General Chat

Thanks again Maggie! Will look into that one and french flour!! I am a sucker for pastries, so love the sound of that side of it!!

Ah - but if you are a patisserie - your baguettes will be made with French flour (much nicer) - and the french pastries would be your differentiation from all the other sandwich shops!

Hi Maggie
Hadn't really thought of that - no! Off the top of my head, I would perhaps be concerned re competition over baguettes etc as there are lots of takeaway sandwich shops in the area, hence I thought puddings might be the way forward! Will give it some thought though, thanks!

Have you thought about a French patisserie?
Then you could shroud the puddings in an air of Je ne sais quois!!
For example - an apple pie would be a Tarte du pomme.
You could then sell croissants to passing trade for breakfast, and baguettes and small french pastries for the lunch trade.

Thanks Rose, I have noticed that the food shops round here stay busy all the time!

Whirley, it is an area surrounded by offices on the edge of a retail shopping centre, containing clothes shops, gift shops etc (high end market shopping centre). On the other side of the street there are a number of sandwich shops and cafes, but nothing nearby that does puddings or even cakes.

Sarah

would depend on the area and what other shops were there already. Have you done any market research where you are thinking of setting up?..

I took on a market stall beginning of year ( not now)....after a few days of watching it led us to believe that the only stalls doing any kind of business were food stalls, especially the cake shop and deli.... on that basis and looking round several town centres of late, the cafes and food outlets still seem to be the winners.

Hi Polly, and yes, thats the way I see it! Whole puddings for people to take home, individual takeaway portions for snacking on, as well as office type functions if there was a market.

Sarah

hi sounds good to me
would you be doing whole puddings for people to buy and take home as well as individual portions or for parties if people wanted them

Thanks Rose! I know I would use it, and a lot of my work colleagues nip out for chocolate fixes etc in the day and say they would use it, but thats not really good market research is it?!

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, it helps, positive or negative!

Sarah

You could visit the offices with flyers - even take orders and deliver to them.

Rose

Is there a demand for puddings at lunch? I would think the lunchtime market is more protein based. Comfort food does do well in a recession though.

Rose

Hi Rose

I thought of the farmers market idea earlier too, and might give that a go!

City demographics:
population approx 300000
mean average age 36.5
majority white population, approx 30% live within 3 miles of the city.

The shop I am interested in is in an area surrounded by offices and on the very edge of a retail shopping centre.

Sarah

What demographic are you targeting?

You could test things out at a farmer's market.

Rose

Red Squirrel
Predominantly takeaway lunchtime, but would also do larger portions for taking home!

Sue, will pm you now - thanks!

Sarah

Sarah

If you want my research info (which applies anywhere really) just pm me.

Sue

Are the puds to be taken home or to be consumed for lunch?

Hi Sue, and thanks!

Oh, that sounds complex, but yes, have worked out OH's and footfall is approx 1.3million p/a, apparently. Not sure what an IMO is?!!

This is all new and hence requires research!
Any comments useful - thanks all!

Do you have your set up costs, OHs and footfall research?

It's a risk IMO (I do have experience of researching this for a business associate). The economic climate has meant that less if being spent in retail food outlets.

But good luck

Sue

Hi Jean, I agree about the puddings in a basin- yum! I have sat outside said shop today for some time and average 20 people per minute walk by.. But how many would go in?!!

Arrgh!