The Sweet Shop thread!

[Martin606]

Hi everyone

just joined the forum as I'm about to dip a toe into the Pick 'n Mix area.

We are actually going to start at a car boot here in the South, hoping to retail at 99p per 100g, don't really want to drop to 75p. Starting this way to see if we like it, what it's like and keeping costs to a minimum, although our investment so far is £650.00, for a stand, scales from Sweetboxuk, and sweets from hancocks.

20 selections to start, with lollies, we will hopefully be doing a local event next week, which does get very busy, £50 pitch price, but at these events the weed flows, so hoping for 'the munchies' to kick in.

Would love any help, advice, or anyone who started this way or still does it.

Cheers

Martin

 

[Taste Buds]

Hi,

We have never done a sweet stall before but the pick 'n' mix we do in our shop is extremely popular, and not just with the kids.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

Just an update for anyone who doesn't know, you do need a license but its free but you need washing facility in the location.

No you don't need a licence, there is no licence to open a sweet shop.

You will however get a inspection from the district council, at some point, to give you a hygiene certificate .

 

[kelvin1950]

Just an update for anyone who doesn't know, you do need a license but its free but you need washing facility in the location.

No licence required and in many places no inspection either. You need to contact your local council's environmental health department and ask them. Some will classify it as food, some won't. Those who do may well classify it as low risk, some may not. There is no way to tell other than talk to them locally. You might want to do a hygiene course, about 25 quid online.

 

[kelvin1950]

Hi everyone,
I've had my sweet shop for 4 years now, and am right next to the gates of a high school. We do great whilst kids are at school but the holidays seem to take a hit.
Does anyone have any advice on selling American Sweets, we've been asked for them, but at the moment we only stock Twinkies..

We've found they can be a bit of a fad. We stock a few but not as many as when we first started. Reeces are popular, Hersheys chocolate, Red Vines and Tootsie Rolls. The best seller is M&M Peanut Butter flavour.

 

[sweetmargarets]

Hi everyone.
Just stumbled upon this site as my wife and I are seriously considering opening our own sweet shop and this thread is proving to be very informative! We have the location sorted and the shop itself needs little work done to it. I wanted to ask you guys if you can provide a ball park figure as to how much we should be spending on stock when we first open. The shop is very small and we intend to sell high end sweets and chocolates and vintage / classic sweets. Any first time advice or rough stock amounts would be very useful. Thanks guys

 

[Zumiweb]

Interesting question, we've just completed our second Christmas - we opened in November 2014, so our opening stock included the Christmas stock levels (despite missing the ordering deadline, which was a challenge!). We probably had about between £2k and 3k on day one, but were reordering by the end of the week... We did 50% better this December than last, so we are getting something more right (or less wrong) than last year.

Obviously it will depend on the quality (jars etc from Bookers/Hancocks will be way cheaper than higher-end brands from Sarunds, HF, Creme d'Or etc), large assortment boxes cost more per item but fill a shelf quicker than truffles or Turkish Delight, or small bars/packets. And we were presuaded by a couple of very expensive, but gorgeous, brands we saw at the Chocolate Fair at Olympia in September. Not great sellers though, but they at least helped with the presentation/style/ambience of the new shop. Watch those sell-by dates though!

For a cabinet (ok, for our cabinet), you can plan on a box each of 30-40 varieties at £14-16 each, so that's an easy grand if you double up on a few of the obvious fast sellers... but then if you open outside of a busy season, that might do you for a month or more, rather than just a few days at Christmas before having to restock.

There may be a formula based on shelf footage or shop area, or based on predicted turnover less margin, but I'll bravely estimate at least £3-4k to open a smallish shop with mostly full shelves and wait for better bids from others. This all assumes easy and quick reordering of course, as that may represent just a couple of weeks sales at peak (or a couple of months in the quiet times).

Hopefully someone more experienced than me will add some knowledge to this one... but good luck with your plans for 2016!

Mark

 

[JanetteR]

Hi all, so pleased I found this thread with all your helpful info on wholesalers! We are changing our business to do something I've always dreamed of, and that's a speciality chocolate shop (and other quality confectionery). I had assumed we would need a Trimco refridgerated display but can't afford new, so I'm wondering (1) Do we need one to start with as our Grade II building has thick stone walls and is generally cool year-round (2) Does anyone have any units they will be selling on, perhaps due to upgrading? We might do ice-cream eventually so would of course need a freezer, which I guess would generate heat, but we will be doing things gradually. Need to get a reputation for quality confectionery first! Any and all advice gratefully received! Many thanks in advance, Janette

 

[Zumiweb]

Well the specialist chocolate shop in the Cite Europe shopping centre (as an example) just has a wooden display cabinet with a glass hygiene screen, no electrics at all, but they are in an air-conditioned centre. It's not really about refrigeration - the temperature to store/display chocolate is 14-16c, so not like a fridge at all, more like a pantry - it's, more about avoiding humidity and wild fluctuations in temperature, so if you are in a controlled-ish environment you could possibly get away without a full cabinet... you still need something to keep fingers and sneezes at a distance of course...

We also have a £100 dehumidifier from Argos, which does a great job, making our cabinet work a lot less hard than it would otherwise have to. We do have a Trimco cabinet.

They do come up on ebay every so often, so worth keeping a saved search running to alert you.

Good luck!
Mark

 

[JanetteR]

Cheers Mark, very helpful! I'll start checking the temperature. Good tip about the search, and I do have a dehumidifier we can use. Thanks again

 

[Zumiweb]

It is quite a narrow range for best condition, and you're trying to avoid the 'bloom' that occurs when it cools and heats up... the cabinets do cost a bit, around £2k, but you typically have several hundred pounds' worth of stock in them at any one time, so you should wait to hear from those with more experience than us before you decide and risk too much stock!

 

[ToyWorldNW]

Evening sweetie guru's!

As my name suggests, I actually run a toy shop these days, although many years ago I used to earn my crust selling sweets via outdoor markets, a mixture of traditional jars and kiddies novelty stuff.

I'm actually in the process of expanding my toy business, moving into new larger premises, and one of my thoughts has been to create a sweet shop corner in the new shop. Our town despite being of medium size doesn't currently have a proper sweet shop, and there's definitely demand for some of the less mainstream sweets, so it's something I've spent a great deal of time planning. This thread has been invaluable, lots of fantastic hints and tips, so thank you.

Not something I'm thinking of myself don't worry, however I did notice something earlier today when visiting another town which had me a bit concerned. There was a relatively large sweet shop, so we went in for a browse, and I noticed they had the equivalent of a Pick and Mix selection laid out on tables down the middle of the shop - however rather than the usual pick and mix containers, they were using open trays/baskets, without and kind of protection over the top, so completely open to coughs and sneezes etc. This seemed like a really bad idea to me, as all it will take is somebody sneezing over the top to potentially contaminate an entire tray of sweets (or more!) leading to them being thrown in the bin, or heaven forbid still being sold. What's everybodys thoughts on this? Am I worrying too much, or is this a case of being a bit too lax with hygiene?

I'm sure I'll be a regular on this thread as we get everything set up, as it's been a good few years since I last sold sweets, so I'm very rusty when it comes to the finer details.

 

[NorthernNewbie]

I'm all for independent sweetshops/independent business in general but I feel the comercial market is saturated with "American" style sweetshops.

 

[Carla_B]

Hi all,
I'm away to start up a small traditional sweetie shop in the North of Scotland. I am currently writing my business plan, and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice or tips to help me along my way.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks
Carla

 

[momon121]

Is there a portable packaging machine for sweet packaging for cellophane

 

[Ms Markle]

I didn't get to chose the name of my shop. It was already an established business when we bought it.

We got a slush machine today We havent sold any yet cause we didn't get it set up in time, but fingers crossed for tomorrow

Hello All,

I'm a new member and joined after reading all of these informative pages.

Can anyone help with advice on buying an established Confectionary shop?
I have seen one for sale and would love to change careers and start afresh.

There will be plenty of Due Diligence to carry out and I guess I need some structure to it.

I've quoted SweetJo's comments about having bought an established business hoping for her take on this but the question is open to anyone who can provide advice.

Thank you.

 

[TheConsulter]

Hello All,

I'm a new member and joined after reading all of these informative pages.

Can anyone help with advice on buying an established Confectionary shop?
I have seen one for sale and would love to change careers and start afresh.

There will be plenty of Due Diligence to carry out and I guess I need some structure to it.

I've quoted SweetJo's comments about having bought an established business hoping for her take on this but the question is open to anyone who can provide advice.

Thank you.

I think that you are brave enough to contemplate about running your own business. Some advise for you.

Do a market research. In today's market many shoppers prefer to go to supermarkets, which can be described as one-stop shops. The shoppers do their weekly shop round and get all their supplies from the supermarket. However, some sweet shops can manage to outsmart the supermarkets. These sweet shops are either relying on the high-foot traffic on the street they are located on or they have a strong brand so people think that it's valuable to make a journey to the sweet shop. You should keep an eye on the trends so your products are up to date. Also, the market is a bit seasonal. Busy times will be on the valentines, halloween and christmas.

 

[TheConsulter]

Keep the option open regarding starting a new sweet shop. But if you want to buy an already established business, there are some things that you should think about.

1. Do you have the skills?

2. How is the location? Is the business located on a busy street or not? Research how many people visit it on a normal day.

3. Use due diligence. Take a look at the business's written financials. Involve a professional accountant that can tell you if the business's finances are healthy or not. Also, involve somebody who can make a valuation of the business. Factors that can affect how much the business is worth are for example the owner's connections and skills.

4. If everything is good so far, you should look at how you could finance the purchase of the business. Do you have personal savings that can cover the purchase? Can you get a loan?

Best of luck!

 

[Ms Markle]

Keep the option open regarding starting a new sweet shop. But if you want to buy an already established business, there are some things that you should think about.

1. Do you have the skills?

2. How is the location? Is the business located on a busy street or not? Research how many people visit it on a normal day.

3. Use due diligence. Take a look at the business's written financials. Involve a professional accountant that can tell you if the business's finances are healthy or not. Also, involve somebody who can make a valuation of the business. Factors that can affect how much the business is worth are for example the owner's connections and skills.

4. If everything is good so far, you should look at how you could finance the purchase of the business. Do you have personal savings that can cover the purchase? Can you get a loan?
s
Best of luck!

Hello TC,

Thanks for your advice.

I plan to carry out exhaustive due diligence and involve a chartered accountant to take a forensic look at the last 5 years of accounts.

The location is good in the centre of town but I need to go and observe the footfall at various times of the day.

I feel that I have many of the required skills but not all which is why I was originally seeking advice from anyone who has bought an established business as there are bound to be areas that I may not have thought of.

As for competing with the supermarkets, to be honest sweets are sold everywhere these days including clothes shops and as this shop already concentrates on selling loose traditional sweets from a bygone era, I'm hoping to enhance the experience for everyone who steps over the threshold with a number of improvements and adding some additional services if everything stacks up.

And I thought that by buying an established business of many years standing with an apparent high turnover and good percentages across the board I might avoid the risks I'd face from being a start up.

Can you tell me who I'd contact to carry out a thorough valuation?

Thanks again.

 

[TheConsulter]

I think that it's a smart move that you involve a chartered accountant. As the accountant will take a look at the last 5 years of the accounts, he/she would be the best person to provide you with a valuation. You don't necessarily have to involve another person because the valuation in this case should be focused on the financial part. A broader valuation doesn't seem to be necessary as you have the skills for the trade. The situation would be different if you had no skills as this would lead to a shortfall of skills.

At last it seems like you have the passion and interest to make your business vision come true. It's good that you are open-minded and open to improvements that will improve the business.

Best of luck!

 

[Chris Salmon]

Cool thread. I'm in the same boat as many of you. I recently opened my own American sweet shop online, USA Delights . So far so good. I think it's going to take me a good 6 months to get the website where I want it, from an organic point of view. In the meantime, I'm looking at different sales channels to support growth. I'm thinking about getting stalls, just small ones, in local markets. Anyone had success in this area? I started selling selection boxes and they've been selling well at events. I think I might put my focus there over the coming months.