open and operate a drive thru and keep a full time job....??

[jasonmark]

Hi there,

I was curious if anybody has or knows of someone who has opened a drive thru coffee stand while retaining their full time job. I have a partner who also has a full time job--maybe shell quit---but who would prefer to keep it.

Just looking for someone who has made this happen.

thanks in advance,

Jason

 

[scgirl]

Hello,

While I have not opened a drive-thru, I did open a coffeehouse inside of an existing restaurant that only serves lunch. I am open from 7:00 until 4:00 p.m. when the restaurant closes. I have (at this point) managed to stay at my full-time job. I have a college student who works with me now and manages to do a pretty good job during the day by herself.

I am located in mainly a business area, so I have not started staying open in the evenings yet.

I have received a couple of phone calls that she has run out of this or that and had to leave the office to go over there. Fortunately I work 5 minutes from the restaurant.

Since I am at the restaurant to open in the mornings (6:00 a.m.) it makes for a long day at the office.

Good luck!!!

 

[jasonmark]

Awesome---I was hoping someone would say that theyve done it. Ill just work less hours at my regular job.

Thanks for the reply!!

 

[ontrees]

keeping the day job

Hi Jason,

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are not working the drive thru, it means paying somone to do so. It is usually really hard (but not impossible!) to immediately be making enough on a new business to pay full-time staff.

From reading these forums and from my personal experience opening multiple shops, most owners plan on working a lot of hours themselves when first starting out - for a few months up to however long it takes to start breaking even or turning a profit.

Now, if your regular job pays enough that you don't mind supporting someone else from that income (your employees), then by all means do it!

Have fun,