View Full Version : We need YOUR view please!
hi folks i was wondering if you think there is a market for high quality, healthy, simple, cheap, sandwichs/rolls/on the move food, using mainly caithness produce to support the local producer and give the area a proper taste of whats out there on our door steps?
If you think it sounds like a good idea, would you say it would be better to work on a delivery basis mainly or to work similiar to some of the other types of food outlets?
All points of view and ideas will be greatly valued
Thanks Jhon
Kevin Milkins
25-Nov-08, 02:40
Hi Jhon and wellcome to the org.
I like what you are saying, but when you say on the move does that mean you are on the move (as in van type vendor) or the punter?.
I am a big fan of good quality local produce being cooked in a clean burger type van.
When I lived in Shropshire a guy had a very good roadside buisness based on a clean and simple outlet cooking a small menu of local sausage bacon or burger from a local well respected butcher served on a roll or sandwitch from a local baker.
All the food was fresh on the day and if he was having a good day he would phone his local suppliers that would drop off fresh stocks for him within the hour.
Its a simple but effective way of making a good living and providing a service to people on the move
Good luck with a new venture.
Yes Jhon welcome! I echo Kevin's sentiments and think yer proposal is a great idea!
Good Luck! :)
Hello Kevin and thanks for your comment, you have hit the nail on the head with what you said about good local produce, i was thinking a van would be the way to go if the council allow me a street trader licence (fingers crossed). Also a main buisness outlet for off the steet buying and largeer order to dropped at places of work. hope this gives you a better idea than i first proposed.
I dont mean to go on but we have some really fine food produce in the area, if it's all pulled together i think it could make something very special and unique for caithness folks to be proud of.
I dont mean to go on but we have some really fine food produce in the area, if it's all pulled together i think it could make something very special and unique for caithness folks to be proud of.
Do go on Jhon! That is what we need everywhere - local people getting together to offer something positive for themselves and the consumer!
Can you make sandwiches cheaper than someone at home can?
Not wishing to sound negative but the time is hardly right to start up a business which can be undercut by it's client base. You will have overheads and unless you have a regular set of reliable customers, such as truckers, then maybe you will struggle?
Where will you hope your pitch will be? In town? If so then you could be in competition with the existing sandwich/fast food outlets. I'm sure they will try to protect their income by objecting to any new businesses doing the same 'on their doorstep'.
Food delivery (Snacks/sandwiches) was a booming business in my local area a few years ago as industrial estates became established but the number of vendors seems to have dropped recently - I don't see the same vans running around as much as I did. Maybe the spiralling cost of fuel has closed the smaller businesses down. Hence my thought that the 'climate' today isn't really the best to try to establish a new business which will be mobile.
I am sure you have weighed up all of these factors and, before I am flamed for being negative, you did ask "All points of view and ideas will be greatly valued".
Good luck anyway...
Cheers madpict for your thoughts, the more the better.
Im testing the water before making any great headway with the venture. You are correct in sayin that i can't make food as cheap as someone would at home and still make it a worthy idea. That is the point, its for people that dont have time to get home, or are in the situation that they can't manage to get to a shop to buy all the ingredients to make there own dinners - students, young professionals and school kids are prime examples.
If you take a good look at the market in all of caithness, none of the fast food outlets are trying anything new. Compare this to some of the small outlets in the cities, where the food is on another level and the price is on a par with here.
I would start with ingredients from Halkirk to manufacture the Caithness "Bishop Burger" commemeorateing the good citizens historic boiling of their local prelate.
"Is it better to kill two birds with one stone than to get stoned with two birds?"
Bad Manners
25-Nov-08, 16:19
I wish you well with your venture and agree with all that it is based on sound logic however a word of caution whilst many speak of the wonderful idea as always it is driven by the mighty dollar or in our case the wee pound it will be harder than normal to start a new venture at this time but if you have done your research well people will always pay a fair price for good foood in whatever guise it may appear.
I wish you well and please keep us all informed as to when you start and where you will be.
Sorry Errogie i don't quite follow, do you mean like using local stories/tales as a theme for marketing? Have you got any other ideas?
Thanks bad manners, i can see what your sayin, do you think it could work as a co-operative so it spreads the costs and gives local producers a regular market?
I personally think this is a great idea. Having a mobile food supplier available in order to pick up a quick lunch would get alot of business. Especially if it's all local produce(which i prefer anyways). Good idea Jhon
Thanks Connor thats what i like to hear, if you don't mind me asking what do you think would work best? to have a daily delivery service of pre-ordered foods? Or to have a mobile van which you can order, watch the food being made, then eat?
I would actually see the benefits of both to be quite honest.
You've got to think about it in two ways. Benfits of both:
Mobile:
Be close or relatively near to the High School/College. This will be a major business spot as there will be plenty of customers.
Pre-Ordered:
Businesses will find this a great way to get their lunch directly to them. Also, there would be plenty of people in these office buildings etc.
Now, personally i would consider getting a mobile van AND a driver to deliver the sandwiches aswell.
This way you can take full advantage of the consumer market and ultimately increasing your daily takings.
Thats good thinking, i was thinking a small base in the centre of the town to cater for off the street buying + it the main touist areas to promote the local produce, then have a mobile van to cover the local college and school.
How do you think locals would react to there being a street trader? Do you think they can see the benifits of stopping the kids having to wander away down the street across roads etc for there lunch?
How do you think locals would react to there being a street trader? Do you think they can see the benifits of stopping the kids having to wander away down the street across roads etc for there lunch?
Locals will like the idea but your main problem would be from Established Traders also selling the same Food. If you need a Licence then they might do everything can to block this, which would be a Shame.
I think the school would appreciate business being so close as it stops children being in danger of getting hit by a car etc during school time.
Kodiak is dead on as other businesses wouldn't like competition and especially if most of their customers are people from offices and people in full time education.
I have to say that has been in the back of my mind for a while. I've spoke with a few folks i know at the council and they seem to think that with using local supplies all in all it is not in direct competition with any food suppliers currently trading, also with job creation in mind, it looks quite good so far.
I can see how some local businesses (not fastfood)could see it as a threat but they shouldn't, there is more than enough to go around, most of the local fast food outlets only seem to be going because they have a captive clientele base.
Bad Manners
25-Nov-08, 18:40
Thanks bad manners, i can see what your sayin, do you think it could work as a co-operative so it spreads the costs and gives local producers a regular market?
It would be worth looking into anything that reduces your outlay reduces you risk. Whilst everyone knows that it makes sence to buy local at the end of the day they are more worried about how much they have to spend I would recommed a market research task make samples of your product and take them to the locations you are concidering and gauge reaction ask the questions do they like it/ would they buy it if the price was £**** ask if there is anything esle you could include this along with other general questions would give you a better idea how you would do.
it is also far safer than going head long into something that cant sustain it's self.
As ever this is just my opinion as before I wish you well prepare to succeed not not fail to prepare
I would start with ingredients from Halkirk to manufacture the Caithness "Bishop Burger" commemeorateing the good citizens historic boiling of their local prelate.
"Is it better to kill two birds with one stone than to get stoned with two birds?"
are u for real???i find ur comments disturbing....[evil]
I had my lunch from a van in Inverness short ago. It came to the venue and had hot and cold food, we pre ordered so you just had to go out and get it. Usually I take my own lunch from home but on occassions I don't I honestly can't get excited about what's available because of the unimaginative fillings for sandwiches. On the other hand I reckon I've tried the salad bowls available in the area and most places soup. If you delivered it would be good for offices doing training or events and such like where they don't have food facilities. I'm not sure how much pupils would go for it if it was limited to sandwiches and rolls.
Dear or dear, he who ploughs a straight furrow may well be in a rut and is often terminally boring!
Everyone should regularly take a very deep breath of fresh air and indulge in a little horizontal thinking outside their personal furrow. The world is full of good examples of zany but highly successful marketing strategies which have hit the popular mark but almost certainly would have seemed off the wall at first sight e.g. from Tango to Tennants which have gone on to feature big in the national psyche.
So far as burgers are concerned I can just see a cheery, rotund clerical personage brandishing a whole meal roll full of succulent beef from the best butcher in Halkirk while in the background there is a good bonfire in being fed by sturdy mediaeval peasants perhaps atop something like Dirlot Castle. I fact this might even interest HRH and those entrpreneurs in Mey Selections.
And then what about a Flow Country Stag festival held in the tourist shoulder months of September and October? The bogs and the hills are alive with deer bellowing and hollering and running backwards and forwards rolling in black peat bogs and doing what deer do naturally at that time of year. Obviously in consultation with the shooting estates it wouldn't be hard to identify certain accessible areas where tourists can be taken to witness this phenomen and offer a prize for the best photograph of the season and even special hotel room rates for honeymoon couples.
Take it away Caithness, its all yours!
are u for real???i find ur comments disturbing....[evil]Wind yer neck in Binbob, a Bishopburger would keep the guys memory alive in the stomach of lots of people who would otherwise never have heard the horrifying tale of those murderous citizens of Halkirk.
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