Well guys it's been a while and I thought an update may be appropriate for anybody interested ?
Any subscribers to the thread will know I had a "silly idea" that I wanted to realise as I could see the potential, the market was there recession or no recession, the market is always there, the market is what you want to aim it at. My initial markets were the ever ready for a cuppa and a bacon butty brigade ,good quality and reasonable price, always there. I progressed through simple things like fresh donuts to candy floss and popcorn , then the brainwave hit me. A chocolate fountain. What Father giving away his Daughter doesn't want to give his little girl the day she wants? I had problems raising finance, but, eventually with the help of Santander I got what I needed. Along the way I found the Government had closed a potential route for finance for Ex Servicemen via the Royal British Legion.
Here's the update, I had a loan from Santander for £5000, note the word
HAD it no longer exists ! We have taken deposits for Weddings up to November 2013 ! We have virtually every weekend booked for next Summer, we have also got bookings for Midweek dates. For each booking we took a 25% deposit, these deposits have covered the loan and more.
We are renowned for our presentation and quality of products, we even make our own homemade fudge , ice swans and other items unique to us.
We have recently bought a Champagne fountain that are usually offered for hire as a stand alone item for upwards of £150, we offer it for free as an incentive to those seeking to hire a large chocolate fountain, then reel them in !!!! It costs us NOTHING to run, cleaning couldn't be easier, 10 minutes fresh water flushing through it then 5 minutes pumping a steriliser through, we have hired it out on it's own and it is booked for various Parties in the run up to Christmas. These will cover the cost of it and it will still have 6 months warranty on it.
Yep we are still using the catering trailer, only now as the Summer season is over we are concentrating on "Event catering", we've been booked, along with others, to attend a BBC live outside broadcast event with a projected footfall of 10,000+ ,sod the burgers and bacon butties that day , "the rest" can have them and we are taking along a hot dessert that is quick to make and unless you have been to the USA probably something you haven't seen before, why cater the same as the rest when lot's will want a dessert and ,with luck, I'll be the only one there providing them. Think outside the box. If my guestimates are correct we should be in line for profits of around £2500 on the day after pitch fees,stock,gas and Casual payments Etc; even if it pours down and we go home with loads of stock it has a 12 month shelf life and is easily stored. Beats having a freezer full of ice cream or burgers
So what else have we achieved? Thank God the weather was kind. We agreed to do lots of Charity events , Village fayres, Schools, AGE UK, Help 4 Heroes amongst others, we donated between 25 and 40% of the takings after expenses to the charities and have donated £100s and £100s, at the last one we came away with nearly £400 for 4 hours "work" and it could have been more if the rain had held off for another hour. We've been rebooked by many for next year before we left this years event. We've also been booked to attend a large charity auction / Dinner night by a large High Street Bank for next weekend, they asked for 10% of the takings and I'm not going to argue, only chance I'll ever get of seeing the Tax I paid the Government and they gave to the Bank to bail them out.
We are riding the wave in an Ocean of recession, when the economic climate changes we will still ride it, Fathers of Brides will still want to see their daughter have the best day they can, mums and dads will still pop their hand in their pocket for a quid or two for a Candy floss, and like the pennies the pounds add up.
We have more and more irons in the fire. We will get bigger , we will get better.
The recession has worked in our favour manufacturers of concession equipment have lowered prices to keep stock moving, we can make savings of 20% on earlier this year.
The dream of a few weeks off to sail over the Bay of Biscay ? Forget it this year toooooo busy . Instead I treated myself to an old Velocette Venom to do up on my days off, I'll never be able to ride again but I still love bikes so hey why not?
Oh and by the way, it wasn't only me who got huffy about the Government intervention on where Charity money donated by the Public for all former Servicemen and women went. The RBL has now decided to retract the decision made regarding funding and a modified system is now in place whereby ALL former Service personnel can apply for funding.
Six months ago I was seriously on my uppers and desperate to make it work, people were saying forget it, not a chance, not a hope in hell. Just goes to show if you have faith in yourself and your ideas and can get people onside it can be achieved.
One motto that made me realise what I had to do was on the front page of a typically American publication, provided from an equipment manufacturer. "Recession Hell !!! Sell, sell, sell............" best thing an Americans ever said.
Sorry the syntax and grammar were everywhere, bit tired, just thought I'd give you an update.
Any of you out there with a dream or an idea, sit your bum down get a cuppa and think long and hard, don't just think the good ,think "What if?" and if you come back to yourself with " This is a bloody good idea" throw it to the lions on here, if they come back to you with negatives see if you can make them positives, people see things from different angles, whatever they say think it through, if they are right hold your hands up and see if you can find something else, if they are wrong dig your bloody heels in and strive to achieve what you want.
To all the former subscribers, thank you , even for the negative ones, yes even the ones the contributors removed, because knowing I was right and you were wrong made me even more determined.
To anyone looking for help, good luck, times are still hard but better times are coming, someone out there may just be able to lend a helping hand.
