For some reason the food business is an incredibly enticing prospect when deciding whether or not to set up a new enterprise . It’s well known that a lot of food and restaurant businesses fail in the first couple of years, and it’s difficult to imagine that anybody in their right minds would want to start from scratch in the food sector when the odds seem to be so profoundly stacked against them. But people do , in their hordes , and the attraction of a food based business always seems to outweigh the flip side .

I surmise that we all think we know food. In fact it’s true, we all know a bit about it as it’s the great essential for life. There’s food and there’s food, though and through the TV everyone is beginning to know the difference between good and bad, tasty and barely adequate , and visually pleasing and a dogs dinner in a dish ! Masterchef, Britain’s favourite dish, Come dine with me etc have made a large impact on our lives and the days of merely eating to exist are well and truly over.

It appears such a good idea and such a satisfying one to start up a business selling tasty meals to discerning customers at a profit but the competition is everywhere and setting out on your own can mean that you get squeezed out before you actually get going. Look up the statistics on the Internet for food businesses that go under in their first year and you will not be pleasantly surprised.

Opening a city centre restaurant poses its own problems . You have to be sure that your restaurant or fast food establishment is in a place with a high enough foot fall to guarantee a minimum amount of customers. If you have found your premises and you know which sort of customer your business will appeal to then it’s up to you to choose the time of day that your expected customers is going to turn up and then sit outside the premises and simply count the number of potential clients that are passing by. Also note the manner of people that are passing your prospective premise and ask the necessary questions. Are they going to have time to spend in your establishment? Are they going to afford your cooking ? All very important stuff before you enter into the commitment of a lease.

If you have the money then taking up one of the many Franchise For Sale food based Franchises out there may be the way forward. It’s well known that Franchises are much more likely to succeed than non-Franchises, and if you want to make an investment that follows a specific method with a limit on the risk then one of the Franchise For Sale investments may be for you.

Investment levels vary quite a lot in the food based industries. A fully fledged Dominos Pizza franchise will start at a whopping ?280,000! A Home Based Franchise such as My Chocolate Explosion will start at around ?7000. Obviously these are just examples but it seems a Home Based Franchise will save you money over running a full restaurant operation.

Say you have decided that you are running a little bit scared of opening up a full restaurant, or maybe your finances just don’t run to it. Well mobile catering may be the way forward for you. Obviously there will still be an investment but a well run mobile operation will never be short of business and the volumes of money that can be made at shows and festivals is truly startling . A good start here is to look at the Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS). They used to be the Mobile and Outside Caterers Association but their new website is at www.ncass.org.uk . It’s by far the best place to start if you are thinking of a mobile catering operation and has everything from a list of suppliers of equipment to information on the latest HACCP regulations and the required training. There are some free training videos on the website for you to watch and decide if this form of catering is for you. Overall a good alternative to the expenditure and risk of setting up a premises based restaurant.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 12:40 am and is filed under Business and Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.