Internet Café: Considering accepting Bitcoins.

[cunicula]

Well, I'd consider such a location more as a place to meet new people. I think it's more about the playing/exchanging thoughts than renting computers. Also internet cafe's like that might be ideal for gaming sessions, special events etc, since a lot of people are still hesitant to bring their computers along for a little LAN gaming.

Yeah, but does that make for a profitable business? If your profits are going to come from coffee and drinks, you have a large and expensive establishment that will serve precious few drinks compared to any other bar. I think its a losing business concept and just accepting bitcoin isnt going to turn a losing concept in to a winning one. My 2 cents.

There are successful chains of internet cafes in many parts of the world. To say it is a losing business concept is like saying fast food is a losing business concept. Sure fast food is losing market share in the US relative to more upmarket options. This is particularly true in affluent urban areas. That says nothing about the viability of a particular fast food restaurant. You need to understand the details of the proposal and the local supply and demand situation before you can evaluate the project.


tl;dr: P4man = idiot

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[rjk]

Yeah, but does that make for a profitable business? If your profits are going to come from coffee and drinks, you have a large and expensive establishment that will serve precious few drinks compared to any other bar. I think its a losing business concept and just accepting bitcoin isnt going to turn a losing concept in to a winning one. My 2 cents.

Coffee and drinks are where the profit is. For instance, Wendy's (the burger chain) sells their soft drinks starting above $1 each, and their real cost is closer to 8 cents each. Starbucks has even higher prices, with not significantly greater cost.

Another example: Gas stations often break even on gas sales, while occasionally making a loss, and even more occasionally a slight profit. The money comes from the convenience store that is inevitably selling.... You guessed it, food and drinks.

[P4man]

There are successful chains of internet cafes in many parts of the world.

There are still companies that make money producing and servicing pay phones. You can be successful in ANY market, that doesnt mean its smart to pick a business that serves an evaporating market. But go ahead and prove me wrong, then and only then, feel free to call me an idiot.

[P4man]

Another example: Gas stations often break even on gas sales, while occasionally making a loss, and even more occasionally a slight profit. The money comes from the convenience store that is inevitably selling.... You guessed it, food and drinks.

People still need to refill their gas tanks, there is no obvious trend against that. Come the day solar powered cars become mainstream, good luck opening a gas station + shop that also sells foods and drinks.

[antares]

Well, I'd consider such a location more as a place to meet new people. I think it's more about the playing/exchanging thoughts than renting computers. Also internet cafe's like that might be ideal for gaming sessions, special events etc, since a lot of people are still hesitant to bring their computers along for a little LAN gaming.

Yeah, but does that make for a profitable business? If your profits are going to come from coffee and drinks, you have a large and expensive establishment that will serve precious few drinks compared to any other bar. I think its a losing business concept and just accepting bitcoin isnt going to turn a losing concept in to a winning one. My 2 cents.

well, if I'm there, I'll eat and drink. and that OP better makes a damn good coffee in geeksize(15oz minimum!). I'll be happy to pay for that, and I consider others will, too.

Yeah, but does that make for a profitable business? If your profits are going to come from coffee and drinks, you have a large and expensive establishment that will serve precious few drinks compared to any other bar. I think its a losing business concept and just accepting bitcoin isnt going to turn a losing concept in to a winning one. My 2 cents.

Coffee and drinks are where the profit is. For instance, Wendy's (the burger chain) sells their soft drinks starting above $1 each, and their real cost is closer to 8 cents each. Starbucks has even higher prices, with not significantly greater cost.

Another example: Gas stations often break even on gas sales, while occasionally making a loss, and even more occasionally a slight profit. The money comes from the convenience store that is inevitably selling.... You guessed it, food and drinks.

hmm, in germany it is illegal to sell gas below wholesale purchasing price...

[DoubleIcaras]

Unfortunately due to the lovely UK i'm looking at around £35,000 to start up, which is... way out of reach. So for the last year or so i've been doing crappy jobs that make me hate my life a little saving for this goal.

=/

[zer0]

Most of the internet cafe's in my city are all gone it's people sitting in cafe's using their laptops now.
There's two gaming places left run by Koreans and basically the entire customer base is 16-25yr old Koreans on student visas so unless there's a bunch of Korean students in your neighborhood just open a regular cafe and do things like rent-a-laptop where you give them one running a VM snapshot so whatever malware they install is gone after you reboot, and sell bitcoins for cash over the counter.

Sure the UK has some sort of small business startup loans you can get. Here you just apply with a general biz plan for a cafe and 99.99% of time it's granted along with funding as long as you aren't a criminal or have extreme terrible credit. Some uber hipsters just opened a new cafe across from my apartment selling pear, brie, and proscuitto baguettes and the place is already packed everyday (with other hipsters)

[cunicula]

Unfortunately due to the lovely UK i'm looking at around £35,000 to start up, which is... way out of reach. So for the last year or so i've been doing crappy jobs that make me hate my life a little saving for this goal.

=/

Borrow money to go to school?

[DoubleIcaras]

Most of the internet cafe's in my city are all gone it's people sitting in cafe's using their laptops now.
There's two gaming places left run by Koreans and basically the entire customer base is 16-25yr old Koreans on student visas so unless there's a bunch of Korean students in your neighborhood just open a regular cafe and do things like rent-a-laptop where you give them one running a VM snapshot so whatever malware they install is gone after you reboot, and sell bitcoins for cash over the counter.

Sure the UK has some sort of small business startup loans you can get. Here you just apply with a general biz plan for a cafe and 99.99% of time it's granted along with funding as long as you aren't a criminal or have extreme terrible credit. Some uber hipsters just opened a new cafe across from my apartment selling pear, brie, and proscuitto baguettes and the place is already packed everyday (with other hipsters)

I'm 19 and the UK isn't doing very well financially, so I wouldn't imagine anyone would touch my business idea.

[zer0]

Most of the internet cafe's in my city are all gone it's people sitting in cafe's using their laptops now.
There's two gaming places left run by Koreans and basically the entire customer base is 16-25yr old Koreans on student visas so unless there's a bunch of Korean students in your neighborhood just open a regular cafe and do things like rent-a-laptop where you give them one running a VM snapshot so whatever malware they install is gone after you reboot, and sell bitcoins for cash over the counter.

Sure the UK has some sort of small business startup loans you can get. Here you just apply with a general biz plan for a cafe and 99.99% of time it's granted along with funding as long as you aren't a criminal or have extreme terrible credit. Some uber hipsters just opened a new cafe across from my apartment selling pear, brie, and proscuitto baguettes and the place is already packed everyday (with other hipsters)

I'm 19 and the UK isn't doing very well financially, so I wouldn't imagine anyone would touch my business idea.

This is what 'Angel Investors' are for. Every city typically has an angel investor night where you go present your scheme and look for funding to a bunch of investors. Sadly they are almost always looking for some closed source technology they can license and charge fees for but doens't mean your cafe idea wouldn't get any funding especially if you promoted the bitcoin idea (if it's legal for you to sell bitcoins for cash.. i don't see why not if you claim they are a commodity and don't advertise it as another currency)

[P4man]

Angel investors.. good luck. Having presented a business case there once, I can say with confidence three key things they look for:
- high potential ROI
- clear exit strategy
- confidence in management (read: preferably experience)

OP can offer none of those.

I wont stop him from trying, but chances of him even being allowed to present his case seem slim to non existent.

[zer0]

True, however I was at a local forum here and was surprised when they invested in some guy's japanese hotdog startup joint so there is sometimes exceptions but dude had a perfect presentation and a sufficient ROI scheme.