Burger van experience?

[WalkedUp]

17 hours ago, oowee said:

Mate bought a kiosk (shed) at the harbour front at West Bay for £20k on short lease. Plan was to finish as an electrician and run the businessas a wind down. After a short time running just the kiosk he went back to being an electrician and running the kiosk as it was easier to get staff to cover start and end of the season. Getting staff to run it reliably became tough due to the hours, cleaning down and collecting supplies from wholesaler and he ended up shuttling between the two jobs. Eventually he extended the lease and sold the kiosk for £40k 3 years later.

Started off with quality product over quantity trying to differentiate his stuff from others around the bay. Ended up with cheaper the food the better it sold. For many customers 20p was more important than the taste. Highlight of the business was selling a tea or coffee where the margins are 95%. 

 

My pal is a chef who bought his own cafe with grand visions, he was very disappointed. I asked what makes him the most money, he said tea and coffee. All the fancy sausages etc loose him money. A guy I was out drinking with last night is a farmer, he makes thousands from the farm shop and cafe selling fancy sausages. Literally 3 miles away from my ruined pal. 

[crazycooker]

Its the 20% vat on hot food that’s the killer in any outlet and very little to claim back 

[39TDS]

1 hour ago, crazycooker said:

Its the 20% vat on hot food that’s the killer in any outlet and very little to claim back 

Threshold is £85k, do burger vans really turn over that much?

[oowee]

41 minutes ago, 39TDS said:

Threshold is £85k, do burger vans really turn over that much?

Not if they are clever with their accounting. They should be made to have a till and deal legit. 

[Lloyd90]

On 05/03/2020 at 23:46, spurs 14 said:

Be different , why not go the game meat route , pheasant burgers , venison sausages , etc be imaginative and if you know enough shooters the supply would be cheap and plentyfull , good luck

 

Many People have tried to sell game, the U.K. doesn’t have the demand. 

[Lloyd90]

On 06/03/2020 at 17:45, oowee said:

Mate bought a kiosk (shed) at the harbour front at West Bay for £20k on short lease. Plan was to finish as an electrician and run the businessas a wind down. After a short time running just the kiosk he went back to being an electrician and running the kiosk as it was easier to get staff to cover start and end of the season. Getting staff to run it reliably became tough due to the hours, cleaning down and collecting supplies from wholesaler and he ended up shuttling between the two jobs. Eventually he extended the lease and sold the kiosk for £40k 3 years later.

Started off with quality product over quantity trying to differentiate his stuff from others around the bay. Ended up with cheaper the food the better it sold. For many customers 20p was more important than the taste. Highlight of the business was selling a tea or coffee where the margins are 95%. 

 

Bang on! 
 

My mate had a sea side cafe bar in Italy, he had a big menu of choices and was never busy enough with all the overheads. 
He hd loads of options and couldn’t make it work. 
 

He sold it to some dodgy looking Italians and they turned it into a very simple concept, Burger and a Beer - €5 , Hotdog and a Beer - €5 ... that was about the limit of their imagination. When he went back he said they were queueing down the street and flat out busy all day long.