Starting a business

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

I know this is a strange place to come for advice, but its hard to find normal people who have done this to get advice from

Basically I have wanted to do this for a while, but literally have no idea where to start what to do ect. I am wanting to open a bakery/cafe/casual resturant, does anyone have any advice or tips. I would be very grateful

[Webbo]

I'm self employed but I'm such a crap businessman I'm the last person to give advice. Best of luck anyway.

[Sir Fynwy]

I know this is a strange place to come for advice, but its hard to find normal people who have done this to get advice from

Basically I have wanted to do this for a while, but literally have no idea where to start what to do ect. I am wanting to open a bakery/cafe/casual resturant, does anyone have any advice or tips. I would be very grateful

Do you have premises yet? You'll need a place of business with the relevant planning permissions but apart from at setting up a cafe isn't too difficult

[Strokes]

I know this is a strange place to come for advice, but its hard to find normal people who have done this to get advice from

Basically I have wanted to do this for a while, but literally have no idea where to start what to do ect. I am wanting to open a bakery/cafe/casual resturant, does anyone have any advice or tips. I would be very grateful

Have you got any starting capital? You really need to make up your mind which business it is you want to do and research the crap out of it, I would guess with those three location Is key. What experience do you have with the baking/cooking are you expecting to be hands on, or employ?

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

I dont have anything at the moment, like I say I just have no idea where to start, working for other people just isnt for me. all i have is knowledge of cooking and patisserie and baking, and some savings

Is it just a case of finding a premises, getting EHO approval and council approval and off you go?

 

Have you got any starting capital? You really need to make up your mind which business it is you want to do and research the crap out of it, I would guess with those three location Is key. What experience do you have with the baking/cooking are you expecting to be hands on, or employ?

Yes I do, And Im 23 and have 5 years experience in patisserie working in large scale production and doing celebration cakes and development kitchen and currently in a rosette awarded hotel. So not any business experience. and looking to be very hands on but hoefully get enough business to employ aswell

[Bayfox]

Location is key.

You can easily apply for a change of use in terms of the planning, if your look at buildings that already have the relevant category but are avalible or disused there is normally a reason, if someone else couldn't make it work then don't imagine you will, most start up businesses fail for 1 reason or another inside 12 months.

Be prepared to graft, long hours and it doesn't stop when you close up, there's cleaning, ordering, paperwork etc.

Make sure you are prepared for all this.

Good luck tho mate, if I can help with anything then give me a shout, I run my own business, reluctantly inherited of the family, and my wife works as a planning office, ring the relevant council, ie charnwood for birstall, etc ana seek advice before submitting any plans, they are there to help.

[Strokes]

I dont have anything at the moment, like I say I just have no idea where to start, working for other people just isnt for me. all i have is knowledge of cooking and patisserie and baking, and some savings

Is it just a case of finding a premises, getting EHO approval and council approval and off you go?

 

Yes I do, And Im 23 and have 5 years experience in patisserie working in large scale production and doing celebration cakes and development kitchen and currently in a rosette awarded hotel. So not any business experience. and looking to be very hands on but hoefully get enough business to employ aswell

Could you not start a business in your spare time to get started, give you a taste of things and some extra cash. Lots of weddings birthdays and aniversarry cakes need doing and don't require any start up.

[davieG]

A visit to the tax office would be useful they used to run free training for business start ups. It might also be useful to contact someone in the council regarding basic hygiene requirements. 

 

Ran a diy/gift shop many moons ago at that time it was the vat that killed me off as I was just over the threshold  I guess I was somewhat naive.

 

 Best of luck. 

[marko]

This is worth a read if you're interested. Some of the links won't be relevant, but there's so useful stuff in there.

 

https://www.gov.uk/browse/business/setting-up

 

There's also a government funded loan scheme for new start-ups that might be of some use.

 

https://www.startuploans.co.uk/

[Wymsey]

Ever thought about doing a 'franchise'?

[Jon the Hat]

Strokes is right, why not get a website and start doing cakes etc from home first? Cash flow is what kills businesses, the less overhead you have at the start the better.

[Guest]

Look at the competition and then go and speak with 2 or 3 of them (perhaps not in the area you want though). Location is important - demand and market saturation.

 

But that's only a small part of running a business. You've got to have some basics in paperwork and books if you're doing it yourself or you can just kill your business no matter how good it is.

 

Isn't there a chamber of commerce or small business advisory that you can go and talk to? Your bank should have a Small business advisor to help you too.

 

Being your own boss can be great but as mentioned earlier the hours are long, there are no days off, no-one else to blame or to solve your problems. Family and friends can suffer and watching the City.

 

Agree with Jon about overheads too but I think you need a shop, I can't see you being able to generate much from a website in a pretty busy and stacked online market. 

[lianne81]

Check all overheads etc , council tax alone can be a killer on businesses , also if you do get a premise barter with different companies for your products i used to have 3 i went between and tell them other companies have offered for this price etc and the others would lower there's , you will also need a proper accountant which can cost quite a bit. 

  If you do it from home is cheaper but you have to get health and hygiene etc to give you certificate that your place is ok to do it from . you will also need health and safety certificate and health and hygiene one which are cheap enough through a college and you need them both for shop or home xx 

[BoyJones]

You presumably know about the recent allergens law, HACCP, Food Safety Laws, labeling, and many more. Need to comply with all these before you can trade. Check out Nationwide Catering website. Think they have loads of free info which may be helpful to you.

As already said, chamber of commerce should be able to help. Wouldn't personally bother with the bank, as a new business you will most probably get lumbered with someone just starting in their business career, who only knows what they have read in a book. Having worked in a bank, I know this is generally true.

Good luck.

[pSinatra]

I'm self employed but I'm such a crap businessman I'm the last person to give advice. Best of luck anyway.

 

What he said

 

Every day I think to myself "I'm not cut out for this self-employment lark"...........but somehow I manage it.

 

There's time when it's great & other times, it's the pits.  The hardest thing I find is switching off.  Not always possible but try & find time for yourself/family/football (not necessarily in that order).

 

If it all goes tits-up tomorrow, at least I know I gave it my best shot.

 

Good luck in whatever you decide to do

[Guest Sharpe's Fox]

Just as a customer/general observer when a new bakery or cafe opens its a good idea to get people through the door with fast food (cobs, sarnies, coffees etc) and then you can maybe sell the more profitable items like the cakes or pastries on display. Dunno if that helps just my two cents x

[VLC86]

Step one- buy a camper van

Step two- make meth

Step three- turn into a bad ass maniac that doesn't give a ****

Step four- throw pizza on your estranged wife's roof

[davieG]

It would seem you have capital but this may be worth  a look in fact anyone  thinking of starting a business

 

About The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity   http://www.stwcharity.co.uk

 

 

 

They offer 9 year interest free loans etc.

[Izzy]

I know this is a strange place to come for advice, but its hard to find normal people who have done this to get advice from

Basically I have wanted to do this for a while, but literally have no idea where to start what to do ect. I am wanting to open a bakery/cafe/casual resturant, does anyone have any advice or tips. I would be very grateful

 

Good luck. Some sound advice on here. 

 

Just get really clear on what it is you want to open. Is it a bakery, cafe or casual restaurant - or a combination of all three?

 

Be prepared to work your nads off and don't expect to pay yourself a salary in the first 12 months. Whatever costs you factor in, build in some contingency and then double it.

 

Do your homework, check out the competition and work out your margins in advance. Where will you source your supplies from, can you get credit terms etc? It's all about cash-flow as others have said so get some expert help. Four out of five UK start up's fail within the first 12 months so this decision is not to be taken lightly my friend.

 

If you want it badly enough you'll make a success of it - but don't expect to see your friends or family for a while

[johnny the fox]

I know this is a strange place to come for advice, but its hard to find normal people who have done this to get advice from

Basically I have wanted to do this for a while, but literally have no idea where to start what to do ect. I am wanting to open a bakery/cafe/casual resturant, does anyone have any advice or tips. I would be very grateful

There are plenty of business networking functions in every local area where you can meet people and make contacts and seek advice... trying to  do everything on your own is hard...

[RobHawk]

Think out of the box too, look into businesses you could cater for or deliver too especially if you start out at home.

[foxoffderby]

I'm self employed. 

 

The advice given above is all sound. The only thing I would add is to say you won't make a lot of money in your first year, If you do, be prepared to put most of it back in. Its tough times out there for all. Sometimes the grass is always greener. Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Rob1742]

My initial thoughts are that you are either trolling, or on a path to disaster.

If you were to seriously open a business and it be successful, you would instinctively look at locations, costs, customer base, etc etc and have a vision of where you want to end up.

Instinctively you would have trawled around for properties so you see what the costs would be, and then you would see what the risks would be.

Unless you are trolling like I say, you appear to be someone who can bake, and would end up baking without having considered all the other equally important factors around you.

It's not easy doing it, but you really have to have the desire to look into the total picture, and not just the bit that is interesting to you.

There are so many factors to look into, and if you are not instinctively looking at them, the chances are they could pass you by when you start and it could be a big fail.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Location is key.

 

Definitely right. Look no further than Birstall - I've only lived here 5 years and I've already lost count of the amount of cafes and takeaways that have popped up and closed in that time, and that's almost certainly because popular businesses of this nature are already established here and any competition would have to either have to be of much higher quality or offer the same product for much better value and this hasn't been the case

 

I'm no business man but if you're serious, look around places that you might consider starting up and do market research - ask as many people as you can what they would like to see in their area. Know your target market. If you open up a Mexican restaurant in a village full of pensioners it's not going to work!.. unless they're Mexican.

[Alf Bentley]

Before I went self-employed back in 1999, I attended a 1-week full-time course at Business Link, covering every aspect of running a business (planning, research, marketing, finance, accounts, tax, employment, premises, location etc. etc.).

I'm not sure Business Link exists any more, but some institution must offer a similar service....and you definitely need a lot of advice.

 

My business set-up was very low-risk compared to yours (just me, a computer and a few dictionaries in a spare room at home - very low overheads).

 

You could do worse than just sit down with a bit of paper and come up with some rough figures for start-up capital required (e.g. kitchen equipment, cafe furnishings/decor), overheads (payable regardless of sales) and cost of purchases/ingredients for resale/cooking/baking.

 

Unless you have the capital to buy a property outright, I'm guessing that rent or mortgage payments alone would be at least £15k per year. Add in wages (unless you do everything yourself - cooking and serving), business rates, utility bills, maintenance of premises and I'd be surprised if your overheads came to less than £40k (a pure guess)....and that's before you buy foodstuffs for cooking/baking or resale. As you'd need a decent mark-up to be viable, I'd be astonished if you could run such a business viably on an annual turnover of less than about £80k (though I'd stress that I have no knowledge of the sector).

 

So, now you're onto the easy bit of working out how to generate a turnover of, maybe, £80k (nearly £2000 per week) in a highly-competitive market where business failures are the norm....   

Remember, too, that on a turnover above about £82k, you're obliged to register for VAT (claiming it back on purchases, but potentially charging it to all diners.....though cakes may be zero-rated, I think).

 

Sounds as if you have a massive amount of research and planning to do, otherwise it'll just be a pipedream - or, worse, a financial disaster.

Sorry if that sounds gloomy. Obviously, some cafes/bakeries are great successes, so yours could be. Sounds like you need intensive advice, research & planning, though.

Good luck!