Looking to open a internet cafe

[vanderson]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for any information on opening an internet cafe, I've found a nice location but I don't how to go about getting the start up money. I'm in Atlanta, GA.

[chrisb84uk]

Can't help you myself, but best of luck. :-6

[vanderson]

Thank's I need it!

[spot]

I doubt whether any of us have done it. I signed a NDA to apply for a franchise four years back so I've seen the spreadsheets at least. I was interested in how they were structured.

If you charge too much then you get little trade. If you charge too little then you fail to cover any overheads. You need to make it enticing, like saying stay as long as you like for a fixed $5 so there's plenty of people around. Most customers come in to do a specific task, some will come to socialize a bit. One or two might even book a part of the place to give lessons. It all helps.

You can run the entire thing with no hard drives on the workstations, that way none of them can be messed up by a customer.

I couldn't make the spreadsheet generate a reasonable income whatever I did with it unless I sold plenty of extras once the customers were in. Printing, binding, keychain memory sticks, hot and cold refreshment. I could only make it work if I sited it inside an existing retail outlet on a mutual basis, they giving the floorspace in exchange for the extra traffic through their store.

Just look inside a few internet cafes though. Peak hours, maybe, they're busy. Most of the day if they're a third full I reckon they're doing well. That's what, as a turnover on renting out seats? $15 an hour on 30 workstations rising to $50 for three hours a day? Nobody's going to get rich on it.

[Chezzie]

Same as Spot said plus the Internet Cafe by me works in conjunction with the local colleges and runs computer related courses on behalf of the college. Also maybe look at gaming for social activity and bloody good coffee:-6

[BarEdul]

Overhead overhead, overhead,,, This is the biggest concern you have right now.. How much will it cost to start all this up? Where can you get good low rate loans and secondly are you going to hire help or run it yourself. Employees run the cost of overhead right through the roof. Remember you have to pay social security taxes and even unemployment if you do.. There is a lot more to this than just location location location.

[vanderson]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the advice, it has been very helpful. I've taken a business management course, so I know a lot about how to run a business regarding overhead, staffing, and accounting ect. I just don't know how to get the funding. I've heard people talk about SBA and Score. I put a call into the SBA yesterday, you could only leave a message and NO has return my call. I plan to call again Monday. PLEASE I NEED HELP!!!!!! HOW TO GET FUNDING????

[BarEdul]

Okay now this may sound corny but http://www.us.gov.com I think is the proper address you will have to look under grants specifically small business grants. You may find what you need there. Yep that link is a start.. good luck. :-5 Small business is never easy to get started.

[spot]

From the perspective of someone in Europe I don't know the organizations in the US but I'd note that there are funding bodies at different levels. You undoubtedly have Federal bodies who offer business start-up funding and advice, but the European model suggests that your local state and city will be all too aware of the need to attract investment capital into their own back yard and they'll have departments who assist as well. We also have local Chambers of Commerce where prospective business owners can meet others who've been down the same road. If you can tap into that local network you'll find out how they did it, the one thing a new successful entrepreneur likes doing is telling people how clever he was.