How to Start a Deli - Become a Deli Shop Owner



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Deli Store Owner

Breaking Into and Succeeding as a Deli Store Owner
Starting a Deli Shop
Starting a Deli BUsiness

So you're new to business ownership...

I have never started a business before. Can I start a deli business?

You sure can. In fact, that's exactly what two of the deli owners we interviewed did. Flip over to Success Profiles at the back of this eGuide for Deli Zone and The Deli @ Flatiron Park. As you can see, it's a rocky road, but it absolutely leads to success if you travel the distance.

So you're a newbie in the food service industry...

I have no prior experience starting a food-related store. Can I still succeed here?

Yes indeed. Remember, everyone had to learn somewhere--no one's a restaurateur from the cradle.

You have many resources available to you: owners of existing businesses in your area who'll be happy to talk about their experience, restaurant consultants who've learned all the ropes and will put their expertise at your disposal--and, again, as our Success Profiles demonstrate, on-the-job training is a difficult but rewarding way of gaining experience too.

So you're wondering how much you'll earn...

Is it really lucrative? Can I really make a living selling stuff for a few dollars each?

That's exactly how it's done. Check out our section on mall food courts, where we learn that "the average food court tenant will generate between $400,000 and $1-million annually.”

Now, it can take time to get to that point, no matter whether you're in a food court, at a cafe stand, or in a full restaurant space, and some of that time is going to be spent working long hours and making little personal dough. But after you do what it takes to get your business rolling, it can absolutely pay your rent--and your other bills--and for your summer vacation.

So you're wondering how you're going to afford the rent...

I don’t know if I have the funding to rent a space.

That's OK. Start small. You can start out very tiny by making breakfast burritos and prepackaged sandwiches in your home kitchen (pending all the legal inspections and certification, of course) and delivering them to local cafes. You can start out by acquiring a mobile deli van, or having a van you own converted into one, and paying no rent at all. As profits build and your savings increase, you can start planning to move into that perfect retail neighborhood you've been eying all along.

So you're short on sandwich ideas...

I’m not a good cook, but I think I can make sandwiches, but what kinds of sandwiches should I make? Any suggestions?

We certainly have a few suggestions for you. Check out Chapter Four, our Deli Menus 101 section. We go over the basic ingredients you should have on hand and offer you some delicious sandwich ideas from various cuisines--as well as some ideas for non-sandwich yummies. OK, we're not going to take you by the hand and walk you through your first turkey club, but you've been in delis before. You've seen their menus--you've even ordered from them. You've probably got lots more sandwich ideas than you're giving yourself credit for!
So you want to be more than just a sandwich shop...

Other than selling sandwiches and coffees, what else can I sell?

The sky's the limit. Breakfast burritos, soups and salad, cookies, nut bars, wraps, shakes and malts--whatever you can imagine, as long as you can fit it into your budget and your time, you can sell it. The trick is to first decide on your image, identity, and target market, and let your menu naturally flow from there. We'll talk more about that in a bit.

So you're wondering about the legalities...

Do I need to have any food and health-related licenses in addition to registering my business? Are these licenses hard to obtain? I’m nervous.

That's understandable. But take heart--thousands of new restaurant owners navigate that maze every week. You can do it too. And while you won't exactly walk away from this book knowing everything there is to know about restaurant insurance and food service licenses, we'll introduce you to the basic concepts (see the first half of Chapter Three) and point you in the right direction so you can find out all the details that pertain to your particular situation.
So you're worried about liability...

What if my customers get food poisoning or something like that? What can I do?

This is, we must admit, the big nightmare of the entire food service industry. Goodness knows the salmonella outbreak of 2008 was a sobering experience.

What can you do? Well, you can't entirely eliminate every possible risk of food-borne illness, but you can diminish it by sourcing your food locally, maintaining a high level of sanitation (as required by law), and training your employees to do the same. And should the nightmare become reality, property and liability insurance won't make the problem go away, sure, but it will help your business recover and continue on. In Chapter Three, we'll introduce you to the kinds of insurance you may want to purchase.

By the Numbers: Statistics, Trends, and Forecasts

The U.S. Census includes delicatessens under NAICS code 44511. According to the 2002 Census, there were 66,150 establishments in this category with a combined sales of about $3.95 billion (73.36% of which is subcategorized specifically as "Groceries & other foods for human consumption off the premises," or product code 20100). If we compare these numbers to those of the 1997 Census, we see a slight drop in the number of establishments (from 69,461) but a sharp rise in total industry sales (from about $3.5 billion).

Of course, 2002 was six years ago. What's been happening since then?

To help answer this question, we turn to CompaniesAndMarkets.com and the highlights from their February 2008 report, "Chilled and Deli Food - Global Industry Guide." This guide covers a market consisting of "chilled fish/seafood, chilled meat products, chilled ready meals, chilled pizza, chilled fresh pasta, deli food and sandwiches/salads." According to the report highlights, that market has shown significant growth in both volume and value through the middle part of the decade, and more growth is predicted to close the decade out:

• "The global chilled & deli food market grew by 3.6% in 2005 to reach a value of $196.9 billion."
• "The market grew by 2.6% in 2005 to reach a volume of 36.9 billion kg."
• "In 2010, the market is forecast to have a value of $233.2 billion, an increase of 18.4% since 2005."
• "In 2010, the market is forecast to have a volume of 41.9 billion kg, an increase of 13.4% since 2005."
• "Chilled fish and seafood forms the most lucrative sector of the global chilled and deli food market, with a 26.5% share of the market."

How about competition with household names?

Starbucks. Peet's. Quiznos. Subway. McDonald's. Names to strike fear in the hearts of entrepreneurs before he or she has even chosen a business name. How many times a day do we hear cynics predicting an urban retail future consisting of nothing but cookie-cutter storefronts, identical shopping malls, cloned plazas, and no difference to be found between New York or New Orleans, between Salem, Oregon and Salem, Massachusetts?

They're wrong.

The age of the independent business is not over. Thousands of them are springing up next-door or down the block from their local Chili's, Costco, or King Soopers, and they're surviving. There is no reason you can't do the same.

We were just now talking about trends in the delicatessen business.

Over the past two years, dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of neighborhood groups have sprung up to protect their homegrown businesses. In Lake Placid, New York, a group known as the Residents for Responsible Growth is working with neighboring towns to form a regional response to chain store expansion. In Flagstaff, Arizona, it was the arrival of a Barnes & Noble and a Home Depot that prompted residents to form the Friends of Flagstaff's Future. In Northfield, Minnesota, the Citizens for Responsible Development is working to defend the town's historic Main Street and local shops.

In recent years, organizations and movements such as these have been offering significant resistance against the encroachment of the big chain stores--or "category killers" as they are sometimes called, given their predatory tendency to run all their competition out of town. More and more, local consumers forming alliances to protect their town's unique character from disappearing into cookie-cutter uniformity. Supporting local agriculture is another concern--this is not an easy era for the family farm. And most people feel that local business owners will more reliably put their profits back into supporting the community. Unlike the big chains, they have a stake in the health of their town. They live there, after all.

Safety concerns also drive "Buy local" movements. In the summer of 2008, an outbreak of salmonella caused stores and restaurants across the U.S. to temporarily stop selling and serving tomatoes. More than 250 people were hospitalized. Two people even died. But in the end it proved impossible to trace the bacteria to its source; "repacking" practices in the U.S. and Mexico confused the trail.

Buy buying from local farmers, consumers can be more confident that they know where their food has come from, making problems much easier to trace. What's more, proponents of "Buy local" movements point out that it is the very practice of huge single source farms shipping food all over the country which makes problems like the 2008 salmonella outbreak possible in the first place. If more food were sold and consumed close to its source, infected tomatoes would necessarily have a more limited impact, geographically speaking,

Finally, concern for the environment plays a non-trivial role in this trend. A local food economy has a much smaller carbon footprint than does the practice of shipping tomatoes from southern California to distant New York City. And even those who doubt today's predictions of an impending global climate change crisis can't help but feel the difference in their wallets. Rising gas prices are increasingly having an impact on the price of food that's been trucked across the country.

The national chains have not been insensible to this movement towards local consumership. Whole Foods, for instance, actively makes a reputation on catering in part to increased community consciousness. Alongside imported offerings they highlight products from local farmers, dairies, bakeries, and snack vendors. Even their paper bags bear "I'm a local!" slogans, calling attention to each individual store's connection to its neighborhood. They are simultaneously encouraging the trend and marketing to it.

Which tells us two things. First, big chains notwithstanding, there is definitely a market for smaller, local, independent businesses. Secondly, that market is big enough that the large multi-outlet corporations are paying attention to it.

As you know, the big chains have a lot more money to spend on market research than you do. However, you needn't view this fact as a threat. Instead, look at it as a form of labor delegation. The chains have the budget, so let them do the work. You, in turn, can benefit from it. Pay attention to their advertising. Observe who they're marketing to and what products they think will sell. Just by watching your competition, you can figure out a lot about up and coming industry trends.

But don't let them do all the work. They can't. The big chains are good at big picture; what they're not so good at is detail. That's your forte. Take every advantage of it. Talk to your customers when they come in. Find out what they think. You can meet their needs with a level of precision that the big chains can only dream of.

The fact is, though the national corporations have an advantage over you in size, budget, corporate support, and product consistency across a large geographical area, these very features mean that they'll be less agile than you when it comes to making changes. You can respond more quickly than they to customer feedback, shifts in market demographics, and other external factors. This is because you're not beholden to corporate rules and recipes; you can do what you want.

To illustrate this point, imagine that you were a Starbucks store manager. You notice that a lot of your regular customers are commenting that the seasonal pumpkin latte is too strong, or too sweet, or would be perfect with a dash more cloves and nutmegs. You can't just change your recipe to suit them; if the brand name is to have any meaning, the Starbucks experience needs to be identical in every city it operates in. That pumpkin latte has to taste exactly the same in every store. So you can try to influence the corporation as a whole to change the recipe, but all you can do for your customers is point them toward the condiments bar.

Now recast yourself as the independent delicatessen owner you want to be. Your turkey B.L.T. is selling well, but customer feedback this week suggests that something with a little more "zing" would be welcome. Next week--maybe even tomorrow--you visit a local grocer and buy a jar of pesto. You mix it up in equal proportions with some mayonnaise, and you make "turkey pesto B.L.T." one of the day's specials. You ask everyone who tries the new sandwich what they think. Based on their feedback, you either add it to the regular menu, add the pesto mayonnaise to the daily list of toppings and spreads, or simply reserve it for future specials from time to time.

This flexibility is the biggest advantage you have over the Quiznos and Subways of the world. Yes, you absolutely can compete with them. When it comes to quality ingredients, a winning menu, and amazing customer service--and, as we said before, community responsibility and support--they are the ones who simply can't compete with you.

Need we say more?
This eGuide provides insightful information, advices and tips for anyone who is contemplating to become a deli store owner. Numerous hard-to-find resources are included to help you locate pertinent information.

Editor-in-Chief Jennie S. Bev, co-author Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little have talked to several successful juice bar owners, to provide you with the best and the most comprehensive self-study guidebook filled with insider information, tips and advice for breaking into and succeeding in this delicious deli business.

About the Authors

Jennie S. Bev is THE fashion, image and fun careers expert, whose reputation has been acknowledged by prestigious media internationally. She has been profiled and mentioned in Entrepreneur, Teen People, Canadian Business, Home Business, Dong (France), San Francisco Chronicle, The Independent, Daily Southtown, The Arizona Republic, Femina (Asia) and Dewi (Asia).

Editor-in-Chief Jennie S. Bev was named 2003 EPPIE Award finalist in Non-Fiction How To category for excellence in electronic publishing. She has published over 80 books and 900 articles in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Southeast Asia. She is also a college professor based in San Francisco Bay Area.

Co-author Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little is an accomplished author, freelance writer, and web designer from the New Orleans area. She graduated from Metairie Park Country Day School and went from there to the University of Washington to pursue B.A. in English.

Her fiction and essays have been published in a diverse handful of literary and New Age magazines, including PanGaia. An aspiring novelist, she has been an annual participant in National Novel-Writing Month since 2002. She now resides in Colorado.

This 74-page instantly downloadable StyleCareer.com eGuide Breaking Into and Succeeding as a Deli Store Owner brings you valuable insider tips, advice and suggestions not available elsewhere to help you embark on this highly lucrative career path.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Myths, the Realities, and the Basics
So you're new to business ownership...
So you're a newbie in the food service industry...
So you're wondering how much you'll earn...
So you're wondering how you're going to afford the rent...
So you're short on sandwich ideas...
So you want to be more than just a sandwich shop...
So you're wondering about the legalities...
So you're worried about liability...

Deli Store Business in a Nutshell
By the Numbers: Statistics, Trends, and Forecasts
Can I Compete with National Chains, Franchises, and Corporations?
Deli-Spotting: Categories and Classifications
Classic Deli, or Menu-Driven?
Just Sandwiches, or More?
Storefront, Kiosk, or In-Store?
Dine-In, Drive-Through, or Walk-Up?
Independent, or Franchise?

Starting A Deli Store
Relevant Species of Legality
Incorporation
Permits/Licenses: Food and Drink
Zoning
Insurance
Rentable Options
A fixed restaurant space
A mall food court counter
A kiosk or cart in a pedestrian retail area
The Mobile Deli
Store Layout and Design
Equipping the Kitchen
On Being A Wi-Fi Hotspot
Stocking the Pantry
Diversifying and Merchandising

Menus and Recipes
Types of sandwich and how to make them
Basic Ingredients
Specialty Variations
Sample Recipes
Coffee and Tea
Other Food Items

Being Successful
Promotions on a Shoestring Budget
Banners, Signs, and Chalkboards
Charitable Action: Money Well Spent
Associations and Organizations

Success Profiles

This eGuide literally saves you hundreds or even thousands of dollars spent on professional workshops and training and hundreds of hours of research. It will help you break into the career of your dream faster without having to repeat the same mistakes that most newcomers do.

You can have this exclusive eGuide right away by instant download for only $39.95, which you will earn many times over with your first paid job. This special low discount price is reserved for today, Thursday, 11-Mar-2010 06:28:39 PST only. (Regular price: $49.95)

Breaking Into and Succeeding
as a DeliStore Owner
74 Pages
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