I would like to open a Cafe at SFU Burnaby ,need advice

stevec

Hey everyone.My name is Steve and I would really like to open my own cafe around campus.I live in Port Moody so its nice and close.It would be comfort style food,burgers,dogs,subs,soups salad or really what anyone may suggest.So is it a good idea?Is there a need for it?Please give me some feed back as it's all about you guys as well as me having my own business and doing what I love and thats cooking for people who would enjoy it.Thanks for reading.

Simon

Well people gotta eat, so the need for food will always exist. The downside is that its a very competitive field. Would I say theres a great need for another place to eat on campus? Probably not (theres already two cafes at the Cornerstone building, and many more dispersed throughout the campus).

Since it is so competitive, you have to somehow differentiate yourself from the other options, preferably at an affordable price point. Two of the busiest food places at SFU are Subway ($3.50 for a 6") and Pizza ($1.50 for a slice). So for $5 you can get yourself a decent meal that gets you through your classes. Thats pretty hard to compete with if you take the coffee shop approach.

Along with high lease rates, the other big downside is that there are a lot fewer
students on campus for the summer semester. Thats 4 months every year with little to no business. Just some things to think about

siuying

you know after a really bad or stressful day (eg: failed an exam, got a badly graded paper back, no sleep, long final days, etc) i'd really like to sit down and just demolish a piece of cake with quality coffee.. so a dessert/cake shop that serves specialty coffee would be nice.. i've always been jealous that UBC has cafe crepe..

then again.. those who know me personally are aware i have an incurable sweet tooth and an obsession with chocolate so my suggestion is probably biased.. and yes i've also graduated so i don't frequent SFU anymore hence making my suggestion irrelevant *bawls*