Until we action our start-up, I am currently in the commercial property game, albeit
mainly in the UK.
It is unheard of for any landlord to take a cut of profits and the only time we have
come across this is when the taking on of a franchise for an existing business is
involved.
6,000sq ft is enough space for a substantial caf� and 50+machines, are you sure you
need this amount of space. Our property plan is for 40 machines and seating for at
least 50 people in a caf� area. We need approx. 4,000sq ft.
This is your cue to tell us Brits that everything is bigger in the States.
A typical 100 seater restaurant in the UK is approx. 4,000 - 5,000 sq ft.
50 covers will fit comfortably into 2,500 - 3,000 sq ft including bar area.
Irrespective of location, there is nothing worse as a customer, than to walk into a
large social space, particularly if the place is practically empty.
You are quite correct in that the price for property rental is exponentially different
between a small town and large commuter areas.
As a general guide for locating a service business in an area; local authorities have
population figures and rather than targeting by computer ownership or potential
incomes for an area, go with the population figures, they are all potential users.
Also try to get a location that has a lot of foot traffic. If this is not possible,
then you need to do extensive advertising to attract people off the beaten track and
this will always be an uphill struggle.
During our research, we have also come across a large number of cybercafe's that are
now no longer in business. As a general rule for these drop outs, they have located
in back streets or in areas that have little foot traffic. For any business that
relies on the public, unless you have some gimmick that pulls people to you, being on
the fringe with regards to location is generally a recipe for disaster.
This might sound like spouting the obvious but look at the facts; there are still
start-ups that believe finding a cheaper premises in a slightly less prominent
position is the way to progress. All I can say to this, is, if you have the people
pulling gimmick, then good luck, else, it was nice knowing you while it lasted.
Regards
DaveS
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Phillips [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 17 October 2000 13:08
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [cc] CyberCafes in USA?
How profitable is it to open a CyberCafe in America? From what I can see,
if you open in a small town, you will have faster access than anyone else
because Cable and DSL aren't offered (probably). Also, in a small town, the
lease for a building isn't that much (I found a nice 6,000 square foot
building for about $1,200 per month). However, is a small town large enough
to support a CyberCafe? On the other hand, a large town has enough people
to keep the CyberCafe open, but the lease price for the building is very
large (One building I found was $15,000 per month plus 4% of whatever money
I made.). Plus, Cable and/or DSL are offerred there, which is fast enough
for most people (except for the serious downloader).
Has anyone out there had any luck with a CyberCafe in a small town in the
USA? How about in a large one? All of the CyberCafes I've seen listed in
my state (Georgia) from a CyberCafe search engine have all closed down. So,
this kind of puts a damper on things for me.
Another thought I had was to open the CyberCafe in Indonesia (my wife is
from there). I know that CyberCafes are very popular there (I've even been
to a couple of them, myself.) so I know it could work. I could probably get
one of her family members to run it for me. Has anyone had any success with
owning a CyberCafe in a distant location like that?
Thanks,
Greg Phillips
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