1. The New Market Place – Mainly Good News

A bigger cake

 

There has been a significant cultural change in the last ten years or so. Eating out during the day has become much more than just attending to a physical need. It has become a positive pleasure which increasing numbers of people indulge in – and not just at lunchtime. You will see people snacking or drinking coffee at all times of the day. And they are constantly on the lookout for new places with interesting ideas to tempt them. They also have much greater spending power – hence the demise of the packed lunch. This all means that the size of the cake has increased enormously.

The other side of the coin, however, is that there has been an explosion of new outlets of every kind, shape and size to cater for this demand. Quality levels have gone up in leaps and bounds as customers have become increasingly discerning. Increased demand has led to more demanding customers.

 

Never forget though – there’s always room at the top.

More Potential Locations To Choose From

Nowadays you’ll come across neighbourhood sandwich-coffee bars in areas of town, away from the centre, where they would not have been commercially viable up until fairly recently. This is partly explained by the increased and widespread demand for quality food to take away.

However, economic changes have also played a part. When I moved to Edinburgh in the 1970s there were neighbourhoods packed with small greengrocers’, haberdashers’, butchers’, fishmongers’ and other specialist shops, often family businesses. In addition there was a trend for banks, building societies, solicitors and estate agents to open branches in outlying areas of cities. So small units in areas well away from city centres were much in demand.

Things are very different now. The advent of shopping centres and the rationalisation which has taken place in the financial and business sectors have led to the closure of many of these units. As a result many small and medium sized shops have been coming onto the market in recent times. Such areas are often particularly good for the small independent since they may not be capable of producing the level of turnover required by larger operations which by their nature are less flexible and adaptable.

These patterns have been repeated to a greater or lesser extent throughout Britain. Accordingly there is now greater scope for acquiring all sorts of properties at many price levels in a wide variety of locations. Despite this, the prime sites will always attract a lot of competition.

2. Assessing Your Suitability

Are You Physically Fit?

Running a sandwich-coffee bar hands on involves a great deal of physical activity requiring a lot of energy. You will be on your feet most of the day. For this reason good posture is very important if you are to avoid back pain. By the end of the week you may well have collected the odd cut or bruise.

Be honest, could you take it?

Do You Like People?

In the course of a day you will come into contact with a great many people, some of whom you know and like, others you’ve never met before and a few who might be obnoxious. In all cases it is essential for you to smile and be pleasant and make time for some small talk.

Will you be able to cope diplomatically with someone who wants to give you chapter and verse about what they did at the weekend, when over their shoulder you can see a large queue of impatient people, short of time and food, building up?

It’s true with most jobs, but especially when dealing directly with the public, that you must leave your troubles at the door when you come in. After all, you do want customers to come back. Sudden outbreaks of moodiness create a bad atmosphere and if repeated can undoubtedly be bad for business. This can be a major problem with a small minority of staff, an important point which I will deal with in Chapter Eight.