Tobi is making good points this morning about where income is generated? he is slightly worried about the cafe element being a key income generator - his theory being that Mums are notoriously bad business for cafes as they buy a coffee and sit with it for ages at the table whilst their kids play - but they are not bringing in any extra money.
He made the good point that he thought classes (at least some on the timetable) - you should need to sign up in advance for the whole 'term'. That way you have money in advance (so you know you can afford to run the class and you know that because Mum has paid for it it might make her definitely show up for the class (and probably have a coffee and slice of cake whilst she's at it).
I think for pre-school children this is fine - I always quite liked having a fixed date once or twice a week when I had an activity planned for the kids.
Where we differentiate from alternates is in the ideas for the classes and how they are done.
The mini-classes in the cafe could be drop in - or book in advance to ensure a place? We should try and do quite a few of these everyday (maybe Mums can buy a cool looking token at the till for whatever mini-workshop is taking place, which the kid hands over to the class leader at the beginning).
We should have one area of the business which is our sure cash cow - where we expect to definitely make money - my friends are currently setting up a Nordic themed cafe / deli and had us round to sample some of their menu ideas and to discuss how they should price things etc. One of their offerings was a Swedish Hotdog - we all decided this was their cash cow - something they could offer at an irresistable price-point that would get people into their business where hopefully they would then purchase more.
We should work out what our Hot Dog is.
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Completely agree. Michael also keeps mentioning the money generating issue.
ReplyDeleteOf course our cafe will be cool, look good, mums will come, but HOW will we make money?
Must find our hot dog! :)
Oh, and I definitely agree about booking in advance for 6 or 12-week courses, etc. I think for most classes you should have to sign up for, but we should have a few workshops be drop-in.
ReplyDeleteFor example we could have a weekly art class every monday called "Make on Monday" or something like that where every week you make something new. This would be a 10-week course, and parents would have to book for the whole term.
But, let's say we have a fancy dress tea party every Tuesday like "Tea Party on Tuesday" (cheesy name, but you get the gist), and this would be something you have to sign up for in advance, but just for each individual one, not the whole course. (Obviously this can't be a drop-in thing because we have to know how many cookies/tea cups/tea sandwiches to set on the table.)
But, we could have some classes which are simply drop-in. (These are low cost, low investment ones, like the 'make a placemat' ones, etc.)
perfect - agee with everything
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