Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

DanB,

 

Looks like you would be interested in doing something unique and not leaning towards a franchise.  Do you have any experience working in the fast food business ?  I think that is a very important factor.

 

A couple of things is what I would do if I were you..

 

There is a lot of information on the web ( costs free ).  I would extensively research on what it takes to start something like that,

Road map,

Key points to look for,

Cost / benefit analysis

Suppliers for restaurants ie. Groceries in bulk etc..

Success stories etc

 

In a week you could put together a lot of that information on paper and get your business plan going..

 

The second step to this and perhaps the most important and difficult part is figuring out the Location.

 

Who would be your target audience Offices during lunch time or more laid back place, the affluent crowd or the blue collared folks etc etc..

Based on that, I would look for an area where we could possibly sell enough.  I would even go to the existing businesses and sit there and observe the type of crowd coming in during extremely busy hour and also at the slowest times..  See how many people come in and what kinds of cars do they come in..  All that needs to be factored when you price it..

And then do you want to do a high volume-low price or low volume-high price?

 

Back a ways, we had a discussion about one of the best ideas to come down the road, regarding "ideas" for businesses. That`s the Proof of Concept.

For example, we know that Coca-Cola became a household name, instantly recognizable for its brand colors and logo. Then someone had a bright idea to change the whole thing. It was an excellent idea on paper, and almost bankrupted the company.

An idea often looks great in the imagination, but looks quite differently when it moves into practical, tangible application. As you`ve read above, market research is key! You have to do the research, first to find out just how unique is your idea, then as to why it hasn`t yet been done. It may turn out people have tried it and failed repeatedly, which is why there`s no such restaurant.

But let`s assume nobody`s ever thought of this idea. The second key principle is to get some experience in the fast-food industry. You might have a great idea about how to better fly a plane, but with no background in aviation who would let you try those ideas out? Yes, you could buy your own plane and try them out, but is that really cost-effective?

One option would be to take a job in a restaurant where you might persuade the owner to try out your concept---product, food, whatever. See if it works, while at the same time get paid for learning the industry. Maybe?