can see them near the door.

5) Ice Cream (Mr Whippy style) - Sell for £1.30 with a cost to make of 20p (plus electric, cleaning fluids etc). Again, this needs to be near the front door. Maybe have a window hatch?

6) There are plenty of coffee shops for sale. Register with the selling agents and go to see as many as you can. Ask questions and get them to explain the answers in detail. Once you've visited a business, ask for the accounts and then raise further questions. Do as much research as you can as it will all help you to decide whether this is right for your circumstances.

7) Don't even think about offering free wi-fi unless you can limit it to (say) 15 minutes in a 24hr period. The number of students I see sitting in coffee shops sipping one coffee for over an hour whilst tapping away on their laptops is crazy.


You can EASILY get set-up for well below your £35k, but you have to get the location and your USP sorted from the off.

Good Luck if you decide to go for it.

texranger

to start with have you not looked at mobile

google towability

this will be a cheaper option to start with