What you must know before
opening a canteen
When you're starting a fast food
business it's important to carefully calculate all of the
expenses you're about to have. You will have to make a
budget and a business plan, put in rent, equipment, and
necessary ingredients. You also have to know who will work
for you, how many people do you need, and how are you going
to pay them.
A carefully structured business
plan can be a tremendous help when you only start your
business. But it is impossible to foresee all the scenarios.
If there is anything to be certain about it's the following
rule: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
So it becomes extremely important
to not only have a plan A and B but go down to the alphabets
with c and d. If you find the draft in the beginning there
is always an option to address your family and friends and
gather necessary funds through them. But is it truly a good
way to go? Let's say you can’t return the investment as fast
as you were hoping to. It might draw you and your family
members apart. Also, it's so important not to mix business
and personal finances. For that reason, you must have a fast
financing option at hand. Keep in mind where you can borrow
money in case of an emergency.
In our case, the canteen was already in operational mode. We have made our estimates and when you then we are fine with money although they were very tight. We were hoping to recharge our accounts after the first weekend of operation. We've spread out the invitations, and have arranged a grand opening with a party for a local community.
In order to save some money, we had to go with the option of buying used equipment. We have checked and double-checked the condition of the pieces was great. So we were absolutely shocked when we understood, two days before the opening, our gas tank was leaking. The solution to this problem was quite expensive: together with its technician’s work, we needed around $900. We were sure we would make this money in the first two weeks of operation, but we didn't have it in hand. It was a nightmare. Thankfully we were considering different options of additional financing. There was no time to apply for a loan with the credit union because the problem had to be fixed at the moment. Apart from a credit union option, we were also considering payday loans. It was not our first choice, but we knew that in case of emergency we would get the loan very fast. So when the emergency came, we were at least sort of prepared. Right after the technician informed us about this leak and made out the estimate, we contacted a payday lender and got ourselves a $1000 loan. Since all the negotiations and phone conversations were happening in front of the gas technician, he knew the money was coming the next day. So he did his job immediately and we were able to move on with our opening plans.
When you're about to do something by yourself you have to be ready to find some unconventional solutions and make sacrifices in the name of what you are trying to achieve.
