A Catering Business May Seem Inviting But Are These The Best Times To Start Up A Food Business? Try Franchising!
posted in Bricks and Mortar Business |For some reason the restaurant business is an incredibly enticing prospect when deciding whether or not to start up a new business . It’s well known that many food and restaurant businesses bomb out in the first couple of years, and it’s puzzling to imagine that someone in their right minds would want to start from scratch in the food business when the odds seem to be so heavily stacked against them. But people do , in their hordes , and the pull of a food based business always seems to outweigh the flip side .
I surmise that we all think we know food. In fact it’s true, we all know a lot about it as it’s the great essential for life. There’s food and there’s food, though and through the medium of television we are all getting to know the difference between good and bad, tasty and barely adequate , and visually pleasing and a dogs dinner on a plate ! Masterchef, Britain’s favourite dish, Come dine with me etc have made a large impact on our lives and the days of just eating to survive are well and truly over.
It looks like such a good idea and such a pleasant one to start up a business selling gourmet meals to hungry customers at a mark up but the competition is everywhere and setting up all by yourself can mean that you get squeezed out before you really get going. Look up the statistics on the Internet for food businesses that go under in their first year and you will not be pleasantly surprised.
Opening a town centre restaurant presents its own set of problems . You must be certain that your restaurant or fast food establishment is in an area with a high enough foot fall to guarantee a minimum amount of customers. If you have found your premises and you know which sort of customer your food will appeal to then it’s up to you to find the time of day that your expected clients is going to turn up and then sit outside the premises and simply count the number of potential clients that are passing by. Also note the manner of people that are passing your prospective premise and ask the obvious questions. Are they going to have time to spend in your establishment? Are they going to afford your cooking ? All very important stuff before you enter into the commitment of a lease.
If you have the cash then turning to one of the many Franchise For Sale food based Franchises out there may be the way forward. It’s well known that Franchises are much more likely to succeed than non-Franchises, and if you want to make an investment that follows a specific system with a limit on the risk then one of the Franchise For Sale opportunities may be for you.
Investment levels vary massively in the food based industries. A fully fledged Dominos Pizza franchise will start at a whopping £280,000! A Home Based Franchise such as My Chocolate Explosion will start at around £7000. Obviously these are just examples but it seems a Home Based Franchise will save you money over running a full restaurant operation.
Say you have decided that you are running a little bit scared of opening up a full restaurant, or maybe your finances just don’t run to it. Well mobile catering may be the way forward for you. Obviously there will still be an investment but a well run mobile operation will never be short of business and the volumes of money that can be made at shows and festivals is truly startling . A good start here is to look at the Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS). They used to be the Mobile and Outside Caterers Association but their new website is at www.ncass.org.uk . It’s by far the best place to start if you are considering a mobile catering operation and has everything from a list of suppliers of equipment to information on the latest HACCP regulations and the required training. There are some free training videos on the website for you to watch and decide if this form of catering is for you. Overall a true alternative to the expense and risk of setting up a premises based restaurant.
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