Setting up a small food business in Australia

[Kenny202]

This one out of left field but was wondering if by chance anyone here was in the fast food business in Australia, specifically NSW. 

With all the changes and the ever falling dollar / rising baht I am toying around with the idea of going back home and starting a business.

The idea of a small takeaway type shop in a smaller town seaside type place appeals. Not after huge bucks just a bit of an income and a nice quiet life.

I have had several businesses before so know what I am letting myself in for re hours, suppliers, deliveries etc. Probably no staff required.

Pretty right as far as setting up costs, equipment etc. 

 

just wondering if anyone knows roughly what sort of coin I could be up for for say Permits, licenses, insurance etc. All of the nanny state stuff. Is it prohibitive these days?

 

 

[rosst]

It depends on the area but the item sending most of these businesses broke is the huge rents demanded. 

 

The Perth CBD is seeing huge reduction in tenancies 

[millymoopoo]

Yep, 'rosst' is right, huge rents mean you have to earn $1500/w net profit to pay rent before it gets anywhere near your pocket, and yes there's a heap of 'nanny state' compliance too...!

It may be better to set up a 'chuck wagon' and do the fairs, field days and festivals.

Initial set up costs are dearer but no on going rent - other than the days your on site.

[MikeN]

Well, in my former life I used to slave over a hot stove in restaurants and commercial kitchens mainly in NSW, but not a takeaway place like you want. All I can say is that I would never want to be my own boss in the food business nowadays, stick to working for somebody else. Get a regular wage every week, let the owner worry about the licenses, rising costs, variable turnover depending on the weather (especially in your seaside town) etc.

 Ever done a Food Handlers course ? You will need the certificate. If you do employ staff you will also need to have a designated Food Safety Supervisor, from memory the course that I did was $250 several years ago.

 The premises will need inspecting for the appropriate Food business license, should not be too much hassle if you take over an existing business but some local councils can be very fussy if setting up a new place.....make sure you have adequate exhaust ventilation, enough hand wash basins, no crevices that can trap food waste, etc etc.

 God luck, but remember  that most food businesses go under in less than 18 months.

[owenm]

It would be a huge take-on, and in a nanny state like Australia full of red tape and regulations as far as selling takeaway foods.. 

 

The biggest considerations are rent with a 1-3 year lease commitment, start-up costs, adequate insurance with liability cover, LOCATION location, ABN and ACN registration of the business for tax purposes, having regular health and safety inspections from council, electricity, gas and water charges..

 

The list is endless.. Cash flow for replenishing your stock, your anticipated earnings from profit and tax liabilities.. A good business plan with projections, anticipated sales, costs of business including taxation liabilities, cash flow predictions and minimum wage expections.. Do you expect to be making a profit in year one, two or three?? 

 

You could save all the headaches working for someone as an employee with guaranteed hourly rates and superannuation contributions.. Or Centrelink now have a program for 50+ doing 15hrs pw (2 days) of voluntary work for $300 pw.. 

[mogandave]

Just set up a cart in front of an established eatery and work the blow-off.

 

If anyone comes by and asks for your license, just pretend you don’t speak English and they should leave you alone.

 

[brianthainess]

8 hours ago, millymoopoo said:

mean you have to earn $1500/w net profit to pay rent before it gets anywhere near your pocket, and yes there's a heap of 'nanny state' compliance too...!

It may be better to set up a 'chuck wagon' and do the fairs, field days and festivals.

Initial set up costs are dearer but no on going rent - other than the days your on site.

And Markets. Yep, 'rosst' is right, huge rents

[Kenny202]

Thanks guys. Gone off the idea already [emoji50]

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[White Christmas13]

14 minutes ago, Kenny202 said:

Thanks guys. Gone off the idea already

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https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/celebrity-chef-george-calombaris-faces-up-to-leigh-sales-on-730/news-story/26a179fcc43d9210ac35eee8ab248e9c

 

Read this did not pay staff wages in the tune of 7.8 million dollars

Edited August 1, 2019 by White Christmas13

[White Christmas13]

Even our Fish n Chips lady Pauline Hanson gave up her shop and became a politician 

[jack7106]

businessforsale.com.au

 

I own a general store and  Newsagency in the upper hunter Valley New South Wales. I personally would only ever buy a freehold business, therefore you have ultimate control over all aspects of your business. Hope this helps ????????????

Edited August 1, 2019 by jack7106

[Kenny202]

11 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/celebrity-chef-george-calombaris-faces-up-to-leigh-sales-on-730/news-story/26a179fcc43d9210ac35eee8ab248e9c

 

Read this did not pay staff wages in the tune of 7.8 million dollars

Always came across as a grub. Don't know how he got his mug on TV

[Kenny202]

11 hours ago, jack7106 said:

businessforsale.com.au

 

I own a general store and  Newsagency in the upper hunter Valley New South Wales. I personally would only ever buy a freehold business, therefore you have ultimate control over all aspects of your business. Hope this helps ????????????

Jeez would have thought a news agency a tough gig these days with everything online. I guess if you are in a country area you would still sell a lot of stationary, school supplies etc.

[4MyEgo]

The best business you can have is to run it from home, i.e. no overheads on top of your rent/mortgage or if your fortunate enough to have it paid off. No insurances required, additional electricity costs, wages, etc etc.

 

Try looking at other alternatives from the food industry because the competition is hard, and from what I hear a lot of people are eating in these days, or takeaways delivered to your door by Uber. Speaking to my daughter on the phone the other day and she was getting a chicken wrap delivered to her by Uber for $13.00, about (280 baht) ????

 

I can't offer you any alternate business suggestions, but am talking from experience, e.g. I have friends in the game and all but one are constantly complaining.

 

I do consultancy work from home, did it back when I was working pre-2015 in Sydney and it followed me here to Thailand in my retirement as the client's retained my email address and mobile number, they also refer people to me, so I still take it on, making about a 6th of what I was making back in Oz, one down fall is the 32.5% tax that I pay as a non-resident because the money is made in Australia, it is still enough to cover half of our living costs here, so I won't say no and the work is easy, so I upped my fee which ranges from $100-$200 per job and they still keep coming, don;t know how much longer I will keep doing it, better to have a coin in hand, is better than a coin, than no coin in hand if you follow.

 

Don;t get me wrong and I am not boasting, I don't need the money, but I see pensioners who lives have been turned upside down because of the rising baht and falling $, now saving can also go down unless you have investments which can also go sideways, you just never know, so you have to diversify, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones, as the last 4 years living here has basically cost me next to nothing. 

 

Good luck either way, but opening up a food business has to be in a good pedestrian area with high volumes of people, and we all know rents will be sky high, high stress levels will follow as well because you will need everything else that goes with it.

[Wongkitlo]

I often go to Australia to do sales work in shopping centres for 8 or so weeks at Xmas. Is hard work for 8 weeks or so but you can make good money. Is with a long established world wide company. PM me if you are interested.

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[Kenny202]

The best business you can have is to run it from home, i.e. no overheads on top of your rent/mortgage or if your fortunate enough to have it paid off. No insurances required, additional electricity costs, wages, etc etc.
 
Try looking at other alternatives from the food industry because the competition is hard, and from what I hear a lot of people are eating in these days, or takeaways delivered to your door by Uber. Speaking to my daughter on the phone the other day and she was getting a chicken wrap delivered to her by Uber for $13.00, about (280 baht) [emoji846]
 
I can't offer you any alternate business suggestions, but am talking from experience, e.g. I have friends in the game and all but one are constantly complaining.
 
I do consultancy work from home, did it back when I was working pre-2015 in Sydney and it followed me here to Thailand in my retirement as the client's retained my email address and mobile number, they also refer people to me, so I still take it on, making about a 6th of what I was making back in Oz, one down fall is the 32.5% tax that I pay as a non-resident because the money is made in Australia, it is still enough to cover half of our living costs here, so I won't say no and the work is easy, so I upped my fee which ranges from $100-$200 per job and they still keep coming, don;t know how much longer I will keep doing it, better to have a coin in hand, is better than a coin, than no coin in hand if you follow.
 
Don;t get me wrong and I am not boasting, I don't need the money, but I see pensioners who lives have been turned upside down because of the rising baht and falling $, now saving can also go down unless you have investments which can also go sideways, you just never know, so you have to diversify, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones, as the last 4 years living here has basically cost me next to nothing. 
 
Good luck either way, but opening up a food business has to be in a good pedestrian area with high volumes of people, and we all know rents will be sky high, high stress levels will follow as well because you will need everything else that goes with it.

Yes the Grab, Uber home delivery thing cant be ignored. My wife sells food here on Food Panda and I would estimate in Thailand already 20% of the market is delivery and rising fast. Many vendors wont last the distance as...typical thais...they are still trying to sell noodle soup and standard Thai food at 35-40 baht online delivered and have to give food panda 30% commission.

I wonder if you could sell 100% from home in Australia on Grab or Uber. I beleive its huge their too. Be ok if you were in a high density area

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[emptypockets]

Mate has a small grocery/butchers shop in Nth Qld.   Only shop in the small town.  No rent but the power price is killing him. Tripled in three years.  Tried to sell for the last four years. 

Edited August 2, 2019 by emptypockets

[ThaiBunny]

On 7/31/2019 at 6:31 PM, Kenny202 said:

All of the nanny state stuff. Is it prohibitive these days?

Absolutely, all that ghastly consumer protection nonsense and making sure the food doesn't poison the customers - a total waste of time

[ThaiBunny]

1 hour ago, Kenny202 said:

I wonder if you could sell 100% from home in Australia on Grab or Uber. I beleive its huge their too. Be ok if you were in a high density area

Provided the local council approved you running a home-based business, specifically a commercial kitchen, together with delivery vehicles turning up at all hours, I'm sure it would be OK

Edited August 2, 2019 by ThaiBunny

[Kenny202]

1 hour ago, ThaiBunny said:

Absolutely, all that ghastly consumer protection nonsense and making sure the food doesn't poison the customers - a total waste of time

I have had 5 kids over the years and made literally thousands of meals. We have a restaurant in Thailand now for 2 years. No one ever got sick from my kitchen. I think you would have to be seriously stupid / lazy / unclean to get food contaminated and made someone sick. Provided all of your ingredients are bought fresh, meat etc isn't stored raw for more than 2 or 3 days at the most, different meats (fish etc) aren't prepared on the same surfaces, hands are washed with bacterial soap, containers cleaned every day there should be no problem. I haven't even ever been sick in Thailand in 8 years and I eat Thai food from street side restaurants nearly everyday and you see how they store food. I doubt they'd be chucking stuff out after 2 days and thats probably 2 days of little or no refrigeration. I have seen people here with meat literally gone green and they wash it under the tap 5555. And do you ever see soap in the toilets? Usually a water bowl to clean their arse, after someone else has used it and never washed their hands.

 

I can understand how food can become contaminated in a big busy restaurant where there is a lack of hygiene discipline but a small scale operation from home no. One of those things in Australia where because of a stupid and careless very small majority, everyone needs to go to ridiculous lengths to appease nanny.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Kenny202

[Kenny202]

1 hour ago, ThaiBunny said:

Provided the local council approved you running a home-based business, specifically a commercial kitchen, together with delivery vehicles turning up at all hours, I'm sure it would be OK

How do the grab and uber taxis work there? Someone told me anyone with a car can literally become a taxi now working for Grab. Find it very hard to believe there wouldn't be some rules or regs

[mogandave]

Supposed to be pretty easy in the US.

Why not go in their website and see what you need to get signed up?

[AlexRRR]

Rent will be the killer but in a out of the way place it might not hurt so much then again ur income wont be so great either.....if you know what your doing it can be ok...if your starting from scratch its going to cost you lots...not much change in 100,000 AU$ and on upwards depending on location and size...

 

Depending on your skill set a real job might be a better option.....think about it...

[Salerno]

On 8/2/2019 at 5:08 PM, Kenny202 said:

I wonder if you could sell 100% from home in Australia on Grab or Uber. I beleive its huge their too. Be ok if you were in a high density area

Uber eats and the like are killing a fair few businesses and paying shit wages to the delivery people. So called "dark kitchens" are being set up all over i.e. just places to cook multiple cuisines with no actual restaurants. I'd think opening a brand new independent takeaway joint would be a hell of a challenge in the current climate.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-13/the-dark-kitchens-of-food-delivery-apps/9642460

 

Food trucks seem to still be doing OK though.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Salerno

[LosLobo]

 

[myWish]

My Thai friends have a Thai restaurant in Turramurra, the northern side of Sydney. They have been operating this take away/dine in for more than 15 years. Pretty good income I would say. Good reviews by customers. But anyway, they want to travel around the world and finally settle down in Thailand so been trying to sell the shop for years now. 

 

PM me if interested.

Edited August 18, 2019 by myWish

[ThaiBunny]

22 minutes ago, myWish said:

so been trying to sell the shop for years now. 

Caveat emptor I'd have thought

[myWish]

13 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Caveat emptor I'd have thought

The sell price is not cheap. All equipment and stock are included as well as goodwill. With the good location and reputation for 15+ years any proprietor deserves to have a cake.

[ThaiBunny]

3 minutes ago, myWish said:

The sell price is not cheap. All equipment and stock are included as well as goodwill. With the good location and reputation for 15+ years any proprietor deserves to have a cake.

I wasn't suggesting otherwise, but to have a business for sale "for years" suggests the asking price is too high

[alan grice]

Wish yer could get a descent Pie here. Had some from Chaing Mai a Dingo wouldn’t piss on .!


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