Starting Business/Business Plan

[dimpala]

I am in the initial stages of trying to start a wine/cafe in the St. Louis area. I need to create a business plan, get loans and investors, find the right location, and learn alot more about wines in general, etc. Does anyone have some insight as to what my first steps should be. Who I contact? Questions I should ask? Any help would be much appreciated.

[wineguruchgo]

Hello Dimpala,

Welcome to the wineboard.

There are so many variables here that I will name just a few to get you going.

The first thing you need to figure out is how much money you are going to need. How big of a store do you want to open? What is the price per square foot in your market. Does the street have a lot of foot traffic or parking available. Then, what is it going to cost you to build the space out? Will you need racks, lighting, updated air conditioning and heat?

Then you need to find out what it's going to cost you for a liquor license. They have stopped issueing them here in Chicago so the only way you can get one is if a business is going out of business and that can cost you up to $50K alone. Then you need to figure out how much inventory is going to cost you. As with my other post, the liquor laws are different in each state so you need to know if the product is going to be COD or if you are billed with a 30 day grace period. I'm not sure about Missouri Laws but here in Chicago if you are 31 days past due all product is stopped from being delivered until you are caught up. Michigan is a COD state for everything.

When you have all of this put together then you have a rough idea of how much money you will need. At that point you can start the business plan and the approximate calculations of how you are going pay your investors back, at what % of interest, and when all investments will be paid back.

It's alot of work, yet if you have always wanted to own your own business than it's worth the investment.

There are quite a few books out there that can guide you to writing a proper business plan.

I wouldn't worry about what wines as of yet. Work on the other stuff first then come back to us about the wines. No sense worrying about that yet. There is too much on your plate already.

WGC

[dimpala]

wineguruchgo -

Thanks for the comments. I know I have a lot of work to do. Tips and information like you just presented will go a long way in helping me to achieve my long time goal. Thanks for the ideas.

Sincerely,
dimpala