£250,000 to start a business

[MUFC]

Not something I have, but if this was your budget, which venture would you go into? I reckon property be a popular choice. 

[AMG]

Something that you are passionate about?

 

 

[Harry]

Is the aim to get rich or enjoy the venture?

For the latter I'd like to open a family friendly bar/pub restaurant. A place with a lot of regulars coming down for a pub lunch and a couple of points whilst some football is on or similar. Good quality food though not your average pub. 

[Stan]

5 minutes ago, Harry said:

Is the aim to get rich or enjoy the venture?

For the latter I'd like to open a family friendly bar/pub restaurant. A place with a lot of regulars coming down for a pub lunch and a couple of points whilst some football is on or similar. Good quality food though not your average pub. 

My first thought was family-run and family-friendly pub/restaurant. A fun and enjoyable environment for people to enjoy time with friends/family with good value for money and standard pub-lunch type of food. Football doesn't even have to be a necessity but behind the bar I'd have your standard and popular beers but also a section for those who like their unusual or unknown beers/alcohol - something a bit more niche to appeal to that market.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

37 minutes ago, Stan said:

My first thought was family-run and family-friendly pub/restaurant. A fun and enjoyable environment for people to enjoy time with friends/family with good value for money and standard pub-lunch type of food. Football doesn't even have to be a necessity but behind the bar I'd have your standard and popular beers but also a section for those who like their unusual or unknown beers/alcohol - something a bit more niche to appeal to that market.

There's a pub down the road from me that has a lot of potential (a decent sized car park, a big beer garden, a recently built conservatory expansion as its restaurant for food and even a smallish park for kids).

Unfortunately, the more recent owners that have been there have basically let the main pub area rot and the place is basically an expensive dive now (£3.70 for a pint of Carling in my area is pricey. £4 for a Stella). The selection on offer is pretty much bog standard as well.

[Honey Honey]

A mate of a mate inherited that kind of money and bought his local. The solicitor told him not to. The pub went under within 2 years, he lost every penny.

[Stan]

2 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

There's a pub down the road from me that has a lot of potential (a decent sized car park, a big beer garden, a recently built conservatory expansion as its restaurant for food and even a smallish park for kids).

Unfortunately, the more recent owners that have been there have basically let the main pub area rot and the place is basically an expensive dive now (£3.70 for a pint of Carling in my area is pricey. £4 for a Stella). The selection on offer is pretty much bog standard as well.

Ah yeah, forgot to add a beer garden with shelters/heaters (for winter times) is a must.

Hate when that happens though when there's new management. Could have a quality place with good people working there, then they get taken over and it all goes to shit because more often than not, the new people don't get the 'vibe' or right feeling about where they are.

[Carnivore Chris]

A burger van in the middle of town. Food is 300% profit. 

[nudge+]

5 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

A burger van in the middle of town. Food is 300% profit. 

Far from it. Food business (especially restaurants) is a VERY risky one with high failure rates and even for the successful ones it takes a lot of capital, hard work, knowledge and time (a few years on average) to even start making profit consistently. 

[Harry]

I could also be content with a coffee shop btw. 

Similar good vibe and family friendly feel...

[Carnivore Chris]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

Far from it. Food business (especially restaurants) is a VERY risky one with high failure rates and even for the successful ones it takes a lot of capital, hard work, knowledge and time (a few years on average) to even start making profit consistently. 

Restaurants are different to burger vans. You can't really go wrong with the latter if you pitch up in the right area and sell good enough quality food, which i already have contacts for. The hardest part would be renting a patch. 

It wouldn't be easy but I'd rather take a chance on that than a fishing tackle shop(which I'd have more passion about) as you'd have no chance with the businesses already established. 

I'd open a fishing lake, but 250 grand wouldn't get you anywhere in this day and age. 

[Stan]

8 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

Restaurants are different to burger vans. You can't really go wrong with the latter if you pitch up in the right area and sell good enough quality food, which i already have contacts for. The hardest part would be renting a patch. 

It wouldn't be easy but I'd rather take a chance on that than a fishing tackle shop(which I'd have more passion about) as you'd have no chance with the businesses already established. 

I'd open a fishing lake, but 250 grand wouldn't get you anywhere in this day and age. 

What's the going rate for renting a patch?

There's a couple of burger vans outside the KP which are rammed, as expected, on matchdays. The food quality is rubbish though. Portions aren't great either for what you pay for.

I do wonder how much they make though and if they make enough money for it to be worth it after expenses such as rent, cost of food and drink, staff costs etc.

[Carnivore Chris]

19 minutes ago, Stan said:

What's the going rate for renting a patch?

There's a couple of burger vans outside the KP which are rammed, as expected, on matchdays. The food quality is rubbish though. Portions aren't great either for what you pay for.

I do wonder how much they make though and if they make enough money for it to be worth it after expenses such as rent, cost of food and drink, staff costs etc.

There is a fella in town around here who I know, he has a patch across from Mcdonalds and it's always rammed. The food is nice as well and he's built up a reputation over the years.

I don't know exactly how much he earns but I do know where he lives, out in the countryside, and that house must be worth a million. He's been doing it in the same spot since the 80s and it must be a gold mine. The food is nice as well for a burger van. A lot of them are shit as you mentioned, but I'd rank his burgers above any takeaway around here. Their breakfast butties are also incredible for what they are.

I also know a woman and fella who have one, their food is pretty crap but they drive nice cars and don't seem to be doing bad for themselves at all. They own 2 burger vans in 2 different cities and have managed to get patches next to building sites and factories. Their daughter actually used to pitch up right outside a site I was working on and since there were 3 sites next to each other, she pretty much provided everyone with food. It wasn't far from an industrial estate either so they would coin it in from that as well due to the amount of wagon drivers and tradesman who would drive past.

 

 

[MUFC]

Know somebody who is a mechanic, cars which customers don't want to pay to repair. He buys them, repairs and makes decent money on them. It helps when you get parts at cost price.

[Stan]

8 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

There is a fella in town around here who I know, he has a patch across from Mcdonalds and it's always rammed. The food is nice as well and he's built up a reputation over the years.

I don't know exactly how much he earns but I do know where he lives, out in the countryside, and that house must be worth a million. He's been doing it in the same spot since the 80s and it must be a gold mine. The food is nice as well for a burger van. A lot of them are shit as you mentioned, but I'd rank his burgers above any takeaway around here. Their breakfast butties are also incredible for what they are.

I also know a woman and fella who have one, their food is pretty crap but they drive nice cars and don't seem to be doing bad for themselves at all. They own 2 burger vans in 2 different cities and have managed to get patches next to building sites and factories. Their daughter actually used to pitch up right outside a site I was working on and since there were 3 sites next to each other, she pretty much provided everyone with food. It wasn't far from an industrial estate either so they would coin it in from that as well due to the amount of wagon drivers and tradesman who would drive past.

 

 

Sounds like it'd be a decent business to get in to but you'd have to build your reputation quick at the same time of having good enough food right from the start. No doubt word of mouth and perfect positioning helps. I guess it'd be great to get big contracts at festivals or events, too. People will eat anything there if it's available.

[nudge+]

10 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

Restaurants are different to burger vans. You can't really go wrong with the latter if you pitch up in the right area and sell good enough quality food, which i already have contacts for. The hardest part would be renting a patch. 

It wouldn't be easy but I'd rather take a chance on that than a fishing tackle shop(which I'd have more passion about) as you'd have no chance with the businesses already established. 

I'd open a fishing lake, but 250 grand wouldn't get you anywhere in this day and age. 

Sure, definitely more viable than a restaurant but there are still many additional factors involved... Getting a van and all the equipment, then all the permits, licences, hygiene stuff, insurance and registrations set up. Good quality food is great, but it also costs more to produce and depending on the demographics of the area you intend to operate at; it might be hard to sell it if your target group can't afford it or is not willing to pay for it; and as you said, getting a good pitch is not easy and costs money too. Also, marketing is essential. You might have the best burger in the whole world, but it's worth nothing if people don't know about it and doesn't return for more. Any existing competition in the area that has been selling similar product for a while? If yes, how can you differentiate your burgers from the other burger venues in the area? Have you got any experience in catering, can you cook consistently good food, do you intend to do all the hard work and long hours on your own or will you hire someone to help you out before you overexhaust yourself? There's also weather conditions to consider; how will it impact the business and your profit margins; how much can you afford to lose on a bad day, etc etc etc.

Not saying that it's not possible and I believe it can be profitable if everything goes well and if you have a good set up in a good location, but I think people tend to romanticise and oversimplify the idea of having and running a food business...   Definitely an interesting gig though!

[Harry]

Let's not forget a big reason why businesses fail is they can't manage repayments on debt they took on too finance the business in the first place. 

If you land 250k you're in a much better position than most business vendors...

[Berserker]

8 hours ago, Harvsky said:

A mate of a mate inherited that kind of money and bought his local. The solicitor told him not to. The pub went under within 2 years, he lost every penny.

I'm sorry but your mate was clueless. It's relatively easy to become a multi-millionaire here if you have that kind of money and of course if you're smart enough. In a country like mine i would invest it in the "real" economy, either housing (hostels), goods (probably related to construction) or something else which not only secures most of my inversion (if you buy a flat to exploit it as hostel even if you don't do well you can just sell it and recover most if not all of the money) till i have doubled my money and then i would have start building. In a place like the UK if housing is not profitable enough i would probably invest it cryptocurrencies (last year there was a coin i had watched where i could have won 7x my money had i invested) if not there's always stocks where you could easily make a 50% profit in a matter of a few months if you're wise. You'd probably need about 2M to start building in a decent area there but i also would, when you do that and you're not a tool then you're set for life, just rinse and repeat.

[Marc]

I'd go into the football forum business.

[Honey Honey]

15 minutes ago, Berserker said:

I'm sorry but your mate was clueless. It's relatively easy to become a multi-millionaire here if you have that kind of money and of course if you're smart enough. In a country like mine i would invest it in the "real" economy, either housing (hostels), goods (probably related to construction) or something else which not only secures most of my inversion (if you buy a flat to exploit it as hostel even if you don't do well you can just sell it and recover most if not all of the money) till i have doubled my money and then i would have start building. In a place like the UK if housing is not profitable enough i would probably invest it cryptocurrencies (last year there was a coin i had watched where i could have won 7x my money had i invested) if not there's always stocks where you could easily make a 50% profit in a matter of a few months if you're wise. You'd probably need about 2M to start building in a decent area there but i also would, when you that and you're not a tool then you're set for life, just rinse and repeat.

You wouldn't get much property for £250k in the UK. It's just above the average house price. I think that's why most Brits ideas are to use it to create a lifestyle they'd enjoy. Run a pub, a restaurant etc. Even investing through a broker in stocks and shares you'd be lucky if £250k returned £10k a year with any stable fund. If you're going for bigger returns then the risk of loss is great and usually in high risk packages you can easily lose 50% of the value. 

[Smiley Culture]

You’re not getting a lot for £250,000 when it comes to property down south. In fact, you’re getting nothing in some parts. You’d have to look at investing up north, potentially with little to no knowledge of the area. So, I’d be wary about investing money in that area. 

 

[Berserker]

5 minutes ago, Harvsky said:

You wouldn't get much property for £250k in the UK. It's just above the average house price. I think that's why most Brits ideas are to use it to create a lifestyle they'd enjoy. Run a pub, a restaurant etc. Even investing through a broker in stocks and shares you'd be lucky if £250k returned £10k a year with any stable fund. If you're going for bigger returns then the risk of loss is great and usually in high risk packages you can easily lose 50% of the value. 

Personally i would go for shares of companies whose value has dropped considerably recently and who will probably bounce back in the near time. As an example, because of the recent crisis we have been through because of the Fed upping interest rates, the capitals fleeing from emerging markets among other things, several shares from big banks, energy and service companies have fallen massively since April, but have also bounced back significantly only to fall again, allowing you to make around 50% profit in some like i mentioned in less than two months. It's a matter of opportunity, you can make that profit in a matter of months or if things went very south then you probably would recoup the money in the mid term, about 5 years. Of course you'd have to choose a decent company who will not just disappear into thin air.

 

12 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

You’re not getting a lot for £250,000 when it comes to property down south. In fact, you’re getting nothing in some parts. You’d have to look at investing up north, potentially with little to no knowledge of the area. So, I’d be wary about investing money in that area. 

 

That's what i thought, not even a rundown, big old house 15 mins from down-town Newcastle?

[MUFC]

If you can get a reposed house on the cheap, convert it into 2 or 3 flats. Is scope for decent profit.