Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My name`s Vin, hello !!
So I have an idea for a business in nyc and I`d love to hear your expert opinions regarding it..
The concept- a retail establishment selling fresh juice and nuts ..(what I consider nature`s perfect snack).  What do you think?
I do have a business background (accounting and recently online marketing for a 350million dollar co.).  Have been a health nut for years as well..
Now I understand I will need to find the right location, but with nyc rents being so high (450 sq ft for 5k a month), I`m not quite sure how I`ll be able to sell enough of the product to be profitable.  
 I did read the nightmare coffee shop article http://www.slate.com/id/2132576/  and it does have me frightened, but I`m an entrepreneur and as long as I`m breathing I will desire opening my own biz.  Feedback would be much appreciated. 

If you are passionate about this , that is a good start. I myself am not into juices and nuts...but sounds like an original concept. I guess it depends on how many folks are into this in your area. Have you done market research?

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

P.S. Maybe if I did eat juice and nuts I would be healthier...something to think about!

Erin

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Hey stones, thanks for your reply.. I would like to position myself in an area that has natural health food stores/restaurants.. there are several in the city.  My target customer is educated, health conscious, could be young or old.. I`m not certain how I could go about doing market research.. 

I think it`s a great idea. What I like about it is the `snack on the go`
appeal. It could be a much quicker experience than a coffee shop. The
right location in NYC is foot traffic central and perfect for a business like
this.

If you`re worried about costs, especially urban rents, think about other
options. Nuts are small. Do you really need a whole storefront? How
about a kiosk? A rolling cart? A corner of an already existing shop? A
counter in a grocery market, especially a health-minded one?

What is your passion? Is it to be an urban shopkeeper or bring healthy
food to the public? ( I read that coffee article you posted.)

Groceries like Whole Foods (are they in NYC?) put a lot emphasis on local
communities. The one by me has a spot where a local massage business
sets up chairs for massages. It also has a Jamba Juice counter in it.
Another local grocery has a Starbucks (who doesn`t?). The point is that
grocery stores are open to sharing their floor space. And the people
there are already looking for food! Nuts and juice to take home or nuts
and juice while one shops.

Or hell, how about a counter in a coffee shop? Help each other out!
Share your rent. Mocha and a pastry, or juice and nuts? Or both!
Starbucks started as a coffee bean retailer only and allowed Howard
Schultz to set up a very small counter in the back corner of one store to
see if selling drinks would work. Well we know how that turned out.

There`s nothing wrong with having a vision of a storefront, building a
place and community around your passion that others can share in, but I
would start smaller. You can naturally gain customers and build your
brand this way with flexibility. What if you found out a large percent of
your customers dropped in after their daily run? But you didn`t design
your store for sweaty summer joggers. (I`m just making this up.) Rather
it was based on the coffee shop model. What if that environment wasn`t
designed to cater to the exercisers? Even worse, what if your product
wasn`t? I mean small enough nut packs at the right price as a quick snack
or drinks that were the right size for between runs. Or what if nuts sold
well but juice wasn`t profitable after all? If you had already built the
entire finished NYC retail store, it might be too late. Starting small allows
you to discover the emergent strategies.

Use the theory of momentum to grow from one stand to five to a single
storefront to ten stores to three cities and beyond.

Steve,

An incredibly insightful post.  Thanks for taking the time to write it!  To answer the question about what my passion is..well since the age of 15 (I`m 32 now) I`ve desired having my own business.storefront.. the whole 9.  Furthermore, I have a passion for helping people be healthier (whether it be excercise/eating healthier/vegetarianism).  

Sharing space with another retailer and starting really small is definitely a viable option and it`s something I`m considering.  But I do have some capital and good credit.  I`d like to define starting small as finding a storefront of let`s say 400-500 sqft., space that I can call my own and have the flexibility to make decisions without having a partner such as grocery store have an objection. 

I feel as if I will need the space as well.. while nuts are small, I would like to stock a great variety.  Along with a variety of different fruits.  So storage space for inventory will be needed.

I`ll agree with you Steve, situating myself in the right area with the right amount of foot traffic is essential, now if I can find the right landlord!

LOL! Hi Vin. I was gonna go with the rolling cart, then saw Steve beat me to it.

I remember only a couple of years ago, the Juice Man had those infommercials, and I bought a juicer. I loved it! I still love it...I just didn`t know what to do with all the pulp. So I bought a garbage disposal for the sink...then got lazy. But fresh juice is fantastic!

And nuts are so easy...just put `em in a bag, sell `em along with the juice. I don`t see any need for a high-expense storefront, when you can easily move the cart to where you find your traffic. I`d expect outside of zoos, parks, skating rinks, public events, concerts, and so on.

Additionally, if you go the cart route, and have a catchy name, you can run many carts at once, covering multiple weekend events.

The big problem is going to be food licensing, particularly with fresh-made juices. The FDA I think has laws about homogeonized products and refrigeration. I`m not sure on the laws regarding unpeeled fruits and vegetables used in juice.

If you can get a really interesting name, promote it, and have a multitude of carts out in the streets, I think you could start a trend. Particularly in health-conscious modern America. Think of the joggers out there, and the roller-bladers, along with everyone else who`s hot and exercise-conscious and thirsty.

Make a good business plan! That`ll matter. ;-)

If you could get a spot in Penn Station that would be great. I remember
many nights having to eat McDonalds on my train rides home because i
wasn`t in the mood for a smoothie shake, and there weren`t many other
healthy selections there. It`s been a few years since my commuter days,
but plenty of foot traffic at Penn! Good luck...i would love a place to grab
a healthy snack instead of settling for Starbuck`s low-fat chemical filled
stuff when i am hungry and need a boost.

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Kathryn - www.KittyKatGraphics.com

Hey,

Craig, I am in the process of finding out exactly  how the FDA regulates fresh squeezed juice retailers, I hope they`re not too harsh-
I love the cart idea; I see the idea developing from my initial concept.  The one problem I see with it is I don`t feel I can do a cart year round.. NY winters can be brutal (looking outside my window for confirmation..lol). 

Kat, I work in the Penn station area, and there are many places where you can buy fresh juices now, even the delis have juicers.  It doesn`t make me feel great knowing I`m competing with these delis as they`re open all hours and are a one stop place for people to shop.  Competition`s part of life though, isn`t it..

:-) Listen, I`ve heard various talk show programs devoted to discussion of "bums." One famous story, I think done by Forbes, spoke about how some of the NYC bums earned around $65K, tax free! They`d "work" during the warm months, then winter in Florida.

Then there are the Dairy Queens, we have a number of them in the Chicago area. They`re open from around March until September, then close up for the winter. The owners annualize their income, much like teachers would do.

I see no problem with a rolling cart, or fleet of these carts, working the streets only during the warmer months. Instead of going for time to increase sales, choose the expansion route. Use 10 carts during a subset of months, rather than 4 carts all year round...y`know?