In the summer season, a lot of opportunities open up for entrepreneurs to organize their small business, which at the same time, due to the sale of a seasonal product, has a very high profitability and a short payback period. This includes trade in ice cream, popcorn and candy floss. All these goodies attract a large number of consumers, so before the summer season it is worth considering the option of organizing one or more points of sale for such a product. This article will examine in more detail the trade in precisely cotton candy.
To get started, it is worth registering as a business entity. The easiest way in this direction of business is best to take shape as an individual entrepreneur. The advantages here are the simplicity of registration and simple reporting in their subsequent work. If there is a need to register a legal entity, the preferred form is a limited liability company, then in this case, as in the case of individual entrepreneurship, a simplified taxation system will be available, which involves transferring to the state's benefit no more than 6% of income or 15% of operating profit. The activity itself may fall under the definition of different classifiers depending on the format of work - (OKPD 2) 47.11 Retail trade services mainly of food products, including beverages, and tobacco products in non-specialized stores, (OKPD 2) 47.24 Retail trade services of bread and bakery products and confectionery in specialized stores or (OKPD 2) 47.81 Retail trade services in non-stationary trading facilities and in the markets of food products, beverages and tobacco products.
When the stage of registration of your company or registration of individual entrepreneurship is passed, you need to obtain permission to trade in food products. Here you already need to know exactly in what format it is planned to work. You can also trade in cotton candy in your specialized store, while in addition to this product itself, you can also sell many other similar products, that is, trade directly in confectionery. This option is suitable for those entrepreneurs who do not plan to make cotton candy trade the main focus of their activity, but consider it only as a source of additional income. Otherwise, it makes no sense to rent a room only for the sale of cotton candy. A businessman who is already engaged in the sale of confectionery or food products in general has certainly already received all permissions from public services. Here, first of all, you need to contact the Rospotrebnadzor to obtain a sanitary and epidemiological conclusion that will allow you to trade in food products. Permissions will also be required from other services, such as the fire department. However, this applies only to stationary facilities in which food is traded. At the same time, the entrepreneur has the opportunity to simplify his task if you conclude an agreement on placing your rack with candy floss in an existing food store or other institution that has received permission from Rospotrebnadzor to trade in food products. Then the entrepreneur, working within this store, eliminates the need to receive all this documentation. If the trade will take place on the street or in general at a non-stationary trading facility, then to obtain permission you just need to provide a certificate of conformity for your food product (that is, for ingredients), which can be issued by the supplier of this raw material.
When all legal issues have been resolved, you can begin to search for premises for your work. Although in this business it is still much better and easier to engage in trade precisely at non-stationary trading facilities. But first, consider exactly the option of trading cotton candy in an ordinary store. So, this may be relevant if the entrepreneur is going to sell not only candy floss, but also many other food products, in other words, if he plans to open his own food or just a pastry shop. It is not economically feasible to allocate premises for trade only with cotton candy.
Therefore, if an entrepreneur still has the idea of opening a full-fledged store, then he should consider many options for selling various products. However, here it is necessary to take into account the factor that cotton candy sells well only in certain places, which is why it is often traded near parks, educational institutions, we are such places, that is, where there are a large number of potential consumers and good traffic. You can open your own small store, for example, in the park, where in addition to cotton candy you can sell ice cream, popcorn and just pastries. One of the important drawbacks of this format of work is the need to rent or even buy out a room, which significantly increases the amount of start-up investments, and in the case of renting a room it also adds a considerable amount to the monthly expense. The rental price can be different, a lot depends on the city in which it is planned to work, as well as its location. It should be borne in mind that obtaining permission to trade in the territory of a municipal park can be very difficult, because in this case you will have to contact the relevant government agencies.
It’s a little easier to set up your work if you find a partner for cooperation, which will be a store that already works in a promising territory, and start trading directly in its premises. In this case, you will only have to pay a relatively small rental of a small place, while getting all the advantages of a store already known at least in your region and having some customer base of regular customers, many of whom will certainly be interested in the opportunity to buy candy floss.
Now you can consider in more detail the option of organizing your work at a non-stationary trading facility. As has been repeatedly noted, it is best to stay near or on the territory of parks and recreational areas, where many people walk, among which there will be many potential consumers. To work in this direction, you can use various non-stationary objects. The standard option is to buy a simple rack, which is quickly assembled and just as quickly disassembled, on which the trade will take place. Such an object takes up very little space, is serviced by only one employee and is easily moved from place to place. At the same time, the cost of the rack itself is very low, you can buy a similar thing for several thousand rubles, the price varies depending on the material and size. With such a stand it will be possible to work in small shops, in circuses, theaters and cinemas and the like. There is a better option for organizing your trading place - buying and collecting a mobile module. It represents a non-capital premises by itself, but at the same time it allows you to store goods immediately on the spot, to have an enclosed space, which will make it possible to trade even in not very good weather, in which case you will not have to worry about the need to go every day to take apart and take your a rack. That is, this option has its advantages. You can buy a similar module for relatively little money, usually the amount starts from 100 thousand rubles, but varies greatly depending on the size and equipment. You can also try to find used modules that are sold at, of course, a reduced price.
Next, you should take care of the purchase of equipment for the production of cotton candy. I must say that there are relatively small devices that allow you to make candy floss at home, they are not expensive, but they differ in low performance and, most importantly, the delivery of such equipment does not include such an important thing as a glass dome, which is necessary when working outdoors. You can buy such a simple set of equipment for an amount not exceeding 10 thousand rubles, the simplest units will cost 2-3 thousand at all. However, in order to be able to work outdoors and have good performance, which is very important in this business, especially on holidays and weekends, when a large number of people relax in the parks and just walks around the city, you need to buy a professional device with good performance.
To save money, it is better to purchase Russian or Chinese devices, they have not too high performance and differ in not the best quality, but at the same time they fully justify their price, which may be especially important at first when doing business. Such equipment will cost about 20-30 thousand rubles, European analogues, which have the best quality and, as a result, good performance, cost one and a half to two times more. I must say that in such a business wild boom is not always observed, and queues are not lined up in front of the counter with cotton candy, so high performance may not be necessary. However, each entrepreneur himself decides how important this is for him and acquires equipment in accordance with his planned sales volume, financial capabilities and development strategy. If you do not have to work in a stationary retail facility, you also need to purchase a battery for the operation of your equipment, this even applies to mobile modules and those rooms that for some reason are not provided with electricity.
When the issue of equipment is resolved, you need to find suppliers of supplies for the production of cotton candy. The manufacturing technology of this sweet product involves the use of sugar and special food colors, which provide not only the specific color of the cotton candy obtained, but also its taste. A relative novelty in this area of production can be called the manufacture of two-color cotton candy, the most modern equipment allows you to produce a product using even several different dyes and additives, which makes it possible to combine flavors and make quite unusual candy floss, which will undoubtedly attract children first of all. At the same time, the cost of production will not increase much, and the entrepreneur will receive a very important competitive advantage, because his retail facility offers a unique product.
Finally, the last consumable will be the sticks on which the cotton candy produced is strung. The cost of one serving of cotton candy is usually only a few rubles, the cheapest can be made literally for 2 rubles, the cost increases if some expensive dyes are added or several are used at once. At the same time, the price of a portion for the final consumer is rarely less than 100 rubles, which is why it can already be concluded that the profitability of this business is very high, even taking into account other expenses.
The most important drawback of such a business is, of course, its seasonality. In this regard, it is not advisable to deal exclusively with this type of entrepreneurship; it is best to choose for yourself several areas that you can do to earn income year-round. It should also be noted that it is best to open several retail outlets in different parts of the city at once, of course, the level of competition in this direction is always very high for obvious reasons, and you will have to spend a lot of time searching for suitable and at the same time promising places. However, it is in this case that one can count on good profit and minimize one’s risks, because if you have to deal with only one outlet, you can miscalculate and not get significant profit.
We must not forget that such a business is not only seasonal, but also highly dependent on weather conditions, especially when it comes to placing their retail facilities in the open air. Therefore, several open points allow you to smooth out the risks. The cost of opening one outlet lies within 100 thousand rubles, usually slightly lower, but additional funds may be required if you plan to buy more advanced equipment or use a mobile module. Work in a rented room will cost much more.
Profitability ratios can vary greatly depending on many conditions, but on average, this business can bring an entrepreneur for 1 season an amount of about 60 thousand rubles of profit, so several outlets can provide good profit in less than half a year. At the same time, the entrepreneur is practically deprived of the need to conduct his advertising campaign, because random passers-by become his consumers, and in this type of entrepreneurship a lot decides exactly the location to which special attention should be paid. In general, this is a good direction of your business, which can be considered as a source of good additional income for the warm season.
Matthias Laudanum
(c) www.clogicsecure.com - a portal to small business business plans and guides
08/18/2019