ESCYSCOTT

iTrader: (1)

Anyone else struggling?

I've got a fish & chip shop and just can't seem to get my head above water anymore!

Just when I think i've got a bit money put aside there's more bills to pay!!

Just got a gas and eleccy bill for my shop today totalling over a grand!!

Savings gone!!!

If this keeps on going and my shop doesn't pick up then the toys will have to be getting sold!

Fezza

Damn! and I thought places like Fish & chip shops would be doing ok! I have even drawn up the business plans for a mobile chippy!!

Anyhow, hope things start looking up soon...

fuzzy

when people have less money its cheaper to cook at home. everyones tighter at the minute.

Turbosystems

iTrader: (5)

you could always give Gordon Ramsey a call

Ginge !

christ scott that is bad, im sure a year ago you was thinking of branching out with another business aswell

is it not possible to do a few specials perhaps to bring people in, when i was younger me and me mates used to walk for miles to a chipshop that done battered sausage and chips for a quid,,,,, also near my school was a chippy that done cheap lunchtime meals for the kids too

aint been your place so dont know how it works

what about delivery service as a option or perri perri BBQ chicken as a menu option

just a few ideas that im sure you have thought of but just incase like

fuzzy

deep fried mars bars in batter were popular up this end

Fezza

We have 2 chippys here within walking distance of each other, along with a chinese, a pizza place and a curry house on the same 100ft row of shops.

All seem to be ok and still trading.

Maybe you could think of starting a mobile chippy to suplement the bricks-and-mortar one? Very low overheads (fully fitted out van lease is £450 a month) and very high gross profit.

even 60 customers a day is enough to make a profit on a mobile van.

Plus, you could get to the villages (where disposable income tends to be higher), outside schools (£1 cones of chips for the kiddies dinners...), local industrial estates at lunch time, town centre of an evening / night.

Maybe contact local old-folks homes to provide them with Friday specials (old dears love fish and chips and most homes don't serve it).

You could always think about reducing portion sizes by a little bit. If you manage to get another 3 portions of chips from a bag of spuds, it is gonna be more profit in the short term, meaning a higher likelyhood of trading in the long term.
Other products, such as mini-fish (normal size fish cut in 1/4) sold for 1/2 price of normal fish (therby making more profit per fish), meal deals.

Reduce your costs somehow. Do you need as many staff as you have, for example?

Sorry if I am teaching granny to suck eggs, and Im sure you have thought of all these types of thing, but I hate to see people who work hard getting screwed because the govenment couldn't run a piss up in a brewery...

**Claire**

I guess we picked the wrong time for me to be off on maternity leave

In reality things wouldn't be too bad if I was back at work. At the moment I'm just getting maternity pay which is only £117 a week which doesn't come anywhere close to my usual salary. When you go from getting nearly £2k a month to just getting £500 it hits you pretty hard

At least I have the option to go back to work though, which would solve our financial situation at the moment. I know there are a lot of people out there who don't even have that to fall back on

dave cos4x4

iTrader: (5)

at least you have the 'toys' to sell Scott, just incase, some people don't.

hpe it does not come to that Scott.

Rick Astley

On your quietest night of the week do a special, which just helps you break even.

Obviously Friday is Fish Friday so maybe on Friday you could push people in the door by doing BOGOF's.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

That has to be the most bizarre piece of financial advice ever!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

chippy across the road is never busy but always has someone in, never seen more than 2 people in ther at the same time, but never seen the counter empty either, but he does have a phone number outside so people call him up and tell him what they want

might be worth investing in a stamp to stamp the bags with a number

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

We are in for some dark times I think folks. Dark times indeed.

My advise to everyone is this:
buckle up a little, cut out one meal out per week and for gods sake dont plan on buying another car that will devalue faster than your current ones. Instead, keep your old one and spend a few quid on it. You know, a setup to keep things running reliably and avoid blow ups, a magnetic sump plug to keep the oil clean and thus last longer and maybe even a nice little remap to maximise fuel economy, that sort of thing. You will soon be out of the dark times and back into the sunlight.


Agreed.

BillyCabrio

iTrader: (1)

Thats Ginge for ya

Red16

No advice to offer here, fingers crossed things pick up soon

or a marker pen

Ginge !

i mean as in thinking of other lines to sell, if you sell the same stuff and the market changes then look at tweeking the menu options,, get some new ideas to get people in the door

we have a BBQ hut or something close to us opend a while ago,, its a nice change so at work we eat that once a week, they deliver too so its a change from the norm

maybe i aint got a clue about business but i seem to have grown the place of work im at by tweeking the way things where done that seemed to work,, but caused new issues in the process that was never even thought of

i wont make sugestions in future, just sit here and read which is MUCH better for people

shame i never done the same at work when i was a new member of staff, then i would be able to moan about how life is hard with the current times rather than trying to convice the missus to let me treat my self to a porsche when i have just spent 2k on mods on my impreza just before christmas nor would i beable to buy my sister a car as shes finding life a struggle at the moment

OBV i aint got a clue about life i guess

Coldo

What else do you expect from him?



Best of luck Scott, January is always shitty though, people tend not to have much spare cash. Hope things pick up for you.

brad

You see guys and gals
This is why stu has done so well for himself , using every available oppertunity to advertise products and services .
not a dig stu , just think if everyone thought the way you do the country woudnt be half as bad as it is now . i like the way you think

GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

does piss you off sometimes, we bRought our first house 7 months ago, i'm used to earning more money & paying less in rent than the mortgage, feel like i'm being welcomed to the real world
we bought a new tv last month, new dining table, chairs etc this month, that wiped out my 'buffer' money, than a £500 gas/electric bill comes through the door the other day
oh well, i don't mind having a tight month or two if i have something to show for it

Benni

Our local Chip Shop is always packed. Maybe your prices are high? In this place I can get Chicken Curry for £3.50 and I can live on this for three days, because there is so much of it. I don't because I'm a fat bastard and eat it in one sitting. You can get a small sausage dinner for a pound and I kid you not the queue is always out the door.

Benni.

stevenebm

iTrader: (6)

im lucky im in a good job.even tho overtime has benn cut i still come out with a decent wage.only thing that was/is making me skint in the series one so i have got a budget of 200-300 i can spend on it per month.not alot but its better than nothing i suppose.hope things pick up scott but least you have some things to sell.loads of people have nothing.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

a stamp will take a second to stamp onto a bag
a marker pen will take time to write up, and might smudge

as for selling different things, blockbusters now sell pot noodles as well as renting films and other general movie and game stuff

Ginge !

benni i doubt that reducing prices on everything is gonna work, my supplyers are all going up in price, some porsche parts are going up at COST by 30% !!! you wait till the profit is added on that im sure scott has the same which could be a worry

also the market changes anyway, buying take out every other night aint able all the time due to tight cash in areas not wanting to spend it just incase aswell as the healthy lifestyle changes we all get told to make,, i aint had a sausage in batter for almost 2 years !!!, aint even had chips at home for since november due to trying to change lifestyle

take a look back when you was a kid, take away was a treat every now and again,,, though for the last 2 years i had been having chineese every night apart from sunday when they was closed,,, i can even call them up and get it delivered and pay em later if i aint got any cash on me i use em that much

gordon ramsey made a good point last night about spending local !!, spending with large companys who are owned by shareholders wont help the local shops and in turn you will end up with a ghost town full of franchises,,, ever been to oxford street

999

as far as im concerened the crunch is affecting of course it is but only a certain percentage, prob 70 percent still have strong jobs, mortgage is cheaper etc etc, from my end down south its all good, living is cheaper everythings better.

cars are still selling people are still buying, of course theres those out there loaded to the hilt in debt and rely on borrowing to survive business wise etc, yes there fucked, but your average joe whos not int he building trade etc they are fine


so yes its bad but only a certain percent bad

its the fucking doom and gloom press that are making it worse, if they made the press saying were gonna recover slowly and things are getting better we would buy our way back out of the shit hole of a country then hopefully sack labour

fuck off the polish etc
smoke in pubs again
etc etc

fuzzy

whats stamps,marker pens and bags got to do with it?

ESCYSCOTT

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that Stu, your telling people to cut out one meal a week on a thread about A STRUGGLING FISH AND CHIP SHOP!!

Don't buy Scott's chips, buy Stu's chips instead

Turbosystems

iTrader: (5)

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Good lord, it was light hearted joke mate, couldnt you tell?

I apologise in that case...

as355f1

The only way to survive is cut your xxx's to the minimum and work as many hours as possible, even if it means getting shot of your toys, you can always buy more when the good times come back, its working for me at the moment as long as things don't get worse.

fuzzy

even i would agree. its not like people will really be sitting thinking "should i eat this week or should i get my car remapped"

Ginge !

pmsl i never thought about it like that

Rich_w

With all due respect that's still twice what a lot of people get with Job Seekers Allowance.

Would you believe that this stupid government actually takes a cut of the £60.50 a week, (Tax) so you actually end up with LESS Fair enough I guess as £60.50 is more than any sensible person could need!

Turbocabbie

nothing changed for me at all, im still spending like I used to

Is this just panic promoted by the media preaching doom and gloom or are people really feeling the pinch.

Lloyd

that was very sharp and funny scott,

Ginge !

but what happens if it dont get better though ???

surely looking at other ways to get INCREASED revenue is better than cuting costs and working for nothing but left overs till either it sorts its self out or be out of a job


my old man done your idea back in 1985,we lived not far from scott either, he was holding back for it to settle,, he lost hes business, hes mates who worked for him, hes home, he had no job to jump into so he had to rethink hes ideas,,,, though it was sort of too late but he moved us all to london, got a job as a porter cleaning staircased ect on council estates as the job came with a flat

imo scouting for business is the best option, finding ways to get people in the door and stay in the habbit of spending at the chippy rather than walking past it on the way home from work

mackers

Well, Im in Ireland and was out of work for 6 months of this year. Had to take a job thats earning about half of what I was on as a spark. We were on the verge of not paying the mortgage and all our savings, although not much, are gone. Hard times ahead, dont think this is even the worst its gonna get. Good luck people.

ESCYSCOTT

iTrader: (1)

Apology accepted

Bet you chuckled at my reply though!!

If you feel guilty you could chip my Audi tdi for FREE!!

Ginge !

theres a few reasons for it, the price of the pound and the lack of things actually made here these days means we buy from europe ect ect,,,the suppliers we buy from and increasing there costs,, we then increase them to the customer, the customers have been living on there credit cards for treats for years and making minimum payments due to there over priced morgages the took out eating there wages, the price of fuel and water going up has also increased prices YET the wages aint been going up inline,, now they aint increasing the man with 30k credit card debts higher hes feeling it as he cant spend,,, the companys are now getting less spending,, people are shutting and people are scared of spending meaning MORE places are shutting down due to it,,, and so sort of shows the circle

at work we are trying what we can to keep incontact with customers,,,morning calls, humor, few offers of stuff just mainly to remind them we are still about keep us on the front of there minds rather than phone the competion who are willing to sit there waiting for the phone to ring,, we are also looking at other ways to keep contact with the customers,, selling garage equiptment, recon turbos, ecu repairs

one of our competitors even buys hes parts off us if he aint got it and collects and sells if for little or no profit just so they dont call need to call anyone else

as said rethink of ways to keep people visiting rather than wait for them to arrive

dojj

iTrader: (3)

without wanting to state the obvious, have you made a list of every single expenditure over the months and seen where you can make cuts?

simonc

TBH we have never been better off money wise, the youngest of our 2 kids started school last September so that freed up about £550 a month in child care. With the rate cut we are able to over pay the mortgage by about £300 a month. Ovetime has stopped at work but i never did much anyway so did not rely on the OT. The main outgoing we have is a big morgage. We are definately putting money away though & trying to cut back on shopping etc just incase. Quite a few of my mates have been made redundant over the last few weeks which is worrying.