New business advice please - Farm Shop
Discussion
Ean218 said:
48k said:
It's worth at least getting some advice from your local planning authority before accidentally landing yourself in a world of pain like JC did when he "repurposed" a building for a restaurant.
There was nothing "accidental" about what JC got up to.Definitely dig on the planning.
A chap up the road from us had a farm, he built a soft play (decent imo) into a barn, did locally made buns/muffins, coffees, paninos etc… then had a bit for kids to feed animals etc… had pigs, sheep, hens, donkeys, rabbits etc.
All going ok it seemed, till he built some play equipment outside.
Planning wouldn’t let it go, sounded a bit like a vendetta at that point, costs, blah blah.
He and his wife are now getting divorced and the whole site won’t sell for anywhere near what they want.
Maybe the dream vs reality are quite off.
I think to run this kinda think you need to be 100% committed, doing a lot of the shifts yourself etc, to get established and so on.
Paying out NMW on an idea selling spoiling organic stock you have to buy in is going to get costly.
I’m sure there is a business in all this, and a good one, but definitely figure out the planning rules and flow-chart it do you know how far you can push it before you get exposure, then costs, then liabilities, so you can factor it into plans.
We have another farm type place nearby too, they’ve been a dairy for generations and started ice cream in the 90s, and then an adventure farm type thing.
Always expanding. But they’re always busy, and the whole family mucks in, kids now have kids who help out.
God knows how that all unravels when the grand parents pass on… hopefully they’ve planned it all out!
Then another who run something really serious, mega money, I know some relatives who’ve mentioned how it’s grown over the years.
Just outside big city.
Did Christmas trees, farm shop type things.
Then farm adventure.
These days they’re selling about £150 per family at Christmas to walk around their Christmas event thing with a Santa grotto and all that jazz.
Booked out all December.
The money to be made is bonkers and the expansion path is clear to see if you’ve been watching farmers/hobby farmer diversification over the last 20 years.
Some successful, others not.
But I’d argue most aren’t just buying/reselling products using NMW labour in the early days… which is why I think you need a bit more USP here…?
A chap up the road from us had a farm, he built a soft play (decent imo) into a barn, did locally made buns/muffins, coffees, paninos etc… then had a bit for kids to feed animals etc… had pigs, sheep, hens, donkeys, rabbits etc.
All going ok it seemed, till he built some play equipment outside.
Planning wouldn’t let it go, sounded a bit like a vendetta at that point, costs, blah blah.
He and his wife are now getting divorced and the whole site won’t sell for anywhere near what they want.
Maybe the dream vs reality are quite off.
I think to run this kinda think you need to be 100% committed, doing a lot of the shifts yourself etc, to get established and so on.
Paying out NMW on an idea selling spoiling organic stock you have to buy in is going to get costly.
I’m sure there is a business in all this, and a good one, but definitely figure out the planning rules and flow-chart it do you know how far you can push it before you get exposure, then costs, then liabilities, so you can factor it into plans.
We have another farm type place nearby too, they’ve been a dairy for generations and started ice cream in the 90s, and then an adventure farm type thing.
Always expanding. But they’re always busy, and the whole family mucks in, kids now have kids who help out.
God knows how that all unravels when the grand parents pass on… hopefully they’ve planned it all out!
Then another who run something really serious, mega money, I know some relatives who’ve mentioned how it’s grown over the years.
Just outside big city.
Did Christmas trees, farm shop type things.
Then farm adventure.
These days they’re selling about £150 per family at Christmas to walk around their Christmas event thing with a Santa grotto and all that jazz.
Booked out all December.
The money to be made is bonkers and the expansion path is clear to see if you’ve been watching farmers/hobby farmer diversification over the last 20 years.
Some successful, others not.
But I’d argue most aren’t just buying/reselling products using NMW labour in the early days… which is why I think you need a bit more USP here…?
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