How do u SET UP a Net cafe?

manonthemoon

OK,

I know we hada disscussion abou this last week.

I have been mentioning the idea of setting up a Net cafe, down the country to a few people over the weekend.

To tell the truth they have been nearly all against it.

But hey, I'm a stubborn B*****d and i want to look into further.

So , does anyone know, how would i go about find out what facts and figures i need to know.

Say I need 10 Pcs only, server, software etc. How much new, second hand or should I rent/ lease

What about maintenance?

Could i learn myself or is ait a case of having someone fulltime?

To tell the truth, Iwould just like to have somewhere to hand out in my home town. Maybe sella bit of coffee. I am a web designer, so i would hope to continue, and keep a few shillings coming in

i.e. not look out the window hoping people would come in and send email.

If you dont know how i could find out this info, maybe where i could start looking would be good

ThanksPeace Y'all
Manonthemoon

ToxicPaddy

Do you mind if I ask where in the country you are thinkin of setting it up..???

Bard

I know it might seem obvious, but it's well worth popping into a couple of the Net Café's in town in person and asking the owner/manager for some advice.

manonthemoon

I am just thinking of somewhere in the south east. As yet i am just looking into it. Yes, i had thought of trying the existing cafe, but i just thought i would try and get some background info first.

Anyway, thanks fo rthe replies. Anyone else got any tips

Monkey

"I know it might seem obvious, but it's well worth popping into a couple of the Net Café's in town in person and asking the owner/manager for some advice."

I'm sure they'll be perfectly happy to give their competition advice on how to set up shop.

Static M.e.

a couple of us tried to set one up 2 years ago in the south if i can find my figures and prices for things ill post em here ( i know they
will be outdated but it might give you a general ideas)

i remember we had to set up a company , get insurance , then it was a case of picking a site ( cork at the time ), seeing what renovations had to be done ,pcricing power , desks , servers , cabling , interior design ( making it look nice , inside and out ),
fire certs , insurance , connections internet etc
then it was a case of pcs buy or lease

we worked out at 60000
30000 for site
10000 for all decor stuff
20000 for computer stuff

we got 30000 together ourselves ,3 x 10000
and investors 3x 10000
plan fell through cus site in cork opened before us and we
lost our b@lls ,
anyway still regreting it today , hate lossing money , id say go for it , their alicense to make money , run comp. classes during day when its quiet and make your webpages and game at night
thats just my two yoyos worth

meglome

Originally posted by Static M.e.
id say go for it , their a license to make money

This seems to be the general idea people have of it and I'm sorry but in main this is completely not the case. Dublin especially is extremely competitive at the moment and it is very tough to stay on top. My advice would be if you are not already established then think carefully about it. I think Shad0r from Nethouse would probably agree with me on this.

jim_bob

Originally posted by meglome


Dublin especially is extremely competitive at the moment and it is very tough to stay on top. My advice would be if you are not already established then think carefully about it

i think this statement above is totally wrong, i see it posted up every time there are questions about opening a cafe. Anyways looking at it, it would not be too hard too wipe every cafe out in town. ( and yes thats just starting up a company) look whats in the cafes at the moment and look how much stuff you can do to improve. an example chairs how many people have spent about 10 hours sitting on one of does hard plastic chairs all night playing games. although i noticed the big comfy leather chairs in one of nethouse's cafes in temple bar. now thats what u need for all nighter but then just 1 off hand

i think people who own cafes or work for cafes are allways protecting them selves by saying in dublin there is no rule.this is a common pratice if a competeter wants to start competiting with you tell him business is bad.

what i reckon you do is stick it out and c where your firgures and that get you and see if it's worth your while and if so get another investor in just to add the last few bits that no one else hase

manonthemoon

Meglome,

Where is your net cafe in Dublin? Would i be over stepping the mark by calling in for a quick chat. I'm hoping of opening down the country so it wouldnt be detremental to your business.

Send me an email if you want.

Thanks

manon the moon

handyandy

Meglome runs 'Does not Compute' in Temple Bar (West End) and Camden Street (over Bleeding Horse). He's not there all the time.

And jim_bob to be fair to Meglome, his rates are 35-55% cheaper than a lot of places, despite relatively good PCs and a good bandwidth ratio.

Oh, IR£10,000 won't get you very far in decorating / fitting out a café.

sceptre

Meglome would be good to have a chat with. If you're opening down the country you won't really be competition (you could even offer to put up some kind of sign in your cafe recommending "Does not compute" if yours ever got off the ground (certainly a good place to recommend)

Bard was involved in setting up Websters in Limerick when it opened and might also be of some help

Jackoman

I was in a limited partnership to start up a chain of internet cafes last year. I wont get into the details of why I didnt continue with it but if you want to pm me I can pretty much give you all my work that I had researched on setting up cafes with figures for forecasts and budgets, etc and pretty much everything you could possibly sell in an internet cafe. The biggest step I think is getting the right property and getting the right money to back you. Its not something you can afford to do half ars€dly. Otherwise good luck with the venture, and there are always plenty of ways to wipe out the competition.