Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am interested in finding out more about starting this kind of business. How much you have to invest?  How much profit in this kind of business?  Any details you might have is awsume. 

 

bridalchic,

have you checked out www.nra.org?

it`s a site (and association) designed primarily to help existing restaurants/cafes, but still might have some valuable things to offer.

we`re actually brewing up a list of startup considerations specifically for restaurant-related startups that we will soon introduce to startupnation.com.

in the meantime, startupnation restaurant entrepreneurs, please chime in with help!!!

as you may recall, bridalchic was one of the lucky winners of the Southwest Airlines R/T tickets... so clearly she`s got luck on her side. now with the right advice, she`ll be ready to roll!

rich

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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

bridalchic -

A couple of good friends of mine decided about three years ago to chuck it all, move back to their hometown of Baker City, Oregon, and start up a little coffeeshop in an old warehouse building downtown called Mad Matilda`s - they even live in the "loft" space above it.  They went through a LOT of red tape, but made it happen.  They`ve recently opened another bakery/gift shop right next door (Sane Jane`s).  I`m sure they wouldn`t mind giving you some pointers if you ask really nicely. 

Their website is  www.madmatildas.com - Ann and Andrew Bryan.  Tell them Linda gave you their name and info.

Hi bridalchic,

Nice to hear that you’re planning on starting a café. I had been running a restaurant till very recently. How much of investment is required depends upon many factors including locality, cafe size etc.; but let me share some idea of pricing your products and that will help you figure out your profit.

The general rule is that your food (ingredients) cost should be about 33% of your retail price. So, if you are selling an item for $3 in your restaurant/café, $1 is the cost of ingredient and $2 includes your profit and other expenses (rent, personnel, utilities, marketing expenses taxes etc.). Naturally, you need to do a lot more calculation to figure out what part of the remaining $2 you will pocket as your net profit :-)

A few general tips that come to mind:

(1) Define your target market very well. You can’t sell to everybody.

(2) Location: Perhaps, it is the most important factor that decides the success of a restaurant. Your location need to match your target market.

(3) Secondary Income Stream: Your restaurant may take some time to pick-up. So, it is always a good idea to have a related secondary operation that compensates for the lean period. It could be Food Delivery, Catering Service, Supplying Desserts to Super Markets etc.

Well, I hope this helps. If you need some restaurant food recipes, please feel free to contact me. We used to sell some very traditional British and Indian foods. You can have a look at our websites ( http://Ez-Snax.com   /  http://OilmansInn.com  )

Good Luck

Nat

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www.TeleBoost.com
Let Us Cut Your Costs & Boost Your Profits!

That`s exciting!!! I can`t wait!!!

bridalchic - I am also planning on starting a restaurant; I probably can`t offer much professional advice but I do have quite a few useful information that I gathered in the past half year, as well as from free classes offered by SCORE.  I also found "Restaurant and 5 other Food Businesses" from the Entrepreneur Magazine very useful. There is one chapter on Coffeehouse, from competition to industry trends and so on. 

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Life isn`t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Hey Meitzi,

I read your profile. Your KidzOnly concept is awesome. I’m pretty sure it would be a hit - I’m myself a mother of two kids and I know.

Rich: Is that URL ( www.nra.org ) correct? I went to the website, it seems to be National Rifle Association. Sort of scary :-)

Regards
Nat

Sorry, I quoted wrong name. Corrected now.


-------------------------

www.TeleBoost.com
Let Us Cut Your Costs & Boost Your Profits!

Nat - thank you for the words of confidence!!! I am keeping my fingers crossed everyday!!

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Life isn`t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Thanks for the info.  I will checkout the links suggested.  I did look at Mad Matilda`s website.  Very Cute and catchy.  All of you know that my background has been in the bridal industry, but, just thinking about a crazy change of life.  I will do some more research and reply back.

bridalchic