A well-filled cash register at the end of a busy day gives every hospitality entrepreneur a great feeling. But before that happens, you will have to incur a (considerable) number of costs. We list the most important ones:
Catering property
You can rent or buy premises, with the location of your sandwich store helping determine the price. The rent and purchase price of a catering business in the center of a large city is obviously higher than that of a similar property in a sparsely populated area. In addition, you might make investments to make the premises to your liking.
Kitchen equipment and supplies
Without a refrigerator, deep fryer, stove, microwave and other kitchen equipment and without dishes, cutlery and glasses, you don't have to open the doors of your sandwich store. The supply of used stuff is large, so you do not have to buy everything new, nevertheless, the investment quickly amounts to many thousands of euros.
Furniture
With tables and chairs, lighting and accessories, give your sandwich store a cozy look. If you are creative, a lot is possible with a limited budget and the furnishings don't have to cost the grand prize.
Franchise Fee
If your sandwich store becomes part of a franchise formula, you will pay a fee for the name and intellectual property of the business. The amount of the fee varies by chain.
Technology
To run your sandwich store properly, you need technology, such as cash registers, a reservation system and possibly a music system. The cost depends on the software and hardware you purchase, but count on a one-time expense of a thousand euros and a monthly fee of several hundred euros.
Staff
Staffing represents a sizable portion of your structural costs. How much staff you need is difficult to estimate, but it is smart to set aside a certain amount of personnel costs for a longer period of time.
Stock
You can't start a sandwich store without supplies. Count on a few thousand euros for the purchase of long-life products such as drinks and dried food, and preferably buy products such as vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy products fresh.
Licenses and registrations
Your sandwich store can only open if you have the required permits. In this article you can read more about the various permits, which can easily cost you a few thousand euros to open.
Marketing
Having guests lining up at your sandwich store from day one is not a realistic thought. To attract customers, you will have to advertise, for example through social media. If you do that yourself, it will mainly cost you (valuable) time. In many situations it is therefore wise to hire someone to do it.
We understand that you may not be able to cough up the start-up capital for your own sandwich store right away. That this is true for most entrepreneurs may reassure you. As does the fact that there are several ways to raise the required amount. You can ask family and friends to support you financially or apply for a microcredit from the Microcredit Netherlands Foundation. You might also consider partnering with a business partner, seeking business investors or asking fellow citizens to invest in your sandwich store via crowdfunding.
