[canonball]

Ashish is a standalone food business the right choice in these inflationary times? I think the rest is already covered by pranav.

How does integrating a property investment with a service around it sound? Relaible sources tell me property values will remain at 07/08 levels for 5 + years which I tend to agree with. Traditional property and stock investment seem to be confusing and more prone to be flat over the next couple fo years, so stand alone vanila property investment may not work as apposed to combining it with a service around it. Say service apartments? or Service apartment cum boutique hotel?

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Go in food business. You can start with small and can grow with your skills.

. My family is planning to do something on similar lines. One must see how much money small mess, kabab hotels are making. That with some tasteless, bland food. What I have realized is that if you can dish out some tasty food, even on a push cart you can get rich with time. I have heard stories of a man who used to sell dosa's near KR Market area for nearly 10yrs on a push cart. Today he has 3 more small outlets in that area. One still is a push kart though. Today the owner comes in a E-class to collect the days proceedings.

The advantage of being in the food catering business is, people come, eat, pay cash immediately and leave. One doesn't have to run behind payments like in most other fronts. That said, mostly getting good cooks, maintaining the staff is a big pain. But still IMO, its a lot less riskier because of the mode of payment involved.

Rush, I was planning on something similar. My uncle works for the Karnataka tourism department and has been rated as one of the best guides this state has produced, so it all seemed good. He is given incharge of most of the cricket teams that land up in Bangalore for the matches. It seemed too much of an investment to start off with (resorts, transport fleet etc) and the tourism season is quite unpredictable. So instead dad decided to venture into interior designing. Its a lucrative business, until recession kicked in. Now the key is to make sure you chose clients who don't strangle you with payment delays.

[neoranjit]

Originally Posted by pranava999

The grass is greener on this side of the door (kitchen door). The food busi ness is one business that is easy to enter. It's mostly a 7 day- 14 hrs business (no personal life especially on weekends) dealing with people (customers and staff)but not easy to stick on. There's a lot more, ask me and will tell you. Family is in the business!

Apparently attrition is a big problem in the food business. Heard cooks are always in high demand. Not sure how true this is.

On the other hand, set up a English coaching class in any of the Tier 2 cities and tie up with a BPO in a tier 1 city. BPOs are always looking for people.

[pranava999]

Yes,attrition is high all through. Getting trustworthy and efficient staff across levels (to unburden oneself) is very difficult, till one scales up and can afford to be a franchisor or attract professional managers ( not a guarantee of efficiency or quality). One must be ready to ignore petty embezellment(cash,stores,cutlery,blah..blah) Not to forget uninvited inteference from our babus or their undelings from various departments and sometimes even petty politicians!

The business is highly unorganised at the low and mid price segments and professionalism and ethics are hard to come by. Having said that,I guess its an issue generic to start ups. It definitely is a cash business, but remember its one business that has so many variables on the input cost front especially, in these inflationary times. Its a commodity business where prices of almost every commodity changes on a daily basis and electricity,water, LPG is sold at commercial rates and not the subsidised domestic rates one is used to.Don't forget location,location,location and the resultant investment/cost!!

The overheads are high and space is a constraint. Car parking space comes at a premium.

BTW my thoughts abover were in reference to running a decent sized and mid segment ala carte INDIAN restaurant not a fast food burger or vada paav chain where almost everything needed for a burger can be bought off the shelf, very minimum manual inteference, cold stored and put together at the outlet because of a highly efficient supply chain

Bottomline to be in the food business requires passion,patience,customer/labour handling skills and a willingness to give up the 40hour week concept.

Originally Posted by neoranjit

Apparently attrition is a big problem in the food business. Heard cooks are always in high demand. Not sure how true this is.

On the other hand, set up a English coaching class in any of the Tier 2 cities and tie up with a BPO in a tier 1 city. BPOs are always looking for people.

[zuch]

Originally Posted by GTO

The travel industry will only grow, what with disposable incomes & time.

Originally Posted by rkbharat

I had something very similar in mind, controlled by a travel portal, which connects to the best resources in India and let cutomer watch while we do the planning for them ...

On similar lines since it's web 2.0 everywhere create a travel portal that allows travellers to document their journeys, use technology to combine different travelogues for the same place, link to various sites offering information and other resources for that place, create custom holiday/travel plans linked to these places.

The plan is to collect good information about travel in India(say like team-bhp is for automobiles) and then use that information to create tours based on what people have already done, or imagined and offer that as a service along with the information which is free.

Originally Posted by canonball

Ashish/green horn the world has become a flat place and no idea can ever remain a secret; execution, strategy, and tactical movment may stay unique and secret but not the idea.

Agree completely!

[phamilyman]

Canonball, property prices in gurgaon have jumped 10-15% since June FYI - so much for theories!

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Ask yourself what you like most and then go in that direction. Nothing, least of all a new business, succeeds without passion and when you are doing something that you like getting passionate about it is all the more easy.
A lazy Bangladeshi in New York City who loved to sleep in the afternoons started a novel business around his passion for sleeping and it became a runaway success - he offers place in the busy office district for tired individuals to doze off in the afternoons and evenings etc !! It's a roaring success. People pay by the hour to be able to catch a quick wink.

[canonball]

Phamil sir I am talking about 07/08 levels what you are stating seems to be catchup unless you are saying these prices have jumped 10 to 15% from 07/08 levels sir please re-read my post. Didn't that area fall the most in 08/09? I heard 20 to 30%. Are you property dealer?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by canonball

Ashish is a standalone food business the right choice in these inflationary times?

guys, guys,
when the term food business is used, don't think just restaurant or hotel.
there is lot under the name of food business.

simple example:
There is big demand for packed food items. As a starter, you will face all problems with taste, market, brand and obviously you will be looser if you compete to big players for same product. Think small, there is a niche market for every product for every quality, every taste at every price. Think in that direction and you will find your way.
don't compete with big players until you become comparable big and that is key to success in food business.

One simple idea.

in larger industrial estates, big companies provide food to employees. every company has its own canteen run by some caterer. now caterer will quote the price of his dish keeping in mind the size of company. this price varies with company to company for same quality of food.
now, there is huge potential to tap this market. one can set up big kitchen[ term it as factory] in same industrial area and provide ready made food to companies. the kitchen factory will produce the items in his factory in mass scale with quality control and serve it at customer end. in this case, both will be in win-win situation.


@property investment---
man, that is just investment and not business. in business, you invest to produce something, to cater services but in property business, you have to be in construction, plotting, development line. property investment and property business are different things.

@pranava999-The grass is greener on this side of the door (kitchen door).

every business has pros and cons. everyone think that others business is better than mine. as you are in food business, you are already getting fruits. so don't worry about work and time. if you are working for 14 hours a day, then your business is surely flourishing, isn't it?

[beejay]

Its very hard to find help these days. Focus on business which require minimum work force is ideal in the future scenario.

[wanderluster]

My personal view - focus on technology/ internet - the scalability and uniqueness of an idea in this sector is what will set one apart and will ensure the best returns. However, one needs to have a very sound business model and idea before starting out. visit VentureWoods - India's leading venture capital community for an indepth overview of the entrepreneurial environment where there are numerous succcessful entrepreneurs and VCs discussing everything you need to know about the space.

[canonball]

thx wanderluster internet seems the most ideal as labor markets are still young, talent attraction, retention is still good, and being in the space itself puts you in the right place of getting good committed and productive people. So issues of other conventional businesses don't seem to matter here and one can start this business from anywhere. But one needs to really narrow down to what will work as unlike convetional businesses which have a higher probalility of making money internet businesses work the other way very few survive leave alone succeed. What is good in this space is the big questions?

I also see too many people crowding around very few concepts i.e social networking, search engines, buy/sell and mobile banking solutions. Arent there any other spaces?

[SirAlec]

Originally Posted by spadival

Become a mercenary for hire and go to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Ofcourse! they are called PMC. one of my cousin is a PMC due to his previous career in foreign military.

[rabnawaz_b]

I go with Ashishpallod's idea. Food business is always stagnent if the prices you offer are something that suits the pocket. Come Recession or Inflation, everyone needs food.
I have seen merc E-class coming to VVpuram food street even though the rates are so cheaper. However, i havent seen a Daily wages laborour going to Taj west end for his supper.
Hence, food business with Ideal prices and hygiene will fetch you good money at this time.

[wanderluster]

Originally Posted by canonball

thx wanderluster internet seems the most ideal as labor markets are still young, talent attraction, retention is still good, and being in the space itself puts you in the right place of getting good committed and productive people. So issues of other conventional businesses don't seem to matter here and one can start this business from anywhere. But one needs to really narrow down to what will work as unlike convetional businesses which have a higher probalility of making money internet businesses work the other way very few survive leave alone succeed. What is good in this space is the big questions?

I also see too many people crowding around very few concepts i.e social networking, search engines, buy/sell and mobile banking solutions. Arent there any other spaces?

There are a number of unique ideas that are doing well. The outsourcing space is something that is picking up well. Refer to companies like UnitedLex and iYogi – unique business plans – but all focus on the outsourcing model. Education is something else that is a model waiting to be tapped – Educomp is a fine example.
Mobile VAS is another sector that is seeing a number of start ups that are bringing in the money – and with 3G around the corner and phones that enable easy access to content – this is definitely going to be the next segment of growth.
Models based on high bandwidth (internet) are also promising (eg. Gaming).
But, it all depends on what your background is and how you can marry it with technology.