Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello folks

Recently i visited this donut shop in my neighborhood thats been on sale for a long time. The owner put it up for $25,000 through a real estate agent. I can tell by going inside that its doing pretty bad, especially since they barely even carry donuts. I thought it would be a great idea to perhaps renew the place and introduce new things in it.

So how should I approach this? Personally i dont have the funds to buy this business, so how can I get a loan for it? What kind of small business loans should i go for? How should i negotiate and deal with the agents? Should I have my own agent do this for me instead (if that is possible)?

Let me know folks, thanks


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Whats your market like?  Are you in a small town, major hub, city??

Do your market research!  Be careful, if you are certain that the problem is bad management, not the market, this could be a very good opportunity!

Personally, being a Canadian, I love donut shops!  Funny though, I never buy or eat domuts (ok maybe once a year or so).  There are more Tim Horton`s Donut shops here than McDonald`s, and theres one of those on every street corner!  Theres literally a line up through the doors, and around the drive through, at every location all the time.  Not kidding!

Can`t help too much on recommending funding options since I`m not in the States, but defintely check out the resources here (if you already haven`t) like 10 steps to open for business.  You`ll learn alot, you`ll plan alot, and you`ll grow a whole lot!

See if you can find the problems that lead the shop to be in such disarray!  Do market research!  Do market research!

and when your sure of your investment...

Go for it!

Make sure the problem isn`t the location.  Nothing can fix that!  There was a great bagel shop on a main highway heading straight to a military base.  They just closed because you only passed it on your way home from work, not going to work, and traffic was too bad to try to cross the street.  Now it`s a rib place and they are doing really well.  Again, the problem might be doughnuts!  Too much competition from KK, DD, grocery stores and clogged arteries.  Fried dough is fried dough.  I`d offer doughnuts but the breakfast burrito will have more repeat business.  And then there is the Health Department.  Anyway, do you really want to get up at 2a.m. every day?  It may look great and very tempting but sometimes it`s best to just let it go.  Good Luck.

What`s for sale?  The business or the RE?  If it`s the business, the lender will want to see tangible cash flow or assets to secure the loan.   Sounds like there`s no cash flow and likely few business assets.   So what about the RE, is there a building or something?  If so, someone may loan you money.  Can you put anything down?  If not try something like offering $20k for the RE.  Have the seller carry $5k of the financing and borrow the remainder from the bank.  Chris

Hi sraza,

 

I go along with the other post.  Try and find out what the real problems are with the donut shop.  A donut shop in our area just closed.  The original owners built the shop from the ground up.  It was a brand new facility with a lot of seating capacity.  They also served coffee and it was kind of like Starbucks, but with donuts.  The shop closed after a year and a half.  Part of the reason I suspect was the location.  It was on a side street with no other businesses in the area to draw shoppers into the area.  There was also very little foot or vehicle traffic on the street as a result.

Another shop, a sandwich shop, went out of business because of poor management.  The original owners had built the business up form scratch and had a large clientele.  The owner then sold the business to another party because he was tired of working seven days a week.  This is something you should consider.

The new owner ran the business into the ground.  He had no set hours, gave bad service, failed to pay his suppliers and a host of other problems.  By the time the original owner took the business back, the restaurant was deep in debt and had lost most of its regular customers.  The original owner sold the building and used what he received to pay off all the debt.   

These are things you might want to consider.  You should also ask to see the ledgers for the business and find out who they owe money to.  You might wind up inheriting the debt if you buy the business.

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The older we get, the more excuses we make for not chasing after our dreams. But truth is, goals are attainable at any age.

Donut shops are more like a trend. It's like coffee joints popping out. Eventually it will sizzle off. It's better creating a theme restaurant.

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Seo Consultant | Rattan | Microsoft Dynamics Nav | Autism Singapore | Industrial For Rent | Business Park | Gallbladder Surgery Singapore

My son loves donuts and every time we walk near a donut shop he asks me to buy him one. Even if I prepare peanut butter and jelly for him at home he wants those donuts, I would invest my money in such a business, everybody loves donuts.

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First of all you must find a good place to build the shop, my cousin built a donut shop near a school and now his business is flourishing. His wife came up with interesting ideas, she created a couple of events for the kids and they loved it, the last week-end they bought group costumes and filled the place with balloons, it was their son`s birthday party and they wanted to make a surprise for him and his colleagues.

 

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Basically you need Donut franchise.The first big thing is funding a start-up your business.Now Financial world is being challenging.Donut shop is now in trend.So For franchise fund people can go for

https://www.biz2credit.com/get-a-loan/franchise-loans.html

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