Starting a Take Away

[Jake9767]

Hi all!

I've found a good spot for a take away on a main street which I am familiar with and I know it does indeed get busy there!

However, I think my downfall will be my experience (which is zero) - I may go speak to an owner of a take away which I go reguarly and see if he has any interest or can provide guidance (this shop would not affect his business).

From what I have researched so far the costs will be as follows:-
Rent - £1950 (Ingoing premium), £250 - Week.
Appliances:- £1,500 (Fridge Freezer, double deck pizza cooker, Kebab machine, Heated Display).
Misc bits:- £1,000 Worktops, surfaces, etc. (not incl labour).

I haven't done a tremendous amount of research and I'm sure there's masses of costs I have missed out, however I'm looking for guidance..

I have £2-3K to spare initially, but I have been looking at startup loans which have fixed rates and repayable within five years (so completely achievable).


I am currently employed full time, on a healthy wage so as long as I could break even I won't particuarly care for profit initially.

Anyone out there experienced in this field?

 

[Nochexman]

Get an evening job working somewhere similar and keep your eyes and ears open! There is no substitute for experience.

 

[Opinion87]

Not in the industry but I can't imagine £1,500 will be enough for a GOOD commercial fridge freezer, double deck pizza oven, kebab machine and heated display. Yeah, you can save by buying used equipment, but it has its pitfalls.

£1,000 for "misc bits"- that's a bit vague, but again, £1,000 doesn't go very far. Stainless steal is far from cheap, and unless this place is already laid out how you want it then making changes can be very expensive. Getting a tradesmen in for a couple of days will eat up a lot of that £1,000 on its own.

You've not mentioned if you've put together a business plan but have you factored in all the other costs like marketing/advertising, rates, utilities, insurance, health and safety etc.? £2,000-£3,000 really isn't much to get a business like this started.

Borrowing money and paying it back is only "completely achievable" if the business is a success, which isn't the case 100% of the time. Whomever you're borrowing from is going to want to see a solid business plan and they're going to want to see you putting in a good chunk of money yourself, too.

 

[Anonymouse72]

will you be offering delivery? we had a fantastic local pizza place but the guy only managed to stay open for about 6 months as he just couldn't get anyone reliable for deliveries or to help him on the food side. just had to give in & shut up shop, such a shame as he did the best pizza ever & he was a really decent bloke.

 

[Simon.P]

will you be offering delivery? we had a fantastic local pizza place but the guy only managed to stay open for about 6 months as he just couldn't get anyone reliable for deliveries or to help him on the food side. just had to give in & shut up shop, such a shame as he did the best pizza ever & he was a really decent bloke.

good point. i would say after food quality, delivery is the next selling point imo

 

[Jake9767]

Absolutely, the only way this business would work is with the commitment of my family... the premises I have seen has 3 bedrooms above it and an alternative method of income would be to rent these rooms out either as a whole or individually - fully furnished I would imagine is the way to go with this.

I'm trying to secure the property as I'm not entirely sure how long it has been available to lease for and don't think I could find another property which is so spacious, as well as so cheap with A5 usage.

will you be offering delivery? we had a fantastic local pizza place but the guy only managed to stay open for about 6 months as he just couldn't get anyone reliable for deliveries or to help him on the food side. just had to give in & shut up shop, such a shame as he did the best pizza ever & he was a really decent bloke.

 

[Jake9767]

Yeah, this is my only concern when not using money of my own.. the whole repayment situation which could go terribly wrong or highly successful and making ends meet while also making a profit.

I haven't put together a business plan, rates the agency have been unable to provide prices on this. Insurance works out at £86 a month (£700 ish a year with employer liability and public liability, etc.)

Misc bits would cover mainly the labour, my father is a joiner so I'm hoping he could pitch in and assist.

The main problem being the actual equipment, like you said things inevitably go wrong and when they do it's at the worst time possible.. even more so with used equipment.

I can now see why people purchase existing businesses as it takes a whole lot of time to pull everything together and make it work.

Not in the industry but I can't imagine £1,500 will be enough for a GOOD commercial fridge freezer, double deck pizza oven, kebab machine and heated display. Yeah, you can save by buying used equipment, but it has its pitfalls.

£1,000 for "misc bits"- that's a bit vague, but again, £1,000 doesn't go very far. Stainless steal is far from cheap, and unless this place is already laid out how you want it then making changes can be very expensive. Getting a tradesmen in for a couple of days will eat up a lot of that £1,000 on its own.

You've not mentioned if you've put together a business plan but have you factored in all the other costs like marketing/advertising, rates, utilities, insurance, health and safety etc.? £2,000-£3,000 really isn't much to get a business like this started.

Borrowing money and paying it back is only "completely achievable" if the business is a success, which isn't the case 100% of the time. Whomever you're borrowing from is going to want to see a solid business plan and they're going to want to see you putting in a good chunk of money yourself, too.

 

[The Byre]

No chance! £3k will not buy you the insides of a take-away, not even if it is all grotty used kit. A decent refrigerated salad bar will set you back £700+ used. Just one catering sink will cost about £500. A commercial double-door freezer unit will cost about £800 used. A heated display is about £1k used, as is a used pizza oven. A small used twin-tank fryer is also in that price range.

Add to that the cost of plumbing, gas, three-phase electrics and fitting.

There are just too many things you have not thought of (kitchen tools, pots, pans, flooring, walls, air extraction, etc., etc.) and these are things that you would know if you had experience.

A small take-away costs about £20-£30,000 to fit out (if you are penny-pinching!)

 

[Anonymouse72]

Absolutely, the only way this business would work is with the commitment of my family...

do you mean family just backing you up emotionally/time-wise or will they be working for you too?

just a word of warning, be very careful if family are actually involved in the running of your business in any way. no matter who they are, they will have the capacity to surprise you, & usually not in a good way! 'if' anything did go wrong, it can make it so much more stressful to sort out if family are involved. been there, done it & definitely wouldn't recommend it.

working somewhere similar to what you're looking at would be the best idea, you'll get a real insight into everything involved in the day to day running & just what sort of equipment etc. is required.

make a realistic business plan, get some idea of footfall & demand for the area. plan & plan again, but above all, be realistic. and if you're planning on becoming a landlord for the accommodation above, please don't jump into that one without doing your research. have you factored costs in for an accountant? working long hours & keeping track of potentially 2 businesses, won't be easy, especially at first.

good luck

 

[The Byre]

Dear OP, it's like this -

In a commercial kitchen, kit lasts about five to ten years, depending on usage, quality and type. Obviously, something like a sink unit will last more or less for ever, but the ovens, fridges, etc., only last a few years. For that reason, unless you can get stuff from a shop that went belly-up after a few months, you are going to have to buy new. All that cheap stuff you see on ebay is largely junk that will fail within months.

New industrial gear is expensive. The cheapest single pizza oven that does a pizza in 2 mins costs £1,600 and if you are opening a pizza place, you would need at least two, maybe three.

Then there are all the other things that you absolutely need, like fridges, freezers, sinks, salad bar, etc. plus all the pots, pans and other nuts-and-bolts of making pizzas, including the warm oven for getting the dough to rise.

(And pizza is possibly the cheapest and easiest food to prep for a take-away!)

Add to that, legal requirements such as air extraction, fire alarms and extinguishers, staff lavatories, first aid and food handling courses.

Then you have marketing costs - you will need to do things like local leaflet drops and street leafleting.

Knowing what you need and how to buy it, takes experience. Hiring staff takes a whole lot more experience (if you don't want to be feeding all their mates and getting ripped off). Organising a delivery service takes experience.

Please think this thing through!

 

[Nochexman]

I haven't done a tremendous amount of research and I'm sure there's masses of costs I have missed out, however I'm looking for guidance... I have £2-3K to spare initially, but I have been looking at startup loans which have fixed rates and repayable within five years (so completely achievable)... I am currently employed full time, on a healthy wage so as long as I could break even I won't particuarly care for profit initially...
Anyone out there experienced in this field?

Hi Jake, what did you decide to do in the end?

 

[Jake9767]

Nothing really, the whole idea of a takeaway business has been put on hold. I have a holiday booked at the end of next month so didn't want to start anything prior to that.

Now I'm ankle deep in a Leaflet Distribution and another which is a internet venture.

Leaflet distribution - it's coming along quite nicely, has a nice customer facing portal and the web / logo design has been done. Already have willing employees as I have posted jobs, so I have CVs ready when the time comes later on this year. Just researching mapping/postcode/data collection software. (Trackers will be used but not how every other leaflet distribution company uses them).


How about you?

Hi Jake, what did you decide to do in the end?

 

[Funding for Communities]

I am currently employed full time, on a healthy wage so as long as I could break even I won't particuarly care for profit initially.

Hi,

I may have missed something but if you start the takeaway you will no longer be working as above?

Mike
Funding for Communities