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So my wife inherited a defunct commercial building with a leaky roof and crumbling corner. $12,000 later it’s dry and sound. We’re paying taxes on it and waiting for the next thing to cost money so we decided to either sell it or use it. The building is located by a busy street a few minutes from a 1,000 student high school. Cars go by every ten to fifteen seconds throughout the day with a decent morning rush hour. For this reason I intend to make the building into a drive-through coffee and donuts kind of place. I’d imagine that from 6am to 10am we could conservatively sell 800 drinks and 800 donuts netting double what the two of us make now.- I’ve sourced a donut machine that claims to be capable of 40 dozen donuts an hour. I’ve been picking up espresso machines and coffee pots when they’re cheap. I can cut concrete, set drains, run gas and water. I’ve been a plumber for ten years and I’ve built quite a few kitchens but I’ve never designed one. One current sticking point is a grease hood. I’d like a 5x12’ island hood in the middle of the kitchen but I can’t find one. Then there’s also the layout consideration. I’ve never done much food service work and I’d hate to build my enterprise suboptimally. Long story short I’m capable of doing most of what needs done I just don’t know exactly what that is. I can budget maybe 75,000 for this because that’s all the time I have before our projected open date and we’re funding this with our wages. If any of you goons would like to weigh in I’d appreciate it.
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Sep 13, 2022 16:37
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There’s really no telling how much we’re able to sell it for. I know it wouldn’t pay for a better location, though. I’ve been scoping out all the local cafes and bakeries and talking to the people in them. One guy told me he hands about 2k through the window in a typical shift. One lady manages a kk and told me they’ll move 45k in donuts a week. I’ve managed up to fourteen people at a given time, which I imagine is way more than I’ll need for a typical day. I’ve done some accounting in my time but it usually boils down to “we can maybe get that in three months” As far as cash flow, I figure we’re either selling or we’re not. If the store doesn’t turn $25 of flour into $200 of donuts we won’t need another $25 in flour. As I onboard people I’d like to pay them well. It’s hosed up to have a guy bring in 2k and send him home with $87. In the early going I’d almost have to work it myself. I don’t trust anyone who is available to get it off the ground for me. I never really -wanted- to do anything but the more I look into donut making the more intrigued I am by the artistry that you’ll see. I think it’d be really rewarding to fill display cases with bear claws and poo poo. I’ll keep my union dues current, though. I also don’t want to franchise I want well-paid workers in my community.
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Sep 13, 2022 20:17
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Democratic Pirate posted:Looks like Krispy Kreme’s latest operating income is around 2%-4%, as a reference point. Lots of shrink in donuts and coffee since they are so perishable. Absolutely perishable so rather than selling old donuts and coffee one should donate them to the local charitable organizations at closing time and write it off
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Sep 13, 2022 23:44
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Have you worked in this line of business before? I’ve never done food service but for all of 2013 I worked on a crew of Mexicans so I can do anything now. But seriously we’re taking the servsafe class in like six weeks.
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Sep 13, 2022 23:47
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kreeningsons posted:You seem to be committed to treating your workers well, which is admirable. Have you considered a worker co-op ownership and management model? I don't know a lot about these except for the few that I've been to, which seem to thrive in a certain kind of American city. I don’t know how easily I’ll part with my stake once we’re up and running but I’m trying to figure a pay schedule that rewards volume and efficiency. The majority of customers are likely driving to work or school and so the more cars we move the more money everyone makes. Something like 5% of the till or $100, whichever is more.
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Sep 13, 2022 23:50
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:How involved do you really want to be? If it were me, I would view your plan as "buying myself a part-time job", and I would find a professional management company and leasing agent who would place a tenant in the building and handle all maintenance and landscaping and simply put a check in the mail for me once a month after skimming a little off the top. In the early going I anticipate being there all the time. If it fails I’ll shut it down and see if there are any jobs at the union hall. If it succeeds I’ll hire people to run it and take the kids camping. If it’s just limping along at the five year mark I’ll probably pull the plug. The building is 80x24 and the lot is 150x50. It’s a block single story they built in 1964. The parking situation will get wonky with the drive through but six or seven people asked about a dining room so I guess it should have one. Currently the lot is grass that I mow. There isn’t another dunkin, Starbucks, Panera, or anything for fifteen minutes in any direction. It’s possible that the line will be full for hours every morning. The idea behind donuts was to make each ticket a little bigger without adding much work during peak times. I was going to spend money on a Gucci espresso machine and have a few baristas run it but lol nobody here gives a poo poo about coffee. I’m seeing dollar signs though. Filling an order every 36 seconds means filling 100 orders an hour. Automatic espresso machines, the donuts are already made. During service we can maybe get by with just four people Aside from selling donuts out the window I can send truckloads to office parks, construction sites, and factories. I could wholesale to caterers or grocery stores. I could prank my friends by filling their cars with donuts.
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Sep 14, 2022 01:54
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Hotel Kpro posted:Do you know how to make good donuts? Do you have a set recipe? What flavors will you have? Can you do cream filled? What about bars? What about a double chocolate donut, do you have another recipe lined up for that? Will you make gluten free donuts? How early in the morning do you plan on going in to get things started? There’s a good supplier with every variety of cake donut mix as well as filling frosting glaze and on and on that will even come out and show you how to get busy. The guy whose donut machine I’m looking at said they saw him icing donuts with a knife and dunked all the donuts in the icing two at a time and saved him hours of his life. They sell three grades of stuff and while the top grade is a bit pricey for cake batter the taste and texture more than make up for it. Dude also has a pedal-operated filler so I would t have to play around with piping bags. I plan on getting going at maybe one or two in the morning. It takes time to proof dough and you’ve got to do it twice to make yeast donuts. I can get dough in the proofer, mix up some glazes, form donuts and get them in the proofer, bang out a bunch of cake donuts, fry all my dough, and then dress all the donuts up with toppings and what have you. Chocolate cake donuts with orange frosting are haloween festive. Maple cream with bacon bits will absolutely be a hit at least with me. As far as gluten-free and other more niche products if I hear about it every week I’ll probably get it on the menu. One thing I’ve been toying with lately is a savory breakfast donut. Like maybe stick ham and bechamel in a raised round and broil some cheese on top? I don’t know. I just don’t want people to pass me by because they’re not feeling a sweet tooth. This dude Lester chastain put out a dvd about making donuts and I think he demonstrates like fifty varieties of just raised yeast.
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Sep 14, 2022 16:52
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Anne Whateley posted:Is 36 seconds per order a estimate based on anything? Never have I ever received a Dunkin Donuts order within 36 seconds, or three people at three registers in <2 minutes. 36 seconds is just an ideal. The automated espresso machines from dunkin might not be able to spit the drink out in 30 seconds but I’m sure kids will love the product. Crazy orders with 11 pumps of 9 different syrups will be a pain in the dick but the idea here is that most of the coffee and all of the food is ready when they pull up. As far as surviving long enough to get customers, we can live on my wife’s money now. My line of work has been very feast or famine with typical weeks paying 1300-2000 dollars and whole months of unexpected time off. As long as we’re not hemorrhaging money we can afford to go on, and the inputs are cheap. If I have to work for free to make sure everyone loves working there.
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Sep 14, 2022 17:09
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I would call up a retail leasing agent, tell them your property's address, and ask them WHY there isn't a Starbucks or a Donut shop within 15 minutes It’s the second biggest school district in the state in terms of area but it’s middle of the pack as far as enrollment.
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Sep 14, 2022 21:25
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kreeningsons posted:Out of the few small, independent (vegan) donut shops that I've been to, most will only bake a certain amount and then will post something on instagram saying they are SOLD OUT nearly every day. I guess this prevents a lot of shrink from overbaking. It also hypes the donuts since there is a FOMO factor. A donut shop actually closed around here lately so I talked to the lady for awhile one day to see why. She didn’t have a drive-through, she didn’t have parking , she only served drip coffee, she did everything by hand herself, she never intended to hire people or automate the process. She would sell out in three or four hours every day. She didn’t want to charge more. She didn’t want to make more “eventually I just hated the smell of donuts.” Which I can believe since she hand-iced and hand-filled everything so there was a hard upward limit on her earning potential. She was sold out by 9 most days but her hours were 6-12. I wonder how many people gave up on stopping by. Selling out every day would be cool but I’d rather have extra. I’d rather give away donuts than close early. I know that this means I’d be actively wasting money to avoid leaving any on the table BUT Around here people go apeshit for a blueberry cake donut that this farm store makes. The lady who makes them says they’re literally just add water instant batter from the distributor. The icing, too. If I can spam the local community with fresh delicious donuts, even if they’re no better than the famous ones, I think people will forego the thirty minute ride and buy mine. They do $1.25 or 12.50/dz. Judging by the distributor’s catalog this is like a 600% profit margin. After gas, grease, power, the whole everything let’s say 400%. This means I can make $7/dz at $10/dz. The donut machine says 65-80 dozen an hour. Supposing I suck at running it and I only make 30 dozen an hour for six hours that’s still $1260 of value added. If I only sell a third of the donuts I make I should break even.
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Sep 15, 2022 19:02
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evobatman posted:Will your donut business lease the building from your commercial property business? I need an accountant don’t I?
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Sep 19, 2022 00:24
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Owing to the sporadic nature of my work we’ve adjusted our lifestyle to fit inside my wife’s income. The 75k budget is a function of how much time we’ve got before our projected opening date. We’ve currently got seven rental units trickling in money and the building as-is won’t lease for more than a paycheck. If my donut business fails I can lease a turn-key shop for much, much more. The guy selling the donut machine says he’ll gladly come on as a consultant for a while. He works for a college so his schedule isn’t too full in the summertime. The electrician estimated 17k out the door. I found drive-thru windows for 2,250 I found a grease hood for 4500 Found a 3-bay with a grease trap for 600 Found some janky dunkin automatic espresso machines for 250 each Donut guy won’t name his price. I’d like to take all his wares in one swell foop but I don’t know where to start. I don’t want to rip him off or insult him. I look at this like a roll of the dice. My job will still be here if my business doesn’t make it. Maybe I piss away ten months of wages and end up just serving nice coffee at the house. Maybe I end up tripling my income and cutting my working day in half. Maybe I really break it big and end up with thirty franchises. Worst-case scenario I’m right back where I am now.
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Oct 6, 2022 13:41
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GoodluckJonathan posted:How certain are you this is the worst case scenario? Do you have an IRL friend(not your wife) you can tell all this to and get an honest opinion? If I open and operate with cash money then yeah, the worst that can happen is it fails and I close and take donuts to every party I attend for the rest of my life. The dire warnings I’ve been getting are like “it’s a lot of work” and “you have to use commercial equipment “ which both go without saying really.
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Oct 12, 2022 15:23
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Elephanthead posted:Can you buy donuts from someone else to see what your sales will be like before buying the monorail from the monorail salesman? This is a non-starter for me. I want to make good coffee and amazing donuts. I want people to be like “drat, these are some really nice donuts” I don’t want to leave my first impression up to some other rear end in a top hat.
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Oct 12, 2022 15:30
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cheque_some posted:I would assume there would be zoning regulations about starting a drive thru, is that something you've looked into? It’s zoned commercial and city hall knows what we’re about. What’s been pissing me off is that they want me to get a structural engineer to bless the masonry work because the windows are going to be cut into a load bearing wall. Closing in a man door on that side of the building so I’ll actually have more blocks than when I started. I’ll need him to sign off on the grease hood either way but the roof will actually be losing material where the wall is gaining it.
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Oct 12, 2022 15:35
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Midjack posted:OP read this article: https://torontolife.com/food/restaurant-ruined-life/ He paid $475 to have his hood cleaned and I’ve spiffed up five pieces of equipment for free so I’m $2375 ahead of that clown. Maybe I’m not a kitchen guy but I’m not a fuckin spreadsheet guy either. I’m also planning to do most of the cooking myself to save labor. Most of my ingredients will be shelf-stable so compressor disasters aren’t a thing. He got in because he loved food I’m getting in because I see a gap in the market.
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Oct 12, 2022 15:51
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Duckman2008 posted:You def need to post updates so we can follow this. They’re liquidating a school about an hour from me and I’m the lead bidder on a 12’ grease hood and a 40qt mixer as well as a bunch of racks and pans and small wares. If I win I’ll pay my homie to haul them down because I’ve been working 7x12 and I don’t have the time. I can’t figure out what a business plan is business seems so silly to me I walked by a classroom one time and dude had PROFIT=REVENUE-COSTS on the board like it was some sort of wisdom. The long and short of my business plan is that the ingredients cost less than the product and the competition isn’t nearby. I own the building, I’ve built out a hundred kitchens, I don’t need a loan. Literally what is a business plan they sound made up.
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Oct 12, 2022 16:04
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Elephanthead posted:If you can cut a hole in a donut you can cut a hole in a brick structural wall. I’ve literally done it for pay and it worked. You cut the lintel in before you take the blocks out and it’s all hunky dory. Now, the whole wall can’t be lintel but I’m literally adding more blocks (and common bond bottom block) as a ten-year construction worker and so it ruffles my feathers when they tell me I need their permission. If I wanna knock my poo poo over just let me knock my poo poo over its not your problem jeez
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Oct 13, 2022 13:56
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Anne Whateley posted:He doesn't even make donuts now. He needs the magic automated $$$$ donut machine that only fits in a store and uses the magic mixes. I fried some pillsbury crescent dough in my Dutch oven last night and it came out loving delicious so there.
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Oct 13, 2022 14:12
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:
Yeah before we open the store I intend to make a few hundred dozen to familiarize myself and git gud at frying dough. The same way your first bit of crack is free I plan on putting a whole lot of free product out there before I flip the sign. I’ve never had luck at a farmers market but I’ll bet donuts sell easier than freezer beef. There’s a lot of church activity locally like literally every night of the week there’s a church function within ten minutes of the kitchen so I could strategically pull up with refreshments at the addiction recovery meeting. Maybe that will become an avenue for getting rid of unsold donuts in the future. I
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Oct 13, 2022 14:25
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I for-real love the vibe in here I’m posting about this til it’s over. I wasn’t real smart before I got brain damaged so rather than residualizing the line of credit from the paper cup people I’ll guess that overhead before labor is like $150 a day? Wild-rear end guess for real but that’s insurance, utilities , licenses, perishable stock, water treatment, presents for my nose, et cetera. Then actually doing business costs money too like maybe there’s $3 of ingredients and $1 of paper goods in a dozen donuts and if some rear end in a top hat forgets the salt or doubles the salt or pisses in the salt you never see a return. I think my restaurant friends drop the ball here because they think a $9 hand should really give a poo poo about their business. They’re constantly griping about these low-wage teenaged workers as if it’s really their fault that whatever task was forgotten or bungled and in the next breath toasting themselves for another banner year. A big part of my model is about employee buy-in. If everyone’s pay is yoked to the till they’ll be more interested in getting transactions wrapped up quickly and correctly. The whole team will be interested in getting new hires up to speed. The whole team will be interested in the continued success of the enterprise. So for service on opening day I’ll want four people One takes orders and money One makes drinks One puts orders together and out the window One runs around for change or coffee or receipt paper or another rack of donuts After 1pm or so two of them can go home but it’ll also need a good deep clean/restock every night so I’ll just figure 32 hours at $20 for a $640 bill. Then there’s still gonna be a bit of waste and theft so let’s say the first $1000 each day just primes the pump. That’s about 145 dozen donuts or 600 coffees or I don’t even know what my prices are going to be yet so it’s kind of moot
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Oct 16, 2022 15:36
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My plan is to do lots of business lol
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Oct 16, 2022 22:21
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Got a $1200 blender for making quiet drinks
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Oct 16, 2022 22:26
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Boba Pearl posted:Do not open a donut shop. What the heck dude
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Oct 17, 2022 00:23
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I got the tude now posted:i'm a pastry chef managing production of a donut shop and i'm confident you're taking this lightly. So what’s up am I missing anything does 4500/month sound low
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Oct 17, 2022 01:21
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I’m lead bidder on a 40 quart mixer. As far as having a standout product: the distributor sells different grades of mix and the premium stuff tastes much nicer. I can also dress them up with captain crunch or whatever to make them a bit more distinctive. Actual doughnuts are much newer to me but I know that the real profit margins are there. It costs a quarter to make a cake donut and like a dime to make a classic raised glazed. I also personally prefer yeast doughnuts and I’m more interested in mastering their craft. I think $2 or $20/dz will make money on the donuts I gently caress around with so long as I gently caress around expeditiously. I think $1 for a raised glazed won’t bankrupt me.
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Oct 17, 2022 10:07
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I just bought a Univex srm 40 for $1630 so you can’t tell me poo poo!
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Oct 17, 2022 18:10
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I just filled a big uhaul with poo poo from a failed pizzatitty place and hauled it home in the dark. My old wrestling buddy helped me pack it and unpack it and also drink beers. We paid 5100 out the door for msrp totalling 62000. Got two coolers, a four-tap kegerator, two fryers, the mixer, two refrigerated prep tables, a three-bay sink, three hand sinks, 44 chairs, I forget how many tables, a bunch of pans, a speedrack, like 200 shot glasses, a pizza peel, a bunch of stage lights, booths, blah blah blah Got the mixer and figured I better get a truckload and it took a few tries to shut the door. To get the power on I have to show plans with the specific equipment I’ll be using so it’s cool to have bought a big chunk of it.
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Oct 18, 2022 06:13
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Powerful Katrinka posted:What are you going to do with 200 shot glasses and 44 chairs? Why did you buy stage lighting? The shot glasses could maybe serve espresso. The chairs were like $1.25. The stage lighting was like $10. I’m gonna post pics for the doubters
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Oct 18, 2022 13:33
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 Gonna go get some more pics later today I’m pretty hype
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Oct 18, 2022 14:01
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Oil! posted:Coffee house in the morning, craft beer bar at night. Burn that candle at both ends My little nephew has a brewery so I bud on it thinking maybe he’d like to have it but when I told him about it he left me on read lol. Pretty sure I paid as much as four new tap handles would cost. It’s in relatively rough shape but we’re gonna see how spiffy it gets. Maybe I flip it to a frat house and maybe I just have ballin rear end parties at my house.
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Oct 18, 2022 14:08
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Powerful Katrinka posted:Even the last contender for Coffee Fail Goon abandoned the idea before buying equipment or renting space, and thank God: it was right before Covid The one lady who babysat me bought a pizza place like a month before Covid and she said it turned every night into Saturday night with ninety minute lead times from 4-9 pm
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Oct 18, 2022 14:18
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oh rly posted:Tell us more about the pizzatitty place. Do you have an idea on why it failed? Got the old name? Pizzatitty place was in the middle of nowhere for starters. I got there by way of punkin holler road, as an example of how remote this place was. Generally you’d want to be visible from the freeway so lonely dudes know where to pull off for a sniff, but I feel like you’d literally never find this place by accident. Then behind the bar in this rural Pennsylvania unincorporated area was a sign that said “no club colors” which tells me that the crowd had not been very chill. Then the stage was like an afterthought like they made it a titty bar when they realized there wasn’t enough traffic and they didn’t have a lot of cash on hand. The guy said theft is what eventually did him under. He said the drawer and the bottles were just always light no matter how many people he fired. And I can believe it because if I was a stripper dancing for four dudes making loving $30 in tips I’d rob the till to square up, too.
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Oct 18, 2022 14:30
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builds character posted:You should sell cookies in the afternoon so you can hit up the kids coming out of school/parents going to pick them up then too. Yeah definitely the distributor sells frozen cookie dough at like .40 a cookie that you just dump on a tray and bake. $2 or 2/$3 all day long.
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Oct 18, 2022 14:37
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:Is it bad that I can smell the chairs when I see that picture? I wouldn’t out myself as a guy who smells chairs
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Oct 18, 2022 16:23
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https://imgur.com/a/sRbDtpT
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Oct 18, 2022 18:27
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Motronic posted:Was the reach in operating and down to temp when you bought it? If not it's very unlikely it works at all and will cost you a few hundred bucks to just dispose of it. Likely a lot more to make it work. Auctioneers posted some sort of operational warranty but if it’s busted my union hall buddy is an hvac/r tech and he claims he’ll fix anything that heats or cools and he lives a few blocks from the shop. There’s $1.25 of firewood in those chairs The fryers aren’t really pertinent to donuts but I got them for $40 and theyre $1755 new so eat my rear end nerd. You can’t get an air fryer for $80. Are they gonna be $3000 hosed up or will they spit out like a hundred pounds of fries an hour in my next wildly successful enterprise Stage lighting yeah not really even worth the $50 but io was already taking a uhaul out there so gently caress it As for the mixer no I bought it sight unseen because the stickers looked fresh which told me it hadn’t been used hard. The mixer was the primary reason I was looking at the auction and I had originally “budgeted” 5k for a good mixer so instead I got this one plus a bunch of other poo poo for $5100 and we’re gonna see how it shakes out. Some other goon was telling me I couldn’t use my kitchen aid and I didn’t respond because how rude Donut guy has a belshaw adamatic 718 along with a glazing table, speedracks, proofers, a dough sheeter, pedal filler, various and sundry small wares. He gave me the Lester chastain dvd and told me to reach out in November. I’m not sure how much to offer or if I should mention the deals I’ve been getting. Then I still have to get all the coffee stuff Electrician quoted 17k
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Oct 18, 2022 19:52
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So I’m not a kitchen guy but you’re a psychiatrist
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Oct 18, 2022 20:54
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That’s a weird ask bro let me see yours first
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Oct 18, 2022 21:18
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I’m closer than I was last week
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Oct 18, 2022 21:49
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