Was talking with the missus yesterday and for a long while we have been interested in trying to start our own catering business, either a cafe or trailer type thing.
But then i got to thinking that actually what i would love to do is to open a truckstop.
Probably just a flight of fancy but i then started thinking about things like, how many trucks would be a good number to be able to park, how many showers, opening hours etc etc.
So…what would you want from a truckstop? Realistic idea please…not wildly fantastical ones!
I wish you luck with this, there aren’t enough places for us to stop. What area will this be ?
I like to see plenty of level easy parking good reasonable and choice of food, clean washrooms that have all in, shower, toilet, sink. And if you get successful you could have a motel type place too and not forgetting the bar for residents .
somewhere to fuel up
some good food at a fair price 24hrs a day
coffee that aint a quid a cup
showers that are looked after
security that actualy walk around instead of sat drinking tea
truck wash how profitable this would be i dont no
shop on site that sell snacks and tobaco might also be good advantage.
might also be worth looking into some sort of mecanical assistance on site or even approach a local garage and lease them said space out , providing its out the way and wont wake pepole up etc just a idea .
DonutUK:
Was talking with the missus yesterday and for a long while we have been interested in trying to start our own catering business, either a cafe or trailer type thing.
But then i got to thinking that actually what i would love to do is to open a truckstop.
Probably just a flight of fancy but i then started thinking about things like, how many trucks would be a good number to be able to park, how many showers, opening hours etc etc.
So…what would you want from a truckstop? Realistic idea please…not wildly fantastical ones!
A bit of level drained land next to or opposite a pub, a parking assistant who gives you a ticket that will get you a couple of pints or a packed lunch. Your missus could live her dream with the catering, you could talk ■■■■■■■■ over the bar with us There are thousands of pubs closing or being turned into Indian Restaurants. You get a living space and can convert a room to showers for paying drivers
Forget trying to make money from the parking alone, make it a place that drivers want to go to with good food, service and a bit of banter. If the parking costs a tenner give the ones who frequent the pub a fiver back with the ticket you gave them earlier.
A bit of level drained land next to or opposite a pub, a parking assistant who gives you a ticket that will get you a couple of pints or a packed lunch. Your missus could live her dream with the catering, you could talk ■■■■■■■■ over the bar with us There are thousands of pubs closing or being turned into Indian Restaurants. You get a living space and can convert a room to showers for paying drivers
Forget trying to make money from the parking alone, make it a place that drivers want to go to with good food, service and a bit of banter. If the parking costs a tenner give the ones who frequent the pub a fiver back with the ticket you gave them earlier.
[/quote] EXCELLENT IDEA
This is exactly the most wrong place to ask these questions. All these truckers are going to throw their enthusiasm towards you opening a truckstop C/W a shopping list of all they desire.
(Q) Why are such places few & far between. (A) Because they don’t make £money.
Pop into one or two & talk with the proprietors, chances are they too will fill you full of the kind of enthusiasm that will make you want to re-mortgage & buy the place off them because that’s exactly what they want you to do, buy the place off them.
If you’re leaning towards a future in catering & you think that both living & working with the missus full time will work, then consider the following.
Most trailer snack bars are manned by people who are considered unemployable. Very few do it as the lucrative career of choice.
The best sites are already taken & the best sites are jealously guarded, strong arm tactics are not unknown in shutting down the oppo’.
If you can get planning permission to convert a site fto a truckstop then that site also qualifies for far more lucrative uses.
I don’t want to be too negative so here’s a couple of good idea’s . . .
(1) I visit 4 or 5 county shows each year in the Midlands, there is a farmers wife (I assume) at each of them selling Aberdeen Angus burgers at £2 a time. They are lovely & well worth jumping into the considerable queue to buy one. They’re not just lovely they’re absolutely fantastic, I’m convinced that many people seek her out as their meal of choice at such venues.
I’ve sat down & considered that she must be clearing £40k profit on just the 4 venues I saw her at last year. The maths isn’t hard for me as I can accurately estimate her costs & the demand is certainly there. I don’t know if she knows this but she’s sitting on a goldmine by doing everything exactly right. I can’t wait to see a few imitators try & steal her thunder in the coming years 'cos I reckon her kind of clientelle will show a lot of loyalty.
(2) I visit more steam rally’s than be considered healthy for a person that owns nothing that generates its own steam (other than a kettle). At some of the big one’s there is a large trailer that serves chips . . . cooked in LARD. I’d hate to guesstimate how much that trailers earns !
I reckon that for less than £40k, I could put a moblie trailer on the road with an old fashion style range, & serve up all the potatoe chips fryed in LARD that the Great British Public could ever queue long enough to eat.
I can go on but I won’t, good luck with both working & living with the missus full time. I hope that your relationship turns out to be stronger than mine was.
This is exactly the most wrong place to ask these questions. All these truckers are going to throw their enthusiasm towards you opening a truckstop C/W a shopping list of all they desire.
(Q) Why are such places few & far between. (A) Because they don’t make £money.
Much though I would wish the OP good luck with his idea, I will nail my colours to the mast right now and say that I am with Chas on this one. Even BP couldn’t make it pay and they had a lot of money to throw at it when they started.
This is exactly the most wrong place to ask these questions. All these truckers are going to throw their enthusiasm towards you opening a truckstop C/W a shopping list of all they desire.
wrong , no your market first and your customers .
only one man can work the numbers out if its worth there while which is the op .
2nd of all there should be some kind of govermont funding for this kind of stuff
DonutUK:
Was talking with the missus yesterday and for a long while we have been interested in trying to start our own catering business, either a cafe or trailer type thing.
But then i got to thinking that actually what i would love to do is to open a truckstop.
Probably just a flight of fancy but i then started thinking about things like, how many trucks would be a good number to be able to park, how many showers, opening hours etc etc.
So…what would you want from a truckstop? Realistic idea please…not wildly fantastical ones!
You’ve also got the minefield of planning applications. Am I correct in saying that a proposed truckstop in Middlewich & Kettering got the no no recently?
removalboy:
They should do that in all truck stops.
This started quite recenlty with the Red Lion on Northampton leading the way. I myself was quite suprised to see how many truckstops had adopted this method of payment when I looked just now.
psv8:
wrong , no your market first and your customers .
only one man can work the numbers out if its worth there while which is the op .
2nd of all there should be some kind of govermont funding for this kind of stuff
Have a looong hard think about what you’re saying, then ask yourself the question. If you actually had any money to speak of, as much as the £40k to £100k-£500k+ that such an enterprise would need, would you risk it all on a business venture where as many as 15 semi-professionall moaners & whingers a night would be willing to pay no more than £15 for £100’s worth of value?
The average trucker on a night out wants to spend £15 max on a good meal, a shower and safe & secure parking. Bring me a business plan for ANY location in the UK where this is possible & I’ll show you a way to easily make soooo much more £money out of that very same location.
Of course you will find reasons to be doing it purely for your fellow trucker, who will all (barr none) take full advantage of your charitable disposition & soil your shower, complain about your food, upset your staff etc. etc. But then you wouldn’t be a trucker would you, you’d be a truckstop owner. If you were lucky enough to be both a trucker & a truckstop owner then the problems back at the truckstop wouldn’t matter would they !
Trust me, a trucker cannot possibly earn enough to become & continue to be a truckstop owner. THERE IS NO MONEY IN IT.
removalboy:
They should do that in all truck stops.
This started quite recenlty with the Red Lion on Northampton leading the way. I myself was quite suprised to see how many truckstops had adopted this method of payment when I looked just now.
I remember paying for parking with a BP fuelcard and a Securicor Fuelserv card at various places 10 years ago.
psv8:
wrong , no your market first and your customers .
only one man can work the numbers out if its worth there while which is the op .
2nd of all there should be some kind of govermont funding for this kind of stuff
Have a looong hard think about what you’re saying, then ask yourself the question. If you actually had any money to speak of, as much as the £40k to £100k-£500k+ that such an enterprise would need, would you risk it all on a business venture where as many as 15 semi-professionall moaners & whingers a night would be willing to pay no more than £15 for £100’s worth of value?
The average trucker on a night out wants to spend £15 max on a good meal, a shower and safe & secure parking. Bring me a business plan for ANY location in the UK where this is possible & I’ll show you a way to easily make soooo much more £money out of that very same location.
Of course you will find reasons to be doing it purely for your fellow trucker, who will all (barr none) take full advantage of your charitable disposition & soil your shower, complain about your food, upset your staff etc. etc. But then you wouldn’t be a trucker would you, you’d be a truckstop owner. If you were lucky enough to be both a trucker & a truckstop owner then the problems back at the truckstop wouldn’t matter would they !
Trust me, a trucker cannot possibly earn enough to become & continue to be a truckstop owner. THERE IS NO MONEY IN IT.
I think every one is missing the point that he was just wondering.
There are thousands of pubs closing or being turned into Indian Restaurants. You get a living space and can convert a room to showers for paying drivers
