Oh lord.. Parents thinking of Internet Cafe

Z

Zaine

Veteran XV
On a scale of 1-10 how crazy is this? My parents are in the process as we speak of designing an Internet Cafe... They want to be the first ones in New Iberia, Louisiana to do this.. Keep in mind, my mother has had no experience as an entrepreneur except for a website business that was never going anywhere in the start. They want ME to handle everything computer-wise. I don't think they understand how much this could hurt if it flops, since my mother is currently on unemployment from being fired at her last job (boss was a dick and not all the way there mentally) with the only thing keeping us afloat is our father still having his job lol..

Hope that wasn't too boring for TW lol... but I would like to hear from people like jugg (i think?), etc. Let the flaming commence..

*puts on cautionary flame-retardant suit*
 
I think it would be awesome to get to run an Internet Cafe. You should do it!

Internet Cafes are these things on very corner in the entire city of Seattle. They serve espresso, normally some small food items, and at least have wireless internet service for the whole building. The more Internet based ones also have a few computers with internet access that cost like $4 an hour to use, the wireless internet is almost always free if you bring your laptop.
 
It's not a bad business to start, but that location and their lack of business experience means a very, very high chance of failure.

What juggs has is totally different.. he's appealing to a completely different market. You are competing with Starbucks, and if there was ANY money to be made in that area with that kind of business, they would be there already doing it. Not to mention if you DO find a market there, there's a good chance they'd come take it.

I'd try a business oppurtunity that didn't try to compete with one of the most successful franchises in American history
 
ElectroWaffle said:
what is an internet cafe?

ive heard of them, never been to one though

and louisiana doesnt deserve the technology
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you drink virtual coffee and virtual lattes and have virtual discussions with virtual emo artfags
 
Back when I was stationed over in Germany, I use to visit the local Internet Caffe, order a pizza and a beer, and game away...

Good times...
 
Aestis said:
It's not a bad business to start, but that location and their lack of business experience means a very, very high chance of failure.

What juggs has is totally different.. he's appealing to a completely different market. You are competing with Starbucks, and if there was ANY money to be made in that area with that kind of business, they would be there already doing it. Not to mention if you DO find a market there, there's a good chance they'd come take it.

I'd try a business oppurtunity that didn't try to compete with one of the most successful franchises in American history
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i do understand his market is drastically different, but entrepreneurship-wise i'd like to hear his input
 
Just make it like a food place with good Louisiana food and beer, then advertise that you have the internet. All of the rednecks will go because they've heard of the internet but never seen it. Then they will buy tons of beer.
 
Well, it's a large financial investment and you are selling something that has a low margin so you need to push volume. It's a very hard business to make it work. There are a ton of them where I live, but that's because it's the biggest university in the country. 90% of them are within a mile of the university, outside of that it's ALL starbucks, probably 20-30 of them in the city.

I don't think you have what it takes to compete with them, so I think it's a terrible business to try to get into. That's just my opinion though.
 
Aestis said:
Well, it's a large financial investment and you are selling something that has a low margin so you need to push volume. It's a very hard business to make it work. There are a ton of them where I live, but that's because it's the biggest university in the country. 90% of them are within a mile of the university, outside of that it's ALL starbucks, probably 20-30 of them in the city.

I don't think you have what it takes to compete with them, so I think it's a terrible business to try to get into. That's just my opinion though.
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well to tell you the truth, I don't think there IS a starbucks in New Iberia
 
Gobd said:
Just make it like a food place with good Louisiana food and beer, then advertise that you have the internet. All of the rednecks will go because they've heard of the internet but never seen it. Then they will buy tons of beer.
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lol... as bad as that sounds you might be getting somewhere...
 
Gobd said:
Just make it like a food place with good Louisiana food and beer, then advertise that you have the internet. All of the rednecks will go because they've heard of the internet but never seen it. Then they will buy tons of beer.
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:rofl:
 
Personally (take this with a grain of salt) I think it's novelty (internet cafes) that will all but dissapear in a couple years, at least in the U.S.

Wireless access is going to open up that market to every other coffee shop, bookstore, restaurant, etc. Spending all of that capital on a fat-backbone & good hardware is a huge outlay of cash, when someone can just pop into Starbucks with their blue-tooth enabled color PDA or laptop and have "basically" the same functionality.

Also, in other countries, there isn't near the amount of high-speed access to the internet as we have in the U.S, thanks to our already existing HUGE cable network, everyone already has fast access to the net. When fiber starts hitting the average household, there will be a huge change in a lot of markets - Internet Cafe's would be one of them.
 
Phyzx said:
Personally (take this with a grain of salt) I think it's novelty (internet cafes) that will all but dissapear in a couple years, at least in the U.S.

Wireless access is going to open up that market to every other coffee shop, bookstore, restaurant, etc. Spending all of that capital on a fat-backbone & good hardware is a huge outlay of cash, when someone can just pop into Starbucks with their blue-tooth enabled color PDA or laptop and have "basically" the same functionality.

Also, in other countries, there isn't near the amount of high-speed access to the internet as we have in the U.S, thanks to our already existing HUGE cable network, everyone already has fast access to the net. When fiber starts hitting the average household, there will be a huge change in a lot of markets - Internet Cafe's would be one of them.
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wireless is one of the things they want in the cafe
 
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