Hello. I started a business with a friend 8 months ago. It's an alcohol delivery business that delivers alcohol during the night.
We had only 4 orders this whole period and only from 2 persons.
Our prices are about 30% higher than a regular supermarket. It's not working and I wish I did the math before starting this business. Even if we had 30 orders per month which is pretty impossible, it would still get us a smaller income than the minimum wage.
My partner, who is also a friend keeps believing in this project, and he invested most of the money (around 3000 euros). He doesn't want to let go, and I feel bad to just quit and leave him like that. I do all of the deliveries because he doesn't have a driver's license or a car.
What is your opinion on this? What would you do?
If your business model is fundamentally flawed, then get out. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as an entrepreneur is to let good money chase bad.
>>993088
1 order a day is not a lot to ask for. Your problem sounds like marketing, not a business plan flaw.
You should be shooting for a lot closer to 30-50 deliveries per day. Not per month. Ever think about investing in an Indian company to program an App for you?
Drunk people need ease of ordering and ease of payment. Offer to deliver food that normally wouldnt deliver at the same time (include things like cigarettes, etc) and you are golden. Its a drunks best friend. You would be saving lives AND having people love you for your idea
I don't really see why anyone would buy alcohol from you when it's cheaper and more abundant in stores. It just doesn't make sense.
If your business model is shit, all the hard work and goodwill in the world won't make something successful. Tell your friend you need to reconsider how you're going to make money.
>>993124
We deliver cigarettes already.
We based on the fact that people would choose us over non-stop shops because they would be too lazy to go out in the middle of the night, even if it's a lot more expensive.
But apparently people prefer going out in the middle of the night than spending 30% more for a bottle of whiskey. Me included. I would never buy alcohol from us.
And if we lower down our prices, we would need like 100 orders per month to get a decent income. And it would be impossible for me alone to make all the deliveries every night. We would need to hire other people and buy more cars, and we would go over the limit and end up in debt. (english is not my native language, sorry if I make mistakes)
>>993131
What city is this based in?
Ive been thinking about this sort of business in london.
3 bottles of prosecco for £70.
Crate of beer for £50
Bottle of whiskey and 3 cigars £80
What sort of clientelle are you aiming at?
How is your advertising being done?
>>993088
Sounds to me like you need to put your prices UP if anything
Your problem is not the price. You vould probably get away with charging alot more, its probably the fact that you arent reaching enough people with your advertising.
Can i ask what exactly was the £3000 spent on? Because if it wasnt 80% spent on advertising you dun goofed.
Escalation of commitment certainly won't help your friend
>>993157
Elaborate please:)
>>993154
I live in Eastern Europe, a small country.
We aiming at a young clientelle. College students that often drink and party. It's supposed to be a cool thing. You just call and booze will be right at your door.
Our advertising is mostly done on facebook. We usually promote funny drinking posts that people relate to, so we can get some organic shares also.
>>993162
No. The 3000€ were spent on:
1000€ on our alcohol stock
500€ on building the website
200€ on advertising
200€ on taxing machine
500€ setting up the company
600€ accountant and other expenses
>>993088
If you are in a very large university town i recommend delivering freshly made deserts. GetBaked Leeds started when i lived in Leeds and they gained traction very quickly amongst the Uni population by selling deliciously unhealthy deserts. They did it from their house and now they have a shop and have branched out into food.
>>993175
I know its gay to look at what you did in hindsight, but, you should have built the advertising first. Wait till you have a steady flow of customers (if you dont have stock just say youre super busy and ant take orders). Then invested in the stock afterwards.
The thing is, these things take time especially facebook advertising. Do not give up. Dont buy any more stock. Invest everyhing you have into advertising. Even handing out flyers outside clubs etc.
>>993184
If it can work in leeds it can work in eastern europe
>>993088
http://www.getbakedonline.co.uk/ Is the website, and they imported American sweets and chocolate bars for single sale as well as making them into a desert in their own right. Make desert deals ect.
My recommendation would be to sell laughing gas. I made £1000s selling it at house parties when at Uni. One guy stated a delivery business for it by delivery kits. All you need is whipped cream cartridges, balloons and a Nos charger. I used to sell at £2 a ballon, somtimes a £1 if they were nice or doing loads of it. I used to be worried my back pack would split open with all the money in it and would often dash home to empty it and restock.
>>993088
Where do you live? What is the student population?
>>993171
>elaborate please
You need to make it worth your while. You cant just look at the value of the alcohol to determine your price but your availability and service.
Taxis dont charge so much because the journey is long they charge for the fact you can go to any street corner and a taxi is available. People will pay for your infrastructure.
Some piss head is only going to order from you if he really really wants it. So make him fucking PAY for it. Charge double. encourage large orders. Sont even have an option to order less than £50.
>600€ accountant and other expenses
how much of it is 'getting shitfaced from our own stock'?
>>993199
I don't know the student population. There are a lot of colleges in this city.
The total population is around 1.8 million people.
>>993203
I am sorry. I don't understand the "metaphor". As I said, english is not my native language.
>>993194
In this country there are not such things as college parties or frat parties. Usually students gather around at someone's house, 5 people or so, and drink.
>>993200
Yeah, see that's the deal. There are a lot of 24/7 stores and gas stations in this city. It's true that maybe you need to walk around 500 metres to find one but still they are there.
It's not like after 10 o'clock everything is closed and you can't find anything.
>>993131
>too lazy to go out in the middle of the night
Your assumption is backwards. People are not going out to buy the booze at night -- they stock up beforehand. Seriously, have you never been to a party?
And if you are aiming at alcoholics -- they have better stockpiles than you do probably (my uncle was an alcoholic; at any point in time there were at least 3 bottles of vodka in his house -- he's dead now, but fuck him, he was a cunt)
>>993224
I am not talking about that kind of party. The one that you organize 2 days before.
I am talking about let's say 4 guys gathering togheter to drink and after one bottle of whiskey they realize they are out of booze and want to have some more delivered.
>>993191
Well let's say that we spent the 1000 on booze and that's it. From now on let's spend on advertising. But how? How can we know for sure that we will get to the people that need this kind of service?
>>993088
This is not a good idea.
Let it go.
Many people have tried this idea. It does not work.
At least you got your first failed business behind you, now you can try something new.
Be sure to tell your friend he is wasting time.
>>993212
So start throwing parties then and sell nos and booze at your own! Then get promoting bigger ones in clubs. The guys who run Dimensions festival stared out throwing house parties. Create a market, get loads of pussy while you are at it. Ditch the drink idea, it doesn't work in the UK and we are a country of piss heads! Is there a University? College to me is 16-18 year olds. You have no market amongst them, too young.
What country are you in? At least give us an idea of the type of country you live in. I mean are people turning up to school in a horse and cart? Do the kids know what cool is? Are you going to have to show them...
>>993230
Well, maybe I'm weird, but I'm from Eastern Europe (Slovakia), have been to a university, was drinking like a fucking fish... but I've never been in a situation like that. Not once. Either it was a party that was planned, or we got hammered in a pub. Besides, if you are targeting college students, that one bottle of booze is usually per person. Honestly, in 5 years it never once happened that my fridge didn't at least have a bottle of wine and I was not an exception in any shape or form.
Are you sure you aren't just trying to bring some Hollywood American college campus fantasy to life? Because it just seems to me that your company is trying to address a non-existing problem.
>>993239
I agree with you, in my experience the problem simply doesn't exist. We could always stagger to a 24 hrs shop or get a taxi to one if partying.
>>993239
>>993243
I am starting to see that it's not a problem in this country the absence of alcohol.
Let me tell you about our recent client though.
The guy orders every other day a bottle of whiskey, two cans of redbull and apack of cigerettes. I don't know what is wrong with him but he does that every other day. Today i delivered his 4th order. He always orders around 11 .p.m.
This thing gives my associate hope. He thinks that this business is starting to work just because this guy that has a serial killer profile keeps ordering from us.
>>993257
Perhaps he's just retarded. There are a lot of weirdos out there who do all sorts of unpredictable and unexplainable shit.
Just one night you'll deliver his booze and he'll greet you naked with his schlong waving around and start chasing you with a chainsaw.
>>993264
Now that sounds like a party!
>>993257
Yeah, your friend does not want to fail.
>>993257
People like the service. he's treating himself. Its his little pleasure.
And yes alchohol delivery DOES work in the UK in london we have nighthawk and a few others as well as deliveroo which i dont even know how that shit makes money but it does.
What marketing have you tried OP?
>>993088
What you need is marketing m8. Even the simplest things would be a great start.
Create fb page, invite friends, say them to share your page, etc
I assume you are doing these delivers in your town only, so maybe you can try spam the shit out of the town with posters (if its legal in your country)
Maybe there are some local radio stations who does greetings, happy birthdays greetings, etc in the evenings LIVE? You can use that too.
>>993287
Central London shuts down by 3 am and has millions of people living in it, plus you can hire immigrants to work for peanuts and charge £12.50 for a 6 pack of Kronenbourg and even then I cant see it working unless you can seriously bulk purchase the booze.
P.s Pulled up their financial statements on Companies House and they have been struck off/bust the company. Websites are still operating so looks like a bust job and they just set up gain under a different name to avoid paying creditors.. Not in bidniz since 2014.https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-prod/docs/MiEW651S8zEW-5ePjbKUFeW-gBhLg0llZTvCmktQcmU/application-pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=ASIAISCMGR3WTIGGOYOQ&Expires=1449790472&Signature=BDJ80DQlYHkkwED7PGmRXbcCWj4%3D&x-amz-security-token=AQoDYXdzEMb%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEa4APIuM0DOv0IZVeU3lA3XawuCt%2FnOVqC17qYqGvWeqlyBA0I3OYuAuhyiq88PGPTBNCZ8YeHY1M%2Bqae%2BlVaI%2BTo%2BO2O%2FUNNQdwiI%2FOhOGywh2a3nXfZyjkwydBw%2BecmZnlu0tgChBiQRbjauNj%2BZido8LJSCzEVsvoUZIDSeqNJg71JCWkMJg2Nm0j%2BvfKQ3W6BRpGog37lpElZTn73FUiAbCaf0%2FU34kCDhUgTL28YKXmkRNJkHq4hqMhSmh0JyLIFoT%2FDBX820qWS2lrgnRstvGVvKFG4VOpwOWV915NmvJyi15C5n2PeJrU9XUB8l5C5L79ViqZL5oZoccSnWxJ%2BEMGnx3Abu4PW1kA5ZkcEikPm%2F2W0jbCl7Of%2BDcSpiqvwJu0qrS5UZaFKS3RvZfSjYGZWIjnF6PqaCG%2BIUUtBKe5ayaM%2BtfatdP4m6Kc6pAyyA0hQV2opwAfxJM2oOXz6IkCLT2q4Fd3iL0ocSmfUSiBaZvpB4YJ%2FZm3L0U%2Fs5TIZAsWOXM%2BgGGp4rUWM5B%2Bz9Hn3rQiE0UnWUEz%2BO2Xvyq2nv7ufv7624bKsR9JzbFI9n%2FAXF0lIe5sxVZ2oD2SofdSwIhVAXgaK8gaH7sVP%2BZiPZGTr%2FpHIvTJpLT%2Bluk70g6cGnswU%3D
>>993131
>I would never buy alcohol from us
>>993088
>>993131
>>993171
>>993175
>>993212
>>993217
>>993230
>>993232
>>993257
Your biggest cost so far is your stock.
What I would do is start sourcing cheap as fuck plastic bottles from China, and a powdered alcohol supplier.
Make a mark up by mixing the alcohol yourself and delivering.
Though I suspect you'll still not have a florishing business you need to work on your presentation to the public, target free giveways at events if you go this route so people can sample your goods and never tell the public its powdered alcohol.
>>993088
Alcoholic here,
I used a similar service in my town, deliver alcohol after
Stores closed or was illegal to buy after hours. they bribe the cops, you could pay with credit card, i was in loved with the service but never used them at regular hours.
Where are you buying your alcohol? If i go to the store could you sell it a regular price? Or are you buying from like a costco or similar ? Maybe you buy at highee costs,
>>993088
if you wanna try to ride this pony to riches, pump more into advertising and establishing a customer base. a lot more. stop worrying about investing in the product itself until you have a customer base.
if you're ready to bail, then CUT YOUR LOSSES AND RIDE THE PONY FAR AWAY.
>>993175
You're doing it wrong.
> 1000€ on our alcohol stock
Good goy.
> 500€ on building the website
WAY to much for a website. Domain: $10y Hosting $5m Template FREE
> 200€ on advertising
If you didn't get raped on building a site, could have thrown more to this.
> 200€ on taxing machine
Just way? What is a phone? What is a computer?
> 500€ setting up the company
Setting up the company? What does that entail?
> 600€ accountant and other expenses
Accountant? Why? You don't even have a customer base yet, not even selling. You get an accountant when you're in the mist of success.
Your money management blows sun.
>>993902
The website was very different at the begining. We got a programmer to modify it entirely to look like we want to.
We need the taxing machine so we can make receipt and give them to the customer. That is the law.
Setting up the company means every piece of paper we needed and the lawyer that did all the paper work for us.
We need to have an accountant because that is the law around here. You are bound to have one that declares your finance situation at the end of the month.
>>993784
>Where are you buying your alcohol? If i go to the store could you sell it a regular price?
We are buying our alcohol from Cash and Carry or Retail stores like Metro. The booze there is cheaper but not by much.
>>993384
Ive looked into this. Most off licenses in east that stay open to 3am often gave 24 hour licenses but only stay open to 3 due to lack of passing trade.
What i was going to do was piggy back off their apcohol livense and say we can sell your stock out of your stock room all night.
It was gonna be the JustEat of booze. I actually had some guy from biz design the website for me. Never got round to actually starting the biz though due to other commitments.
Our target market was going to be coked up city banker faggots.
>>993907
>the law
Thats where you went wrong. Caring about the letter of the law. Rules are there for proper companies not some startup operation.
If everyone followed the law religiously there would be none of the businesses we know and love.
>>993907
> The website was very different at the begining. We got a programmer to modify it entirely to look like we want to.
You're just starting off by paying a programmer to design your website? I mean what is purchasing a domain, hosting, and a free template? Are you that popular that your website has to look 22nd century status? Are you driving a Audi when you should be driving a 92' Toyota?
Are you like dumb?
> We need the taxing machine so we can make receipt and give them to the customer.
You don't claim cash and use square or something similar for CC/Debit. Square does offer the receipt option VIA text or e-mail. You're issue is that you're concerned for the law, but you're just starting out. What are they going to do? Police going to ask you if you're giving a receipt? Is someone going to report you for not giving a receipt if there isn't any proof?
> That is the law.
You're basically selling drugs at this point. Once you start making over 5k - 10k (I'd personally do 15k - 20k), you'll move up in the world by following the law.
> Setting up the company means every piece of paper we needed and the lawyer that did all the paper work for us.
Understandable.
> We need to have an accountant because that is the law around here. You are bound to have one that declares your finance situation at the end of the month.
If there isn't paper, it didn't happen.
>>993918
Wise words
>>993918
About the website. Yeah we bought the hosting and domain ourselves., but we want the start off on the right foot. We wanted our website to not look like an amateurish website that will sell you bad liquor or something.
About the accountant. We stopped paying him a few months ago. He put our firm officially on stand by. We are trying to not use "the paper" anymore from now on.
>>993327
We use mostly facebook. And we have a youtube channel where we upload from time to time.
I want to take the chance to thank you all for the support and advices. I didn't think you would take the time to take serious a noob like me.
This is something you target towards a town at a party college and network with the frats
>>993131
M8, you need to stop charging a markup (or if you do, a tiny markup) and just put a delivery fee. Nobody's going to pay a 30% fucking markup to get their shit delivered.
>>994014
Hang on why did you even buy stock? The shops are open 24/7; you could just buy the orders on request. Why didn't you start advertising first to gauge demand before shelling out $3k?
>>993088
You've got to learn that sometimes the best investments are the ones you don't make
Friends of mine with poor planning have used such after-hours alcohol delivery services. There was a guy named "Juan" or something, an off-the-boat central-american -- actually, there were at least *two* of these guys, each running their own operation -- and here's how these sellers did it:
>be mexican
>get minivan
>get obamaphone
>give number to *everyone*
>buy cases of cheap beer & liquor
>load up the mini-van
>wait for people to call
>drive to the buyers
>give number to other people at each delivery to expand customer base
>lather rinse repeat
>eventually get busted in sting operation for illegally selling booze after-hours
>go to prison or get deported
So, get ready for that last bit, op. Except for that, they did pretty well.
Oh, and I almost forgot:
Their prices were double their costs (iirc).
A 30% markup just isn't enough to be sufficiently profitable with such a risky & illegal endeavor.
Also, who are your clients? These guys operated throughout the 'hood, so they were mostly serving low-class minorities with poor planning skills.
That's the thing, you're offering an *illegal* convenience for people who should've just made it to the package store at a reasonable time.
>>994107
Who says what we are doing is illegally?
We have a legitimate company with the right to deliver and sell alcohol.
Haha.
Dublin?
>>993239
>fridge
>wine
