- Original Poster
- #1
I've been trading for a month now and I always knew it would be slow to start with but I really want to do more to build it up. I feel as if most days I just stand there waiting for people to come because that's what they do right? But I need to let them know I am there and bring them to me.
So far I have a morning deal on for everyone, a cheap price for hot rolls, a deal on for taxi drivers where cheap price is all day for them. Where I am parked is a road with a dead end so there is plenty of space to park your vehicle so I was hoping a lot of workers would come down. Just off the road where I am there is a few main roads and a lot of traffic. At all parts of these roads of I have signs with directions on them.
One idea I have is to have a small sign made with more info on it like telling people what hot rolls there are, what drinks there are and maybe some prices or even just the morning special. In Glasgow, the council workers take these signs down every month but you can put them back up. How would I go about making a sign like that myself? I don't want to go to a sign maker and get one made and it's expensive then they rip it down every 4 weeks and so far i'm lucky that they left them, what if they take them away? I was also told that the only reason they got left there was because I didn't have a phone number on it and if you have one they call you and tell you that you have 4 hours to remove it or get fined. So I know a sign is vital, especially at traffic lights where cars stop regularly but if possible would want to do it myself so the cost isn't too bad and I don't have to pay funny money every 4 weeks for a new one.
I've also created a Facebook page, just need to spend time getting the word round about that and find ways to let locals know about it aswell as taxi companies and other companies locally. Taxi companies would be ideal but the main ones here don't even have Facebook pages, they don't even have websites so it's hard trying to spread the word round to drivers because the offices they report to are just that. The only time drivers go near the offices is to pay what they owe so that's hard. There is local community radio which I am finding out about just now and the best way to approach them about some plugs on air and what it would cost.
The other thing that is important to me anyway and it bugs me is the fact that just up from my van is a row of shops and one of them is a cafe. Now before it was a cafe it was a hardware shop and I know people that earlier this year..........when the lease was up, tried to get permission to use it as a cafe and were told no. People live upstairs, no planning permission, never has been and never will be a cafe. Now I put my paperwork in for the licence in January.....I get word back in August for a meeting in September. The lease for that shop ended in March and by June it was open as a cafe. So obviously someone has taken a bribe right? Never be a cafe! No planning permission will ever be granted! And there it is and the word on the street is the licence they have is not for a hot food licence that I think of. Something about the only thing they are allowed to cook on is a George Foreman grill. And I'm supposed to believe that? All those people I see going in and out of there all morning and day, they're rolls are all made on a George Foreman grill? Really? And my van is 50 feet away, i'm cooking fresh butcher meat, not frozen meat out of Farmfoods. I'm cooking the real good stuff, the proper catering burgers, good good stuff and they're serving all those people out of a George Foreman grill?
It's annoying. And then the other rumour is they don't have any proper food licences! They're all fakes but of course I can't prove that. And if you ask the Council they say they can't use a cooker or fry anything, only the little cooking machines you plug into the wall socket. And you know another thing that bothers me, is the people go there. I don't get it. How can all those workers in vans go there in their droves everyday and not even come near my van? They prefer that? Sometimes I'll stand outside for air and I'll look up and still see people, taxi drivers, people going to the grocers or newsagents and then go in there and they come out with their paper cups and rolls and I don't get it. Why WOULDNT you try another place to eat if you could? Especially the workmen and listen, I have nothing against them but lets be honest, they're known for working early and they don't have to wait about. I'm there in the morning open before those shops are most of the time and they just sit in their vans waiting on that cafe to open. I just don't get it and even everybody else too. They charge £1.85 for a roll with egg on it.I charge £1.20. How can anybody, fried or scrambled justify charging £1.85 for a roll and egg? I know they have rates and rent to pay but come on and then the people? They pay it. But of course!!!!!!!! Plug in appliances right? Must be a microwave then! An absolute lie. No way are they serving all those people on plug in appliances like cooking grills and microwaves and whatever else. And the people around me? They don't want nothing done. Oh you can't say anything or do anything. Can't do this can't do that. But they forget it's my business and it's me that week on week is losing money constantly.
I don't expect to get rich but I just get frustrated by it all and feel like there is a lot I could be doing but I don't know how to go about it and then there is other things like what I just talked about that is wrong IMO, too many rumours going about and the people running it don't exactly have the best reputations but of course no one says anything but I feel like saying so what do I do? Just let them do it illegally, don't say anything, just keep losing money and the people telling me to leave it are working with me on the van. I'm paying them a wage every week and so they're quite happy to take the money out my pocket which I'm struggling to pay but I'm legit with real official licences and they're up there......most likely operating out of a kitchen with appliances they shouldn't have and taking customers which I could have but I've not to say nothing? You know what I've come to realise is that I'm too soft on some people. Basically I'm getting treated like an idiot here and I'm allowing it. Annoys me no end and I'm starting to get annoyed now. Oh just leave it don't complain you don't want to get a reputation. I'm thinking all reports are confidential. Just wait it out! Busines will pick up! When? How many more months just sitting about doing nothing waiting for people to come. I need to do more and the customers that go there aren't any better. Why would you do it! How can they cook meat from a plug in grill and get people to pay those prices! And the people accept it. They don't even try my stuff so that means they're quite happy to pay those prices. It boggles my mind.
So far I have a morning deal on for everyone, a cheap price for hot rolls, a deal on for taxi drivers where cheap price is all day for them. Where I am parked is a road with a dead end so there is plenty of space to park your vehicle so I was hoping a lot of workers would come down. Just off the road where I am there is a few main roads and a lot of traffic. At all parts of these roads of I have signs with directions on them.
One idea I have is to have a small sign made with more info on it like telling people what hot rolls there are, what drinks there are and maybe some prices or even just the morning special. In Glasgow, the council workers take these signs down every month but you can put them back up. How would I go about making a sign like that myself? I don't want to go to a sign maker and get one made and it's expensive then they rip it down every 4 weeks and so far i'm lucky that they left them, what if they take them away? I was also told that the only reason they got left there was because I didn't have a phone number on it and if you have one they call you and tell you that you have 4 hours to remove it or get fined. So I know a sign is vital, especially at traffic lights where cars stop regularly but if possible would want to do it myself so the cost isn't too bad and I don't have to pay funny money every 4 weeks for a new one.
I've also created a Facebook page, just need to spend time getting the word round about that and find ways to let locals know about it aswell as taxi companies and other companies locally. Taxi companies would be ideal but the main ones here don't even have Facebook pages, they don't even have websites so it's hard trying to spread the word round to drivers because the offices they report to are just that. The only time drivers go near the offices is to pay what they owe so that's hard. There is local community radio which I am finding out about just now and the best way to approach them about some plugs on air and what it would cost.
The other thing that is important to me anyway and it bugs me is the fact that just up from my van is a row of shops and one of them is a cafe. Now before it was a cafe it was a hardware shop and I know people that earlier this year..........when the lease was up, tried to get permission to use it as a cafe and were told no. People live upstairs, no planning permission, never has been and never will be a cafe. Now I put my paperwork in for the licence in January.....I get word back in August for a meeting in September. The lease for that shop ended in March and by June it was open as a cafe. So obviously someone has taken a bribe right? Never be a cafe! No planning permission will ever be granted! And there it is and the word on the street is the licence they have is not for a hot food licence that I think of. Something about the only thing they are allowed to cook on is a George Foreman grill. And I'm supposed to believe that? All those people I see going in and out of there all morning and day, they're rolls are all made on a George Foreman grill? Really? And my van is 50 feet away, i'm cooking fresh butcher meat, not frozen meat out of Farmfoods. I'm cooking the real good stuff, the proper catering burgers, good good stuff and they're serving all those people out of a George Foreman grill?
It's annoying. And then the other rumour is they don't have any proper food licences! They're all fakes but of course I can't prove that. And if you ask the Council they say they can't use a cooker or fry anything, only the little cooking machines you plug into the wall socket. And you know another thing that bothers me, is the people go there. I don't get it. How can all those workers in vans go there in their droves everyday and not even come near my van? They prefer that? Sometimes I'll stand outside for air and I'll look up and still see people, taxi drivers, people going to the grocers or newsagents and then go in there and they come out with their paper cups and rolls and I don't get it. Why WOULDNT you try another place to eat if you could? Especially the workmen and listen, I have nothing against them but lets be honest, they're known for working early and they don't have to wait about. I'm there in the morning open before those shops are most of the time and they just sit in their vans waiting on that cafe to open. I just don't get it and even everybody else too. They charge £1.85 for a roll with egg on it.I charge £1.20. How can anybody, fried or scrambled justify charging £1.85 for a roll and egg? I know they have rates and rent to pay but come on and then the people? They pay it. But of course!!!!!!!! Plug in appliances right? Must be a microwave then! An absolute lie. No way are they serving all those people on plug in appliances like cooking grills and microwaves and whatever else. And the people around me? They don't want nothing done. Oh you can't say anything or do anything. Can't do this can't do that. But they forget it's my business and it's me that week on week is losing money constantly.
I don't expect to get rich but I just get frustrated by it all and feel like there is a lot I could be doing but I don't know how to go about it and then there is other things like what I just talked about that is wrong IMO, too many rumours going about and the people running it don't exactly have the best reputations but of course no one says anything but I feel like saying so what do I do? Just let them do it illegally, don't say anything, just keep losing money and the people telling me to leave it are working with me on the van. I'm paying them a wage every week and so they're quite happy to take the money out my pocket which I'm struggling to pay but I'm legit with real official licences and they're up there......most likely operating out of a kitchen with appliances they shouldn't have and taking customers which I could have but I've not to say nothing? You know what I've come to realise is that I'm too soft on some people. Basically I'm getting treated like an idiot here and I'm allowing it. Annoys me no end and I'm starting to get annoyed now. Oh just leave it don't complain you don't want to get a reputation. I'm thinking all reports are confidential. Just wait it out! Busines will pick up! When? How many more months just sitting about doing nothing waiting for people to come. I need to do more and the customers that go there aren't any better. Why would you do it! How can they cook meat from a plug in grill and get people to pay those prices! And the people accept it. They don't even try my stuff so that means they're quite happy to pay those prices. It boggles my mind.
