Advice needed on setting up an Alcohol Delivery Service

[Exsert]

Hi guys,

I have found a niche to start up a small business by targeting students on campus (which approximately 2,500 students are accommodated). My plan is to set up a late night alcohol delivery service starting at 10PM, as this is when all the shops on campus shut and there is absolutely no way of getting alcohol past this time without a car, as the closest shop open after 10PM is a good 15 minute drive.

I will be living on campus next year so I could make the deliveries myself, I thought this would be a very profitable / low risk business to start up.

I have conducted a bit of market research and found out that the current alcohol delivery services in Bristol have very inflated prices - which is not ideal for students who are simply looking for cheap booze that gets them drunk, not necessarily affluent individuals who care about the quality of the product in their drink.

I currently work at a bar and i've enquired with my manager about possibly ordering bulk bottles of vodka (which seems to be the most popular cheap drink amongst students) and he Is able to get me bulk supplies for about £6.00 / 70cl bottle. This gives me a very eye-catching profit margin and I could possibly charge £12-£14 per bottle and make a nice profit. I would also specialise in condoms, wine and soft drinks / mixers.

Okay so I have a few legal questions:

. I understand that a personal alcohol license is needed to sell alcohol and I would register my business as being self employed, but do i need a premises licence to store the alcohol in this situation?

. If the business was a success would I be able to hire a delivery man without an alcohol license?

. Would I need a special license to run into the early hours? (12AM-2AM)

. I've researched but I couldn't find the current tax rates for alcohol sales in this kind of industry, any insight on this?

Thanks for reading this far, If you have any insight or recommendations they are much appreciated!

 

[simon field]

Sorry, but any student worth their salt will have already stocked up up on Vodka from Lidls or Aldi where it's cheap as chips.

 

[patientlady]

With the licenses and insurances that you will require, plus rules and regs this will never pay, I promise you...
Speak to your local council, they may not even register you a license for your intention

£6.00 vodka should not be offered to students and as a parent I would not be impressed, sorry...
Good luck

 

[simon field]

£6.00 vodka should not be offered to students

OP is planning to charge 12 - 14 quid a bottle.

Might make £20 - £30 a week tops I reckon, and it'll be a nightmare doing it.

 

[Shaun_Pearce]

My son: "Dad I've been accepted to go to Bristol University"

Me: "Nope."

 

[ethical PR]

Well lucky for him there's loans then

 

[Vectis]

Perhaps ask those on here who have already come up with the idea? There's several threads already about this, e.g.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/late-night-alcohol-delivery.319729/#post-2376754

Hi guys,

My plan is to set up a late night alcohol delivery service ............ I would also specialise in condoms........

Ah, romance isn't dead yet, is it? Alcohol and condom delivery service. Lovely.

 

[BusinessDeli]

Give it a go, it will be a good learning experience if nothing else. I remember in the distant past my student days, rolling in bladdered and if we ran out then we'd go around others flats until we found more booze. Looking back it was reprehensible and obnoxious behaviour but student life if somewhat different to the rest of the world!

 

[Shaun_Pearce]

I'm only jealous to be fair...

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

I currently work at a bar and i've enquired with my manager about possibly ordering bulk bottles of vodka (which seems to be the most popular cheap drink amongst students) and he Is able to get me bulk supplies for about £6.00 / 70cl bottle. This gives me a very eye-catching profit margin and I could possibly charge £12-£14 per bottle and make a nice profit. I would also specialise in condoms, wine and soft drinks / mixers.

Would it not be more easier and safer to arrange with your Manager student nights only events? Selling a ticket that allows them access into the premises and allowing the bar to sell the product leaving you with no liability if one of the student dies from binge drinking... This will gain the bar more customers and leave you to count your money.

Say for instance - Tuesday & Thursday nights drinks can be cheaper, in turn more sold to students giving a better return for the bar/pub.


Personally, I can't see your idea working but each to their own, with all due respect if my Son or Daughter went to university where cheap booze was sold, there would be hell to pay... they're not going there to get drunk they're going to further their education.

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

Personally, I can't see your idea working but each to their own, with all due respect if my Son or Daughter went to university where cheap booze was sold, there would be hell to pay... they're not going there to get drunk they're going to further their education.

There's cheap booze available at EVERY university.

 

[japancool]

I see a distinct lack of familiarity with student life here.

 

[tony84]

I cant believe so many people think students would not be interested in this.

Ive been at house parties (students houses and non students) and we have ordered from these types of people. Dream come true! Vodka, Wine, cans of Strongbow and fosters or if your really skint Red Stripe!

Whoever said £20-30 per week, your miles out! People do not order 1 small bottle of vodka. They order 1-2 bottles plus coke (as in coca cola), maybe a bottle or 2 of wine and a crate of lager - if your really hammered taquila or sambuca sometimes gets mentioned. If you have a freezer, it could even be worth having some pizzas in. We used to order a few of those at the same time.

I have no idea how much money is in this, but there are at least 3 companies that do this in south manchester alone that I know of.

 

[DanielleTheDataOctopus]

I cant believe so many people think students would not be interested in this.

Ive been at house parties (students houses and non students) and we have ordered from these types of people. Dream come true! Vodka, Wine, cans of Strongbow and fosters or if your really skint Red Stripe!

Whoever said £20-30 per week, your miles out! People do not order 1 small bottle of vodka. They order 1-2 bottles plus coke (as in coca cola), maybe a bottle or 2 of wine and a crate of lager - if your really hammered taquila or sambuca sometimes gets mentioned. If you have a freezer, it could even be worth having some pizzas in. We used to order a few of those at the same time.

I have no idea how much money is in this, but there are at least 3 companies that do this in south manchester alone that I know of.

I couldn't agree more Tony84...I also live in Manchester, and I know someone who is making a fortune doing this.

I guess if you get it right it can be a real money making scheme!

Sorry I can't answer your questions Exsert but I just wanted to say good luck

 

[DazRave]

I'm another from manchester who can confirm there are plenty of stickers in bars/club toilets in and around manchester advertising late night delivery.

I've used them in the past but only while AT a party... so the orders have not be frequent but were always large 80- 90 quid orders.

If the area where the OP doesn't already have this sort of service, i'd imagine there is money to be had. As for Manchester, looks like the market for this service has already been and gone, or at least watered down a lot!

 

[tony84]

I'm another from manchester who can confirm there are plenty of stickers in bars/club toilets

Stop spending so much time in club toilets! You will get a reputation!

 

[Exsert]

Thanks for the mixed responses guys, i'm even using the criticism positivley to re-think my strategy.

I definitely think there would be a demand for this sort of thing on campus, the campus is quite far outside of the city of Bristol, so past 10PM there is literally no way for students to get alcohol (as the majority of students do not have money to fund a car).

With the licenses and insurances that you will require, plus rules and regs this will never pay, I promise you...
Speak to your local council, they may not even register you a license for your intention

£6.00 vodka should not be offered to students and as a parent I would not be impressed, sorry...
Good luck

I understand your concern as a parent but unfortunately this is the hidden life that students live from their parents. The quality of the vodka I would sell would actually be of higher quality than some of the alcohol most of the students drink anyway - with Sainsburys offering a 'Basics' range of vodka which is priced at just £10.00 for a 70cl bottle and high percentage ciders like Frosty Jacks being favoured by the student consumer.

Students are simply looking for cheap alcohol, there is not so much of a demand for premium spirits and thus would not be very profitable.

Sorry, but any student worth their salt will have already stocked up up on Vodka from Lidls or Aldi where it's cheap as chips.

You'd expect this and for many students this is true, but from my experience a lot of them always run out / leave it last minute.

Perhaps ask those on here who have already come up with the idea? There's several threads already about this, e.g.


Ah, romance isn't dead yet, is it? Alcohol and condom delivery service. Lovely.

Thanks for the thread and yeah many of the other alcohol delivery services offer condoms. Being realistic and a student myself, alcohol can easily lead to unwanted pregnancies / spreading of STD's especially in a student environment. I would also like to think that I could possibly help this problem by giving out free condoms with every order.


Thanks for the positive comments guys, I really do believe theres a market for such a service and advertising costs would be pretty cheap (posting leaflets to flats, using Facebook to target students, etc.)

 

[tony84]

1 thing I would check is what the campus say. I suspect they may be against it.

Signs on the street just outside the campus and you will probably be ok?

I doubt your going to get rich off it, but delivering a crate of beer and earning a fiver has to be better than working behind a bar or in a shop for an hour... and you might get invited to some parties - everyones a winner!

 

[patientlady]

Oh dear guys, I am surprised at these responses. There is still the need for alcohol licenses. A personal license is a must for one, and to get this one needs to have sat the personal license training that goes with it. (costly) Where will you be stocking the alcohol. Will the wholesaler be stocking this for you, which I doubt, in which case you will need a premises license. (very costly) How safe is the lock up?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-licence-application--2

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...data/file/118369/late-night-levy-guidance.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disclosure-of-convictions-and-declaration

The above three applications are just for starters...

I have had a daughter go through Uni, In fact she probably would have been one of your best customers! The selling of alcohol is taken seriously and whilst I do understand your need to make some extra money, please think about the possibility of receiving Court time if found to be supplying without the appropriate paperwork, as well as the guilt you may have should one of your customers take on too much Vodka.

Yeah I know I am only a parent...

 

[simon field]

Patientlady lives up to her name, bides her time, and then provides the voice of reason

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Scott, Seriously I'm not stupid... I know it's available at every University but my point being is that I'm not paying for my Son or Daughter to go and get pissed every night, I'm paying for their education simple as... if I wanted to pay for them to get pissed up every night I'd take them out for a drink, not spend a small fortune sending them to Uni.

Japancool - correct, I didn't need to go to Uni or college, I went straight into work at 15. Does it mean that I don't know what goes on at Uni or colleges "after-dark" - of course not... read my reply to Scott.

 

[Sherlock Homeless]

OP you are aware that most of these "late night booze delivery services" are often ran by the local crime boss who uses them as a semi legitimate cover for other "late night delivery services" he happens to offer and as a handy reason for why his drivers are out and about at all hours of the night?

They're quite adept in the art of negotiation, matter of fact they employ people especially for the job and are quite protective over their "franchise territory"

 

[Talay]

What we did was to "hire" a nightclub for a weekday night. Tuesday was particularly good as Wednesday's were traditionally half days anyway and some students had little to miss if too hungover to attend the following day !

We never actually paid for the hire, we just didn't get anything from the the gate or bar until we hit 100 people. After that, we took a slice from the door and a cut from the bar.

Way easier to get many people to go to one venue than getting many single people to buy a bottle of booze at inflated prices each week.

No social media then but so much easier nowadays to reach out to everyone and you can guess everyone's email address as well and lists in classes are posted all over the place ! Should be a walk in the park to rake in a few hundred to a grand or more each week.

 

[Peanut Butter Man]

Even better, Make sure you have a Paypal card payment thing with you...... Students never have cash and line up outside a garage to get money.... offer cash back at a small fee (saves them going out) and then wait until some slime ball is waiting for you to take it all away in a darkened pathway... or has that already been mentioned.... be careful.

 

[parvy]

As if students don't already have access to cheap booze already! On the other hand this can be quite fruitful, I had a friend who started out doing this and after two years he gave it up since he made enough money and now has opened a nightclub selling....booze. I'd have too much of a conscience doing this and having gone to university I know what student life is like...you arrive at the students residence and behold a student unable to comprehend reality is standing (barely) in the doorway with hands wide open offering you money for more booze. I'd feel remorseful!

But hey that doesn't mean you can't do it sensibly and walk away if someone is excessively drunk.

 

[johnrrr]

£6 for a 70cl bottle of vodka? Straight away there's a problem there. The duty alone on a 70cl bottle of vodka is more than £6. So it's either fake, stolen or illegal in one way or another.

Having just gone through a premises application (for a very different reason), I can tell you right now it isn't easy and you will have a very hard time getting one.

And the other poster is correct about the people behind the existing companies. These companies are run by gangsters who sell drugs and prostitutes. You really don't want to get involved with them unless you are up to it.

 

[Open Book Procurement]

I think the funding success of postmates suggests this business model does have value.

 

[johnrrr]

Any update on your plans?