Fast Food Startup

[Mark_87]

*apologies for rambling here*

Hello everyone, and thank you for allowing me to badger you all for advice / feedback etc. I'm happy to accept complete honesty too!

I have quite a unique set of circumstances, which I will explain. Years ago I owned a frozen yogurt shop in the major shopping centre of my hometown of Dundee. It worked reasonably well, but unlike most start-ups it didn't start slow and build up - it started like a runaway train and dissipated substantially towards the end, which I put down to novelty value, so I sold the business and became a criminal defence solicitor.

A few years ago I bought a small shop at auction which was tenanted. It has now become vacant and it is well placed for a hot food venture. I am currently in the middle of getting a hot food license sorted out. The location is sound, and a huge new housing development has erected across the road, with hundreds and hundreds of new homes. It is on a busy road, and there are many other takeaway places all around.

My idea, and something I am passionate about - is to do a loaded fries / grilled cheese sandwich takeaway. The shop is not big enough for any sit-in potential but more than ample in size for a takeaway. There aren't any other takeaways or restaurants in the city specialising in this.

A good friend of mine is a farmer who grows potatoes for Bartlets and can provide me with tone of the main ingredients at a very low price, the shop has no mortgage so my overheads would be comparatively low. As a solicitor I would not be looking to ditch the day job, but I do have a large amount of flexibility with my work pattern, and I think a sabbatical could be arranged as I tried this out.

I am looking for any insight into the average number of sales an independent fast food takeaway would make. I know that is a difficult question to answer and that there are many variables but I am just looking for some information of where to start.

My chosen foods are have a reasonably high profit margin, I learned a huge lesson in this regard from my yogurt shop, where I imported the best yogurt from America... not a good idea.


Anyone with real experience in start-ups like this with some advice, I would be incredibly thankful for your wisdom.

Many thanks,

Mark

 

[Mark T Jones]

It's the ultimate 'piece of string' question!

To what extent will you be reliant on passing footfall?

Will you be using deliver/app companies

Who/how will you get marketing?

 

[PugwashEQ]

Hi Mark,

I built a chain of 6 fish and chip shops in the south of England- I've not been in the industry for a decade, but still keep tabs on it. When we sold them they had revenue of just over £6.5m and 20% net.

Our smallest takeaway was in the suburbs, on a Saturday night it would happily have 600 customers between 5pm and 8pm. On a busy high street you could get MANY more than that. Or none.

The very best advice i can give you is to get out to Holland and have a look at their french Fry shops- often small "holes in the wall" but selling freshly made, hand-cut chips of the finest order in a big paper cone. There are literal millionaires in holland just from selling chips- they have loads of sauces and a few toppings and I've never seen a quiet one. It's an idea that should work well in the UK.

2 thoughts to be aware of- if you are going to make chips from spuds then you need certain types of potatoes- must have very specific dry matter and carbohydrate content otherwise you have all sorts of problems cooking.

Secondly Doing it right needs some good kit- cheap UK frying ranges (gas not electric mind) will probably set you back £20-£25k. really good Dutch ranges (which are 3-4 times more efficient) will cost £50k -£60k. Have a look at Kiremko and Florigo. Also keep an eye on ebay etc as they sometimes come up for sale secondhand very cheaply- you will need to make sure a second hand one hasn't been killed mind (usually by getting pin holes in the bottom of the pan).

Happy to chat offline if that helps