Shopfitters/start up costs, Frozen Yogurt

[spamalot]

I'm in the process of putting together a business plan for frozen yogurt business in a local town.

I've located one site that looks like it has got good potential. It's got A1 planning that so it's fine for a cold takeaway food business.

The shop is reasonably small at 50m sq and the rent is reasonably cheap (for the area where most places are ridiculous), it's near lots of restaurants and in an area that attracts a huge amount of potential customers in summer.

I'm currently putting together details of all start-up costs, the ice cream/yogurt machines themselves I've sourced however it is the shop fitting that I'm struggling with. I've only ever rented office space in the past so retail/catering is totally new to me. I've called and made appointments to meet a couple of shop fitter type companies in the next week but would really like to hear peoples tips and experiences.

Having drawn up some (very) vague plans of the shop (the agents really reluctant to give me the plans) I have a good idea of what I want where. Being a small shop it's relatively simple, there's already a small staff toilet then all I want is a small food prep area and a 'toppings bar' and serving counter (it's going to be served and opposed to self-served). Other than the toilet the shop is bare, no celling and just exposed wooden floors.

All I really wondered is if anyone could give me some tip of what to or not to do in order to find a reliable fitter and what I can do to keep quality respectable but costs low enough.

Also, if anyone's done anything similar in the past what do you think this sort fitting is likely to cost in total… I'm sitting down.

Thanks people!

 

[Majority]

Hello,

I am currently in the process of doing a similar fitting for a commercial unit in shell condition in Cambs and also for looking for estimates.

Having looked up some builders I can say it depends on how much of the design process you hand over to them and where in the country you are -- which town/county are you looking at?

Best

 

[Talay]

Haven't got that far yet but am seriously interested in any information you come up with.

My bet is that the figures will be akin to a mechanic sucking air through his teeth when a single female brings her car in to be repaired ..... " ooooohh, gonna be expensive".

 

[Banned]

Slatwall is the retailers friend and easy to price up. Is also easy to install for a very average DIYer. If you don't want to do it yourself it's equally a cheap and quick option for a competent handyman.

Here are a couple of links that might help

http://www.kasshopfitting.co.uk/
http://www.morplan.com/StorePage2View?storeId=10053&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

 

[arcon5]

Really depends on exactly what your after and how much work you can do yourself. I remember getting quotes a while back now for a property of similar size… the prices came back similar

- circa £3k for concept design.
- circa £4k for installation of a semi-basic concept. This is where to cost can spiral though depending on the complexity.

It really is a 'how long is a piece of string' type question.

Why not draw out some semi-detailed plans and email them to a designer for a rough idea based on the drawings.

If your willing to do work yourself though you can save a lot of money. The slat wall is an excellent idea which you could probably buy and have installed for around £6-700 using a local builder. You can also buy it without the insert slots which would be useful for the shop area then with the slots for behind the counter using the baskets for it etc to store day to day bits.

 

[DDPlumbing]

I am fitting out a bathroom showroom.

I have costs of £3500 for materials (shelving/studwalls/slatwall etc) Then I have extra lighting costs of £1500
Gas installation £2500
And then my display costs are mostly FOC but stocking is the killer

I am supplying my own semi skilled labour to keep costs down on the install of fittings.

As is stated above, a good handyman can save you ££££ but I guess you need experts in refrigeration etc.

 

[Majority]

DDPlumbing,

Thanks for your response.

Does the area of the property make a difference to the cost, and if so, how large is the bathroom showroom?

Many thanks.

 

[Talay]

DDPlumbing,

Thanks for your response.

Does the area of the property make a difference to the cost, and if so, how large is the bathroom showroom?

Many thanks.

I think labour rates would be more expensive in some areas than others though travelling shopfitters would have to build in the cost of travel and overnight accommodation.

A large job may still be cheaper to "import" labour but when I look at small unit figures, I cannot see how I could take advantage of those.

 

[DDPlumbing]

My unit is 3000sq ft (2 story)

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

We had to fit out our shop when we took on the unit - it was in a terrible state; no ceiling, no electrics, no windows, no door (it was the other half of a former supermarket - they just bricked up half of it when they let the first half, and we got the half with no door!), we had to redecorate/plaster/new flooring ..... everything. We did get a couple of quotes from shop fitters but they were ridiculously expensive and way out of our budget; we used a local chippie who built our counter/till area, customised window display and - my pride and joy! - our Bead Garden, all exactly the way we wanted them which was fab. Cost us about £1500 including materials although we had to paint it all ourselves. All our shelving units came from IKEA - perfectly adequate, just plain white and exactly what we needed. Cheap too.
Biggest cost to us was electricians. Outrageous.
Whatever you think you will spend, double it, add 25% and times by 3 .......

 

[MerchantServicesBDM]

Don't forget to factor in the cost of taking card payments.

 

[Talay]

Don't forget to factor in the cost of taking card payments.

Largely a variable cost though, not a major start up expense.

 

[BobbyBoy]

Whatever you think you will spend, double it, add 25% and times by 3 .......

Plus a bit extra for contingency - oh, and VAT

Bobby

 

[antoine82]

hi

First of all, if you want to create a specific atmosphere, hire a designer/architect. Some builder say they can do it but it is not the same job. Mine costed me £6,000 and I don't regret a second.

AS for the price of the shop fitting, it will really depends on the quality of your material.

You can always go to Ikea and get your stuff there but your shop might look like any other one. On the other hand, you can have bespoke counter/tables that will be between 2 and 10 times more expensive but will be unique and the quality will be much better.

Just an example, a chair. You can get a plastic one for £30 at Ikea but you can also buy a nice wooden one for £200. The former is cheap but is found everywhere and could break easily while the latter is very expensive but will last ages and give your shop a unique look.

So it is up to you to find the balance.

But if I can give you an advice, I would say that if you are commited in your project and if you have the money don't hesite to go for the best. This is really an investment that you won't regret.
For example if you have a 5 years lease and you decide to invest £40,000 rather than £20,000, it is just a difference of 20,000/5*365= £11 per day for your lease. So will your nice shopfitting will help you making an extra profit of £11 everyday? I definitly think so.

Not to mention the fact that you won't have to repay for the old/broken items.

After, you need the money and this is another issue.

Anyway, good luck!

 

[DDPlumbing]

Well said there..... got me thinking that I need to find another £20k

 

[Talay]

hi

First of all, if you want to create a specific atmosphere, hire a designer/architect. Some builder say they can do it but it is not the same job. Mine costed me £6,000 and I don't regret a second.

AS for the price of the shop fitting, it will really depends on the quality of your material.

You can always go to Ikea and get your stuff there but your shop might look like any other one. On the other hand, you can have bespoke counter/tables that will be between 2 and 10 times more expensive but will be unique and the quality will be much better.

Just an example, a chair. You can get a plastic one for £30 at Ikea but you can also buy a nice wooden one for £200. The former is cheap but is found everywhere and could break easily while the latter is very expensive but will last ages and give your shop a unique look.

So it is up to you to find the balance.

But if I can give you an advice, I would say that if you are commited in your project and if you have the money don't hesite to go for the best. This is really an investment that you won't regret.
For example if you have a 5 years lease and you decide to invest £40,000 rather than £20,000, it is just a difference of 20,000/5*365= £11 per day for your lease. So will your nice shopfitting will help you making an extra profit of £11 everyday? I definitly think so.

Not to mention the fact that you won't have to repay for the old/broken items.

After, you need the money and this is another issue.

Anyway, good luck!

Very good points I think. However, it does drive out another question I hope you will give your thoughts on.

Let's say you really need £40,000 but you only have £20,000 and it would weaken your financial position too much to find the other £20,000. Where would you still spend and where would you cut back ?

Would you still hire the designer ? My thoughts are yes, but how else to apportion your restricted budget ?

 

[Majority]

Thank you very much for your helpful pointers.

Regarding the brand, I have two very clear criteria for executing the concept, which all other factors would work around. These criteria are the core of the brand such that I will only embark on this project if I can offer the product following these criteria and make a tidy profit which I would use to expand.

These two criteria are the look and feel of the premises, and the "sweetspot" price of the product which has several USPs. Timing is important as a competitor is rolling out the same product this summer (albeit in another country) and I am trying to get a foothold in the UK before they can.

So yes, I would consider hiring the best shopfitters, and know what would have to be tightened in order to offer the public my product.

...

Eileen, are you quoting me or are you also looking at a unit in Cambs?

 

[Cov2000]

My advice (for what it's worth) - start off as cheap as you can that looks good enough until you know it's working. The chairs are a good example, go for the cheap ones then when you've got the first year's books to look at (and hopefully some money in the bank), replace them all.

It's going to be a tough product to sell through most of the year and remember any money you put in now you won't be getting back if it doesn't go as you plan.

Good luck

 

[antoine82]

Talay,

You could cut back mainly on the material and the labour.

For the material, you can have lots of options. For example you can use MDF panels (few hundreds) for your countyer which are very cheap rather than corian which is very expensive (few thousands). Same for the flooring. You might go for classic tiles rather than wooden floor...

For the labour I would advice you NOT to do yourself the electric and the plumbing since it is quite tricky but you could save a few hundreds if you paint the walls yourself.

 

[antoine82]

And one more thing, for a 45sqm shop, my shop fitting was around £50,000 (+VAT). But only good material and bespoke tables, counter...

 

[Stuart Bailey]

your local commercial surveyor or solicitor will have contacts for this type of thing.

regards stu

 

[kelvin1950]

Slatwall is the retailers friend and easy to price up. Is also easy to install for a very average DIYer. If you don't want to do it yourself it's equally a cheap and quick option for a competent handyman.

Here are a couple of links that might help

http://www.kasshopfitting.co.uk/
http://www.morplan.com/StorePage2View?storeId=10053&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

Kass are really helpful if you want advice before buying.

 

[ice cream van hire]

ive got spaces for ice cream /frozen yogurt kiosks etc to let on the thames walkway at blackfriars across london and a few in the train stations if your interested contact me. ive also got a kiosk at city thameslink thats already there and ready to go has various uses.