Hello Barney, I for one would patronise a restaurant like that, have trouble when eating out to get a small portion and I prefer plain meals, have found my digestion doesnt like highly seasoned food anymore and my appetite is definitely smaller. But am not sure if such a business would be profitable enough. But I like the way her mind works lol.

How about a soup-kitchen......thats about all I can afford these days...

I can see a need but it would take a lot of research into viability

also the site would be important

I think taste and budget vary as with any other group of population.

I love spicy and choice. Because you live on your own, you buy minimum

variety otherwise food will perish. Having a main choice and salad bar/veggis

to choose from is what i like. Vary often soup included.

Prices vary but can start from $6

Good luck, do some research.

As long as your daughter is not expecting to make a profit and just cover expenses she will be doing a service but regardless Seniors can complain just as much as any other group and maybe even moreso. We used to put on lunches for seniors at our Noojee cafe so had a couple of bus loads each week but to be honest there really was no money to be made in it. I also cooked the "meals on Wheels" for seniors and once again very little profit albeit they were subsidised and many complaints I gave them too much meat or one did not eat this or that and it became a real battle to suit everyone. When the hospital does "meals on Wheels" it is "this is it have it or not accept the service"

Folks are used to a day at a pub whereby they put on a Seniors Meal more as an advertisement for the pub than to make money. I am not sure how cheap your daughter will be able to put the meal on for but it is time consuming and

tiring work for very little return. At Loch Sport there was a small cafe used to tote seniors by car to get bums on seats and one day the lady cooked all day but as the day wore on more and more did not want to bother going out to eat albeit the meal was a the very basic rate to cover little more than expenses. The owner of the cafe like us learnt not much money to be made and huge wastage. The cost of Electricity/gas lighting and everything to set up a cafe is horrendous not to mention petrol and a lot is used buying as not everything is delivered.

The days of the corner milk bar and small cafe are in my humble opinion just about gone. We had a milk bar near our corner here until this week and bought the paper but we were not much help to them as so many others like us just buying the paper and an odd loaf of bread or carton of milk at our convenience that does not pay their expenses much less make them a living.

We all go into small business with stars in our eyes so get your daughter to discuss it all with folk in malls etc. and she may change her mind then again if she has made up her mind she will learn the hard way but education costs - sorry to be a wet blanket.

Phyl.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and thanks for all the sensible, practical advice. This is just what we needed to hear. We all agree that it's a good idea BUT my daughter needs to do alot of research before she starts anything. Good ideas don't pay the bills. thanks again

Bit late in replying to many posts, but I seem to have a lot of trouble uploading replies...so I tend to give up.

Anyway, it's all been covered.

Phyl covered every aspect, and has good advice.

But like the others, I like the thought process, and I hope she can come up with maybe other ideas.

Phyl is right re small business.

One needs a decent amount of capital just to start, and then cover the inevitable losses if and until the business becomes viable.

Your daughter certainly has her heart in the right place Barney38, but unless she can organise some 'donated' ingredients she could find it a daunting task to break even. I know a woman who has baked biscuits for charity for many years and she is reliant on donations of most ingredients, plus has to run raffles etc to survive, but I digress. As others have posted, utility expenses plus rent and insurance (Public Liability aint cheap) would be fairly preventative.



The other thing that crossed my mind is discrimination. How long would it be before some 'Killjoy' decided your daughter was discriminating by only looking after seniors? I think she would have to research this very carefully OR serve everyone, offering a healthy (pun intended) discount for pensioners. Then she is back to fierce competition with all the local eateries, clubs and pubs. Perhaps its because I'm not a gambler but her idea, while excellent, is fraught with pitfalls. Good Luck.

We actually built our cafe onto the General Store at Noojee with stars in our eyes and our two Mums and 5 kids plus Peter and I worked 15 hours every day (there is all the cleaning when the place closes) and setting up for the nex day to take care of. We had Devonshire teas and meals plus take away so one day everyone wanted pies while the fish and chips languished in the bain maree SO next day we fill the pie oven with pies (trust me electricity is NOT cheap)

only to find we chucked the ones we did not have for our own dinner (had to) in the bin because all everyone wanted was fish and chips and chico rolls etc.. We could not win . If we were not busy nobody asked for salad rolls and sandwiches but as soon as we were flat out everyone wanted time consuming foods.

People complained because we charged a minimal amount to fill their thermoses with boiling water but hey the kettle costs to boil and it takes time.

I could go on and on but of course not all bad but did we make much money? nah not much :)

It is quite a bit harder now even, than those years back (impossible in my humble opinion) to make a small cafe/generalstore/ restaurant/milk bar work..The good ole days have long gone. To put a meal on a table in a Restaurant is broken down to about 1/3 ingredients 1/3 utilities and 1/3 should be for wages or profit but trust me I would say more like 50c left these days out of maybe lets say $15 for a meal on the table.

Sorry!

Phyl.

We often , years ago, used to hop in the car, pre our freeway jungle, point the car, and stop off at the little country towns, and have a Dev Tea , and nose around the antique shops.

But as you say, Phyl, that has all disappeared and country towns in some area are languishing.

Off track slightly, I know.

Koko I made all the scones - up very early by the mountain, especially Sundays. I feel very tired when remembering how hard we worked only to have the whole General Store and our new cafe with new seating and everything else goes into creating a new eatery go up in smoke because of a big freezer shorting in the night and us without any insurance on the new place because it was snow season and who would ever think of a fire? er not us and Insurance is so very expensive but a complete necessity as we just waited a couple of months to our detriment.

We were very lucky to get out with our lives at 2 a.m. so life goes on.

Phyl.

Our local Meals on wheels has successfully approached some of the smaller cafes and little bistro places. They will offer a reduced price meal to seniors. I haven't tried any of them out yet, but I do expect that reduced price also means reduced quantity or quality. There's so much that people do not realise when they go into business - the rent of the premises - the out goings on the premises. The staff wages - insurances etc etc. It is so much harder and more expensive than you think.

Thanks for the reply Bev. I agree that having a small business is very costly and also alot of hardwork seven days a week. Most people have no idea about the costs associated with insurance, power, wages, taxes, rent etc. etc. however, our family has been in business for many years so luckily my daughter is well informed.