New milkshake bar in accrington

[jason1]

am thinking of opening a milkshake / coffee / dessert bar in town...

anyone think its a good idea??

help or advise much appreciated

[garinda]

It depends on the location, in my opinion, and how much you could afford to invest.

Try and think of a unique selling point, that no one else is currently offering, to increase your chance of success.

There is a lot of competition, in the food and drink market locally.

If you decide to go for it, good luck to you.

[jason1]

am thinking next door to subway.. on Union st.
havnt realy worked out how much it might cost me yet.

[garinda]

Just another idea.

I don't know the rules regarding freshly prepared drinks/desserts, but you could perhaps test the idea by hiring a market stall. To see if people are interested in what you're planning to offer.

I know this is totally different from what you're planning to do, but might give you ideas about the publics' taste, and interesting market research feedback, all for minimal outlay.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by jason1

am thinking next door to subway.. on Union st.
havnt realy worked out how much it might cost me yet.

I should imagine you'd be looking at well over ten thousand pound start up costs, depending on what sort of refit is necessary.

I don't know you're background, but if this is a first or new business, there is a lot of help out there.

You could start my contacting these people.

Hyndburn Enterprise Trust - Means Better Business

[SamF]

What sort of milkshake bar ?

I'd take a look at Archies on Oxford Road in Manchester as a good idea for inspiration.

[jason1]

yeah something like Archies without the fast food..

the market stall idea is good, except i think I’d find it difficult when having to wash blenders and things every few minutes.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by jason1

yeah something like Archies without the fast food..

the market stall idea is good, except i think I’d find it difficult when having to wash blenders and things every few minutes.

Ask in a charity shop, or some other non-food retailer, if you could use their kitchen for a day, and tell them you'll donate half your day's profits to their store.

Then go out selling reduce priced samples from a tray.

You'd need to check the legality, but it would give you very useful product feedback. Besides if they like it, you could ask other questions, such as how much they'd pay, if they'd buy it to carry out, if they'd spend more if the ingredients were organic, etc.

Get as much market research as possible, before investing serious money.

The food and beverage market is a very saturated place, and you'll need every advantage you can get, if you're going to succeed.

[Pudwoppa]

Not sure if it's an ideal location, but I saw this when browsing for properties recently: Cafe for sale in accrington. Might be an idea to use an existing cafe to start from rather than starting a new place from scratch? Just a thought.

I should point out that I'm not trying to sell that property Hope I haven't broken any rules by posting it.

[flashy]

Might be worth taking a wander into Blackburn and having a word with the woman who runs the milkshake bar across from Blakeys (next to Grays, near the back of the library) she might be able to give you some tips

[Bee]

You could open it in the former Quicksilver store on Broadway, Accrington.

[magpie]

we could build you a hand cart .... like the one we made to sell our flowers on .... then you can go where you want: :-)

[flashy]

The one in Blackburn is called 'Take A Shake'