Any Advice on new business - coffee shop

[jsmith]

Hi, i am in the planning phase of opening up a unique coffee shop/tea shop business in South Africa. The product "bubble Tea has not been seen here ever and i want to sell it. i have never been involved with the food/beverage industry before but am very excited to get into it as it is a passion of mine. There is so much to learn and so many questions that i have.

I am 23yrs old and using my savings of R200,000 or $34,000 to start it.

I am a bit worried.

Any positive words?

Thanks,

Jared

[peterjhale]

Hi Jared and welcome to the forums.

Starting a NEW business can be really hard and that's why it is important for your to write a business plan for your new coffee shop business.

Have a look at http://www.teneric.co.uk/coffee-shop-business-plan.html

When developing your plan you should be as realistic as possible - why will people come to your shop and not somewhere else ? How many sales do you have to make to attain your profit goals ?

Putting all of your savings into a venture is a big decision and will carry risk - are there any other people who might want to take a stake and give you some additional funds at all ?

[jsmith]

Thank you for your reply,

I have created a simple business plan. How much detail will i need to go into as a start-up? Do i need financial statements and cashflow farcasts, etc,etc?

I know the product will sell well, it is new, gimiky and a novelty drink, and great! i only need to sell about 70-80 per day and then i start making profits. This cover all monthly expenses. The venue that i am trying to secure is an upmarket casino with +- 70,000 people walking through a month? What do you think?

Jared

[peterjhale]

do enough to satisfy yourself

Just ask why will people buy your drink at the price you want

How will they know about it ?

If it's new and gimiky, what happens when this is run of the mill and others copy your idea ?

Not to sound too negative but realism is key

Good luck and let us know how you get on

[JennyFine]

I like it when people come up with brand new ideas. So even if after some time somebody copies your idea you will still have the chance of remaining the first, the original and therefore, the best. Only be sure to think of marketing your produt correctly. Make all your advertising campaigns shout of the uniqueness of your product. And when somebody copies your idea, position yourself as the "creator" , like "we created it, so we know better".