Today, in a rare moment of clarity, I decided I want to open a stall. Not just any stall, a drinks stall. And not just anywhere, it must be in a coffee shop (non-aircon of course).
The life of the drinks stall uncle is an easy one. You buy a canned drink for 50c and sell it for $1.20. Or if you are damn cheapskate, you don't even need to buy Yeo's. You can just buy Super brand for 40c and sell it for $1.20. With that kind of profit margins, how can you lose? Some more, every coffee shop only got one drinks stall, so it is pure monopolistic profit!
This is a decidedly unskilled job. The other day I was in Siglap, I wanted barley. Only got canned one. Lime juice? Only got canned one. I almost wanted to ask if they make their own coffee and tea. All you need to do is manage a bit of logistics and accounting. And of course, your employees are unskilled too so you can pay them dirt.
Drinks stalls are the parasites of the F&B industry. They don't create any value, they just leech off the success of others. Have you ever heard anyone say, "Let's go to the coffee shop at Ang Mo Kio Ave X to drink the excellent kopi-o!" Singaporeans are crazy about food. They travel miles to find good food. But they have to get a drink too. The uncle at the famous satay stall may make 20c on every 40c stick of satay, but he needs to marinate the meat, fan the fire, prepare the sauce, ... (Not to mention all the blood, sweat and tears he took to perfect the art and become a famous satay stall.) Then after that you go to the drinks stall and buy two canned drinks because of all the heaty food. If you are lucky the assistant will bring it to you on a tray, if not you take it yourself.
Why wait for retirement ... should open a chain of drinks stalls now! Who's in?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
5 comments:
cheh you're slow. i've always wanted to open a drinks store! i will specialise in the best-tasting, authentic kopis and teh tariks. i've been honing my skills already! it's not quite such an unskilled job and I actually DO pick my teh tarik stalls carefully and i go to great lengths to get good tea. and the Kopitiam opposite Rendezvous is cheatabug and sells Super brand drinks so i BOYCOTT it!!! Hellooo when we wanna buy ice lemon tea we can't even find it among the cans cos we don't recognise it!! And when we do finally locate it and drink it... it sux. =< (ching)
Unfortunately I think the coffeeshop owner usually keeps the drinks stall and runs it himself, because, as you said, its pure profit. So if you want to open a drinks stall you might have to open a coffeeshop first.
- Ling
agree with Ling. However, it makes it all the more interesting cos you, the coffeeshop/drink stall owner will not only be controlling the largest profit margin in the house, but will also be taking a cut off everyone else's margin in the form of exorbitant rents! (yes, you'll be amazed at some of the coffeeshop rental rates....) So all you need now is a good location and to attract good food stalls to maintain the crowds.....Oh waitaminit, therein lies the hard part.... ΓΌ
many a coffeeshop owner drives an s-class though...
jed
yah lor why d'yo think our neighbour opposite is so rich.
then again they only work part-time so that's prob why they didn't keep the drinks stall for themselves.
yeah the drink stall usually has the longest hours...
oh which neighbour? and which coffeeshop? i thought our neighbour opposite owned a restaurant ...
maybe we can buy the coffeeshop from them
Post a Comment