New Play Cafe on Northcote Road? Post Reply

[whitecloud]

Thanx!!!

Nuvola

[Mrs Contractor Mum]

Ok, so I am going to be controversial and tell you what probably would work although everyone may think its appalling.

If you are going for the cafe/ healthy food option on Northcote road, make it really high tech so have tables with imbedded ipads on them e.g. 2 per table with lots of child friendly apps installed and free wifi but some way of turning them off when the food comes - say a slide over so they don't get dirty during a meal. You can get really good protectors for ipads these days to make sure they aren't damaged. Also, electric sockets at the tables for people who want to use their own laptops etc.

Also, a comfy and child friendly seating area (like a mini cinema) for children to watch some fun/ educational programmes on a big screen which can double as a party entertainment area or be used for classes.

I don't know of any location on the northcote road with premises big enough for soft play but a modern, kids friendly internet cafe in which you could have a service charge for use of ipads etc over a set period of time could help your business model.

[erinisle22]

That is a brilliant idea MrsContractorMum. The only way I can go to a cafe with 2 kids is to take my iPad - so a place where there are iPads already and a bit of space for my crazy toddler to run about...I'd be there in a flash!

[juliantenniscoach]

I think you need to consider what income streams beyond coffee and cake you're going to have. There are obviously some successful eateries on Northcote but hardly any just coffee and cake. Probably only Starbucks offer such a limited range but they can get away with it.

All the others have a wide food range. Brew is always very busy and has a food range catering for the whole day. If you are pitching solely at the buggy brigade then there are to be something chargeable to boost your income because I don't see how you can make ends meet.

Best of luck with whatever you do.

[Midwifemummy13]

Unfortunetly I have to say I think this is just someone else trying to cash in on parents of northcote road!!! People have & still are being priced out (£10 for a coffe & cake) so I would say unless your going to be extremely cheap which I doubt very much then my plea would be open up somewhere else, and give us all a financial & social break. Just because there are lots of families hère shouldn't mean a fast track ticket to cash in on us.
I think you have thought er lots of families big profit.
Just my opinion.

[avcr33d]

Hi MidwifeMummy13,
Please don't be so sceptical in your thinking, my thought begone this venture is because of a genuine want for one in the area myself and other nannies and mums I have spoken to seem to agree. I'm going to do my best to keep costs low and standards high and am still thinking about the best way to do that!
Have faith that not everyone is money hungry

X

[Midwifemummy13]

Well as you have chosen northcote road as a venue just sums it up really. I'm sure the majority would agree too!!
Just my opinion I don't wish for a debate after all you did ask for people's thoughts on this????

[Raeanne]

I don't know the Northcote Rd, so location-wise I can't comment.

Some good friends of mine own a play cafe in Twickenham. They do lots of arts and crafts, build a bear, ceramics painting, ect, and also have a playroom full of toys, a few tables and lots of mags. They do sandwich boxes for the children and toasties for the adults. This is because they don't have 'cooking facilities'.

They have music and craft classes on most mornings.

Unfortunately, they don't make any money out of the cafe. The business rates are stingingly high, they had a disastrous electricity bill last week.

What they do make their money on is parties. They don't pay anyone, it's all done between the two of them. Feel free to contact them to ask any questions, they are lovely people. Www.kraftykidz.com

Midwifemummy - how negative do you want to be? Here's the thing: if you don't want to visit, then don't visit. Your comments came across as mean (I don't know if you meant to be or not) and its not fair to assume that everyone in The Northcote Rd area will have the same opinions as you! Most Mummy's that I know would WELCOME something like this!

[juliantenniscoach]

£10 for a coffee and a piece of cake is a tad high even for Northcote but the comment reflects the change in the profile of the road/area in the last 10-15yrs.

Estate agents flock to Northcote because 2% sales fee on a £1M house is an awful of coffee and cake isn't it? Therefore with business rates plus rent the cost for consumerables is obviously high but is the market rate.

Going back to the OP you've got to have something original and engaging otherwise you'll be a trend that will fade into the next. Parties sounds like a good idea especially if you have a separate space, classes too.

I have 2 friends who are very interested in opening a cafe on Northcote albeit with a different angle. Getting people into a cafe isn't the issue, finding something they're happy to pay more and return is. The maths are really quite scary!

[bryers78]

I have been to a few that are very successful and it is all about making sure you know exactly what would bring people in and ensuring there are little extras that keep people coming back.

If you have the space then one that I have been to has a room out the back which freelance beauticians can use and so for example, you go to the café with a friend and her kids and whilst the kids play one of you goes for a massage/wax/have nails done etc.

You could then have a menu of activities for mums/dads i.e. Monday Massage, Wednesday wax etc etc there are so many good freelance beauty specialists that I'm sure would be interested.

ANyway - what I was getting at is that there needs to be something different, a reason to go to and be better than others

Good luck

[falconmum]

Went to a cafe/softplay during the weekend in Kingston. It was perfect for younger kids with lots of toys , play cars etc and food for kids and parents which was great. I don't know if they are making money but they have 3 centers all over Sutton. They have entry fee for the kids to play which at £2.50 is perfectly reasonable for some peace and quiet and they host parties on Saturday and Sunday.
I think its a great business model and makes it accessible to a lit more people than the NC crowd.
All the best for your venture. If you were ready by November, I would contact you to host my sons bday party.

[eddiecatz]

I thought I should maybe add my two cents here. My husband and I own Eddie Catz. We sit on the Board of our industry bodies, we mentor other businesses, we have helped many a failing play operator and and we regularly speak at conferences for start ups. I just thought you may be interested in our perspective.
We have 3 Eddie Catz centres and according to our business plan we should be pretty well off by now. Well this is far from the truth. We are still a small family owned company and we work our guts out, seven days a week. It is rewarding, but this industy is not a goldmine and do consider why others have failed before opening in the same place. Restaurants especially have a high failure rate. An you can also not count on all customers buying more than a coffee. Just a couple of grains of advice of what you will be in store for.....

Dealing with customers - it's no easy feat dealing with customers who, understandably in the current economy, look for high quality facilities and food at a low cost. it is near on impossible to make everyone happy although you do try. You sometimes get emails from customers telling you they are "disgusted" with your prices, which is heart wrenching when you put in hard work. Just to give you a random example of the crazy stuff that happens....we had a customer today about to tuck into a freshly made pizza and another lady's child ran over and gave it a good lick. The mother of the "licker" did not offer to pay for a new pizza and so the customer expected us to provide a fresh one. As you can imagine we ended up with 2 angry customers (they ended up fighting) and had to fork out a free pizza too!

Mucking in - everyone in the family gets pulled in to a business like this - mainly because it is 7 days a week. I would lie if I said we would not have been able to get so far without our parents on both sides pitching in or our kids (now 15 and 13) also helping on weekends. I have facepainted on weekends, pride myself on being one of the best dishwashers on a crazy day and I have been in that Eddie costume so many times that I could scream. I know the owners of Eat, Play, Love and other small local cafe-play spaces and I no doubt echo their thoughts.

Financial committment - all I can advise is do your math. Do your revenue plan and then cut it in half. See if your cashflow can still survive. We took no salries for the first 2 years.

Hidden costs - you need to factor in 20% of revenue going to the VAT man, rent, business rates, salaries, cost of consumables, not to mention uniform, staff training, first aid training, a PRS license, a waste disposal contract and so on. A profitable business is not easily achieveable. Do this before committing to your lease and business loans as you will no doubt have to guarantee both.

Good luck
Maria J.

[Fergie1]

Brilliant idea !

All of the suggestions so far have been good.
I went to the cafe eat pray love in Clapham and was so disappointed by the whole thing I will never go there again.
Toddlers could just walk out onto the main road ( poor gate system) Which made it very stressful for Parents. I would therefore suggest a proper security gate.
Food quality was very poor. So the quality of the food is very important.
Also the toys at that cafe were dirty and dated. So good clean toys for children.

I look forward to seeing you!

[juliantenniscoach]

Brilliant post Maria. I'll pass it onto my friends.

[supergirl]

Thats very helpful hindsight Maria, thanks for sharing. I cannot personnally say i love Eddy Catz (well i m not your age target ) but my kids love it so we go. I think it is a great concept, my personnal favourite being the one in Wimbledon so much space there.

@OP: bottom of the story be original (like the ipads idea), get your finances right and you might get lots of support.

On another note, look at other cafes/restaurant and how they work even if they re not directly your competition. For instance, when Ben Canteen opened on St John Hill you could see the owner sitting taking a v good table and not helping any customers. My hysband and I bet d be gone in a year. He is still there, very very popular. He tweets, he blogs, he digital market his place so people go there and then people return because it is actually quite good (if a little expensive).

As i said, good luck.