Money making idea: Run a tuckshop/snacks at work

emujuice

Hey all,

Just thought I'd make a suggestion that is working out well for me so far.
I'm running a small tuck shop at work, more out of necessity than real money making needs, but it's coming in handy!

There's around 100 people in my department and we're a trustworthy bunch (all academics). We're often at work out of hours and there's limited shops nearby and none late at night or weekends. So I've got a box of goodies in the coffee room (crisps, chocolate, sweets and cereal bars) and an honesty box. People help themselves and leave the money. As I say, it's a trustworthy place and is working well.
What's for sale varies depending on what's on BOGOF in the supermarket or cheap in home bargains.
The bosses don't have a problem and most of us are too lazy to walk to the shops so it's getting a lot of use.
I'm making a few quid profit a day but it's not much hassle.
If you're not sure how much you can trust your fellow workers, perhaps you can have it where you can keep an eye on it?
I also started with a milk kitty - i buy the milk and they pay when they use it. This is in profit all the time (but the extra money goes to charity in this case, as it really was just so we'd always have milk in the fridge).
Once a month I give all the weeks money to charity.
Like I say, it's working out well and people are happy as I charge less than the local shops.
choc 35p
crisps 25p (smaller multipack ones so have to be less)
cereal bars 30p
chocy biccys 15p
sweets 25p
as a guide. makes me about 10-15p profit on each item.:beer:

samhale

Sounds great, I'm selling Vimto Chews at my school and making about a tenner a week, it's very good!

emujuice

Excellent Sam- where do you get your chew's from? I saw homebargains had them for around 10p a packet. I'm not sure if wholesalers can supply them cheaper???

samhale

Well I normally get them from a place near me very cheaply, but otherwise just go to Homebargains/B and M's where I think they're 7 for a £1, sell them for 30p/2 for 50p.

With the summer weather, they're getting a bit sticky near the end of the day though !

emujuice

Perhaps you can branch out? homebargains have lots of erm...bargains! Mars delights are 10p near me at the mo and extra ice chewing gum 10p also - bargain!

The_MoneySavingKid

I sold stuff at school (and still plan too,just dueo to exams I have been busy).I sold Kinder Bueno's and Soft Mints (everyone loves them!),I am going to move onto cans next as my "research":rotfl: has shown that I can make a decent amount out of that,and they should be popular in summer ie.now!(online browsing for cheapest available products,as well as in town).I use Tesco Online shopping to check prices (to save a trip to tesco's without any intended purchase..).Poundland+Wilkinsons+Tesco's appear to be the best so far..I have looked into wholesalers..but the closest one is Makro( and that's somewhere in Birmingham,which is too far away for weekly trip..) and they won't let someone in without a business card...otherwise it's normal prices.

shopaholic2008

A boy at my school used to sell sweets and chewing gum ~ what ever was on offer at the time from the wholesaler i expect but he used to make a tidy profit. The younger years would queue up to get their sweets at break times!!

As for the office tuc shop ~ a sandwich delivery person comes around my office every day ~ a bit different i know but they do deals like a meal deal. How about a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar for x amount. The sandwich person charges a bit more than what it costs in the shop for the pleasure of delivering it. However im sure if it was reasonably priced they would get far more custom ~ me for one!!!