| Planning For Expansion? When you build your first store, you should plan for all types of expansion - menu expansion, wholesale expansion, and even more importantly, expanding into other stores, called "drop stores".A drop store looks exactly the same as a complete bagel store, except it doesn't do the production.All you do is boil and bake.You have neither a bagel machine nor a mixer, and it requires a lot les labor to run the store.The drop store uses about 400 to 500 less square footage, and there's a lot less requirement for storage.You don't have to store flour and the other ingredients, but you do need a little larger freezer, because you're now bringing in bagels from another store.You'll probably want your frozen bagels to be delivered about twice a week, and you'll need the additional space to accommodate them. Unfortunately, a lot of owners plan their stores considering retail sales only, and they're either not sure or not aware of the possibilities of wholesale.I've seen stores where the owners built a large front with the back area tight, and after they were up and running, they found supermarkets and grocery stores and delis in the area wanting their bagels.Only then did they discover that their store was not planned correctly to accommodate the additional business; and it was to late to take advantage of it. What i suggest to our customers is to consider every imaginable possibility right from the start.We usually advise setting up the first store as a full scale operation making bagels, and we make sure there's room for expansion, because the owner may decide later to add a few tables and maybe 500 or 600 dozen a week, even as much as 1200. The ideal situation is to plan your store so you can supply future drop stores, or build your store so you can move your equipment out to a commissary which would supply all your drop stores.That way you can move your production into a low rent area, and all the commissary does is make bagels - raw, frozen bagels to deliver to your stores.What you might also want to do is put a kettle and oven in there, and bake all your wholesale as well.Then, all your other stores are just for retail.Two people could run each of your stores with ease.You then have low labor, low square footage, low overhead stores.And your commissary is open only about six hours a day. At this time, I would like to dispel a myth.A lot of people think when you freeze a raw bagel, it affects the taste.It absolutely does not!In fact, bagels can be frozen a maximum of five days without affecting the product. A lot of times we'll set up a store where the owner doesn't want to make his own bagels.It may be that he can't afford the equipment at that time - or whatever.He'll ge this bagels frozen, and then boil and bake.We always allow for room should he decide later on to make his own. One of the aspects of expansion I haven't mentioned is catering.One of our customers found he was doing a tremendous business in catering, so he set up a small area in his store - like a little kiosk or booth.Any time anybody came in and wanted to do catering, he would walk them over to the booth, where they'd sit down at this little desk.Then he'd whip out photo albums and brochures and menus and together, they'd plan out the party.He never 3expeted that when he first opened, but now about 25% of his business is catering.The smart thing he did when he first built his store was to leave himself additional room in the prep area, plus extra room to expand. You may reprint this article provided it stays intact and this message along with my email address and website are included. . |
