Which way now?

My research showed that there are some juice bars in London, and their numbers are growing. The biggest of these is Crussh, with about 15 stores around London. As well as juices, they offer the usual sandwich bar offerings, pre-made salads, etc. I was surprised that they hadn’t incorporated a salad bar into there, as I think it would work well. Apart from Crussh, I found that a number of smaller operators have set up juice bars recently, as well as the start of franchise businesses such as Zumo from Ireland and Boost from Australia. Nevertheless, this is a growing market and there is definitely room for more to enter, although we have to be careful because the market is in its infancy, and Brits are still not as clued onto buying juices in the winter. This mindset is changing though. Zumo and Boost are targeting the casual market rather than the office market, so really Crussh is the only real competitor in this space.

Now I also wanted to incorporate a fresh-tossed salad bar, as well as teas, coffees, soups, and the usual sandwich offerings. However with the salad bar I ran into a snag. For the protein element of the salad bar offering, I would need to offer some of the usual meat and fish items, and I also wanted to offer a range of vegetarian protein items, such as different marinated soya pieces. However, not only do I lack a food retailing background, but I am also no chef, so I would need to find a way to prepare these items before bringing them into the store. Under usage rules, I cannot cook things on-site (although heating is fine). As well as finding ways to work with this, I managed to build a load of contacts with firms that can supply many of the items we would need, and they could also prepare some of the items for us. However once again, in order to ensure the items offered are as fresh as possible, we would need to prepare on-site or close by.

While I was investigating every aspect of this potential business, I ran into another snag. – London retail property rentals are astronomical. So far, for decent locations around the city, I am looking at around £100k plus rates of around £30-40k, plus service charges. Add to this the shop fit-out costs and other start up costs will mean the initial investment will be pretty hefty. While I am confident of the broader idea, the practical operational aspect, as well as limited profit margins make it much more risky. While that in itself doesn’t worry me, what does worry me is that a few companies that got into this about 2-3 years ago are now starting their expansion program. Pure California, Chop’d, Tossed and Salade are some examples. Of these, Pure California most closely resembles my idea of juice and salad bar. Basically it would take me a few months to get the premises sorted out, then at least a few months to refine what we are doing, therefore expansion would be at least a year or more away. These other players however have gone through their learning curve, got extra funding in place, and are now going for it. It looks like I’m technically late to the party, and anything I do now, especially with limited funding, limited experience and a huge outlay, might be a very risky venture.

This market is technically the fast-food market, which is where the problem comes in, because the fast-food market in London is massively competitive, and the sandwich/coffee markets are absolutely saturated. While there is still lots more room for this new juice/salad bar venture, these other firms have built up the backing of experienced industry veterans, and therefore have a huge head start on me. What I need to do is narrow it down and focus the business more on a niche area.

The other thing to also bear in mind is that while general fast-food retailers can be profitable, in the city it is known that places like prêt and Eat make little over 10% return on equity. There are huge costs involved, while prices have to be quite competitive. While the newcomers have higher pricing, this might be unsustainable as we head into a recessionary environment.

I thought about lots of ways to differentiate – nutrition-driven juices; customised salads; e-commerce driven marketing, customisation and ordering; vegetarian range (for increasing number of “meat-reducers”). However I'm just not sure it is enough to build a profitable business on. I need to refocus. If I stay in the food and beverage market, I need to find a good angle, a niche that will enable me to claw my way intothe huge market. Or should I scrap the food angle all together and go back to the original focus of juice bars. Better to be very good at a few things, than to try and do everything and screw it up! It’s a tough choice, especially since juice bars in the UK suffer from the weather issue – what to do for eight months of the year when the weather is miserable??

The wonderer returns

OK, I know I’ve been a bit slack with updating this blog. A lot has happened over the past few months!! Let me start with a quick update about where the time has gone…

After Meenal and I both stopped working at the end of April, we took a couple of months to hang out in New York and did some travel around there. Then we made a gradual transition back to London and, just as we were due to start doing something productive again, we thought we’d cap our time-off with some travelling in South America. The move back certainly was not as smooth as the move out to New York, especially since we had to make our own arrangements for the repatriation. The costs were bad enough, but the hassles were even worse. I should have moved back first and then resigned :-)

Nevertheless the extra time in New York and our travels gave me the opportunity to think about business ideas, even though I was in fact trying to avoid thinking about it too much. I wanted to make sure that when I started focusing on the business, I would be properly refreshed after all that time with UBS. But wherever I went and whatever I did, I couldn’t help those ideas popping into my head, and I would visualise how something might work back in London. I even made some great contacts during this time, but more about that later.

It took quite a while for me to stop thinking about work and properly unwind, however I can definitely say that by the time we returned from South America, I was well and truly relaxed! Before we left for South America, we had moved into our apartment in St John’s Wood, finally got our shipments over and everything was properly settled. Meenal had even secured a great job with Gap to start at the end of October. So when we returned from South America, we were both fully recuperated and itching to start working again. Besides, we had haemorrhaged cash for six months, and our USD savings were becoming pretty worthless, so this provided an extra incentive.

Now, since I’ve been focusing on the business ideas, lots of people have offered help and advice, from family and friends to total strangers. It’s weird how I will coincidentally meet people who can offer just the right advice, or will present opportunities I was thinking about. For example, in New York, Meenal and I were out for dinner and got talking to another couple. The man has very close ties with the new owner of the Conran restaurants group in London, and suggested I contact him if I’m considering a food-related business. I have already met him and he offered some great advice and insights. Similarly another man we met in Brazil is involved in bio-fuels and is looking to expand operations to East Africa, where we have extensive family interests, so we have begun a dialogue about potential business opportunities. In such a way, I have met numerous people that might help to shape the future direction I take.

But back to what has actually been happening. While I started looking at numerous ideas, including those previously noted on the blog, I quickly narrowed it down to the food-concepts, mostly because we couldn’t find a good tossed salad bar, nor a juice bar around London when we got here. There was a gaping hole in the market, so I started doing more focussed research on this area and concluded that there is definitely potential here. This will be my ‘fun’ business, but on the side I am planning to work on the bio-fuels and solar business, as well as perhaps property investing. More about those in a later entry, but for now I am focusing on food.

I was looking to focus on a juice bar, with a salad bar and other healthy foods. In the juice bar, I wanted to offer properly nutritious juices, with the addition of customised options to address particular health or nutritional requirements of individuals. I want to make juices a lifestyle choice, rather than just a casual or impulse purchase, by tailoring the menu to individual health requirements, perhaps using on-line tools. The ideal target for this is office workers who understand the health benefits and can pick up a juice on their way to work. Replacing just one daily coffee with a juice can have amazing health benefits, and people are slowly coming to terms with that. This is the same demographic that would be interested in more healthy lunch options, and who frequented the salad bars in New York, so I was certain it could work in London.

I have already done extensive research and things are progressing fast. There is definitely opportunity, but the risks are astronomical! I have had to think, rethink, plan and replan, but things might finally be coming together. I will tell you all about it in the next entry.

No map, no direction...

So I’ve hit a crossroads in life, actually more like a spaghetti junction. Up to now, life has generally been good, and somehow or another I always end up on the right path. However recently there has been a niggling feeling that something's not right. And that set me off thinking…

Where is Mr Miyagi when you need him?

I don’t really live by any single religion, but use all the religious and spiritual knowledge I gain to develop my own ideas of life. At the heart of it, I do believe that we all share a single underlying consciousness. Deep down we are all essentially the same and ultimately looking for the same thing, most notably “happiness”. But what constitutes happiness itself is different for each person. So our goal is to seek out our own happiness using all the abilities given to us by nature.

By 'happiness', I don't mean the big house or the sports car. Those types of happiness are temporary and rely on external material factors. True happiness can only come from within and is essentially full acceptance of our own life, every aspect of it, including our own strengths and weaknesses. And that's where dharma comes in. Every person has things they are naturally good at and enjoy, and these are the things that they were meant to do by the laws of nature. This doesn’t mean you don’t challenge yourself, but that you will enjoy being challenged in this particular field. If you do what you are meant to do, success will come naturally, you’ll enjoy it because it’s part of your natural being, and life generally works more harmoniously for you.

Where do I find this "Dharma"?

Clearly, I’d been thinking a lot, maybe too much! But I finally came to the conclusion that I was no longer working harmoniously with my natural self. Working 11-12 hours a day, and traveling over two hours, it wasn’t much of a life! But it wasn't the long hours themselves, I didn’t really mind that. I always believed that with work taking up such a huge proportion of your day, it’s important to enjoy what you’re doing so it’s more like fun. And unfortunately, work just wasn’t fun for me anymore….

Working at an investment bank, my group started off small and entrepreneurial, and I dealt with exciting trades, talented people and top-tier clients, in an exciting industry where the money was good. However, due to our success, our business started growing rapidly and I began to get frustrated with the increasing bureaucracy, loss of nimbleness and focus on areas of work that I didn't enjoy. Therefore, after almost 10 years with the firm, my only employer after University, I decided it was time to seek out new pastures.

After lots of thinking and soul-searching, I feel that my natural strengths lie in the field of business and entrepreneurship. I love business and always have, every aspect of it - the idea, the strategy, the negotiating, the building, the adaptation, growth, financing, marketing... I also like the social aspect of business. There is more to it than wealth accumulation - an entrepreneur needs to earn a living, but also creates jobs, provides needed goods or services, creates value for shareholders and contributes to the communities in which it operates.

I thus concluded that my natural path, or dharma, involves some form of entrepreneurship - being part of a start-up, or starting a business myself.

But I thought of that first!

For many years I have thought up novel business ideas, only to then hear that someone else has started up exactly what I was talking about. This happens to everyone, and it just goes to show that the only difference between you and the entrepreneur is that the entrepreneur actually did something about it. Well, it's time for me to do something about it. There's only one way I'll ever know if this is my natural path, and that's by giving it a shot myself.

I have started looking into several ideas, but plan to take the next few months to decide which one I really want to pursue. The ideas span retail, internet-based businesses and financial-based. After I have taken some time out, during which I plan to relax, travel, and spend quality time with my wife, I will start to flesh out some of these ideas. I will write about them here, to share thoughts and ideas, and welcome feedback, further thoughts, challenges and support.

Some have suggested that I shouldn’t write a blog about my ideas lest someone steal those ideas and use them for themselves. But are any ideas ever really original? If you’ve thought of something, you can bet that others have thought of it too. Competition is always going to be there, so the real talent in entrepreneurship isn’t just the idea, it’s how you execute the ideas. (Remember how Microsoft prevailed over Apple!). So I have no problem sharing ideas and discussing with others, so that when it comes time to execute, I am executing not just my own ideas but the combined ideas of many people - a kind of open-source business if you will.

By the same token, my business will have to have a heavy direct or indirect social aspect to it. Of course, my primary concern will always be the financial security of my family, but beyond the basics there’s not much we need. Ultimately I want to live a happy, balanced life, enjoy time with family and friends and get some personal time for recreation and hobbies. I therefore see no impediment to combining my ambitions with a broader social objective.

Aah...so many ideas, such little time!

So over the next few months, I’ll be writing about some of the business ideas I’ve been thinking up. Below are a few of them and I will be adding more, as well as building on the ones here. My objective is that by September, I will have narrowed it down to focus on three ideas, which I will then flesh out as serious business prospects. Of these, I will select the one that seems the strongest concept and go ahead with it – my very own dragon’s den! That is, of course, unless a spectacular position comes up with another start-up that meets all of my own personal objectives, but it really would need to be something exceptional to stop me starting my own venture.

Here’s some ideas I’ve been thinking up (think of this as a collection of initial thoughts as opposed to full proposals)

A small business investment company

There is a funding gap that many businesses experience as they move into the middle market – too big for banks, too small for VC. The SBIC would bring together a consortium of investors to finance the business and provide guidance to help it grow to the next stage. Within the consortium would be one or two experienced professionals in the specific field of the business so that the entrepreneurs can bounce ideas and expand their contacts.

To fund the company, we would look to individual high net worth investors who have cash to invest. There is significant potential for the investment to increase in value as the company grows, as well as great tax incentives. Although this is a high risk-high return investment, with the proper due diligence you can find exceptional investments. This should form a small part of any diversified portfolio.

Initially the SBIC would find the deals for investors, do the due diligence, provide continuing support for the business and essentially do everything it can to make it succeed through to VC funding, or flotation. Expansion for the SBIC could come from managing funds of investments that individual investors could buy into, provide consultancy services and providing more boutique investment-bank type services. It could also invest in its own right, raising money through a flotation.

In the long run, I’d like to expand this to emerging markets. Access to the capital markets helps individuals start small businesses and work their way out of poverty. While the banks generally focus on the large companies, I believe there is a neglect of the small and mid-market – these businesses need capital, as well as business support. This could also be a lucrative direction for investors.

Green Taxis

Walking along Lexington Avenue one day, it struck me that the taxis here heavily pollute the air every day, especially with their over-size engines, while they usually travel short distances and with only one or two passengers. In London, black cabs are ridiculously expensive, and clog up our streets. Similarly in New York, although cheaper, they clog up the streets and pollute extensively. What if we produced a smaller ‘green taxi’ for local journeys, perhaps with electric motors or electric/hybrid vehicles in case of longer journeys?

I rushed home to do some research, only to find that two companies started doing just that in the last year in London, and similar concepts were spreading across many cities around the world. But the market is in its infancy and there’s significant room for growth. It would be capital intensive, but could be fun and essentially shake up the whole taxi industry - cheaper fares, cleaner air…who can argue with that??

Yoga Schools

Yoga is increasingly becoming a popular way of keeping healthy. The holistic approach taken by yoga increases its attraction over many other forms of exercise, and people are realizing its potential to deal with specific health problems too.

Yoga studios can teach varying levels and styles of yoga, and also bring in other exercises such as pilates, tai chi, etc. It might also be combined with treatments such as reflexology, massages, etc. In the city it could have classes that work around work schedules, but in the suburbs it could have daytime classes for those at home – at-home parents, children, the elderly, etc. This type of business naturally incorporates a social aspect, and could be linked to health food stores, farmers markets, etc.

While many gyms have yoga classes, these tend to be very basic or generic so for those that want to progress, and deepen their practice, there is often nowhere to go. We are seeing specific yoga schools becoming increasingly common in the US, eg www.yogaworks.com, and the UK is starting to move this way too.

Student accommodation

When I was renting out my flat in Waterloo to students, I was shocked at how many students said it was so much nicer than other places they had seen for a comparable price. I was getting a fantastic yield that comfortably covered the mortgage, and provided some more income to put towards future refurbishment and even some profit. Note that this is my retirement fund, so all I’m looking is for it to get paid off in 20 years! After hearing some of the stories, it made me realize just how many landlords out there really are scum landlords, renting filthy places well in need of repair and charging through the roof! I also heard ghastly stories about rental agents and how useless they were when students had problems.

Students really are getting poor treatment from the landlords and agents and this business is ripe for a shake up. Every year you are guaranteed a certain number of students looking for housing in the right areas, at certain known budgets. Buying and renting houses is a standard practice, but nowadays yields are low as house prices are ridiculous. Furthermore, unless you want the hassle of doing it yourself, you’ll pay an agent crazy fees and may therefore run an operating loss.

So what if I offered to sign a long-term agreement with landlords, guaranteeing rent over say the next 10 years at 10% below the market rate, then rent them to students at the market rate? The discount on the long-term letting would then be used to maintain and manage the property to a high standard, with the benefit of the economies of scale. We provide all the fixtures, fittings, décor, upkeep, etc. and maintain our own maintenance people – plumbers, electricians, decorators, etc. This would enable us to maintain multiple properties at a fraction of the cost that the individual could, and since we are effectively paying the LL rent at a discount of 10% of the standard rent, the landlord is getting a better deal than if they rent through a regular agent who would charge 15%, and they save the maintenance costs that can be very costly.

This same business can be replicated in every student town, effectively offering a proper student rental service, as they would get through their university accommodation office. In the longer run, we could even buy or build student accommodation buildings and manage then in the same way.

The food industry

There is a general trend towards paying more money for high quality, fresh foods from specialized producers and retailers. With the increasing knowledge about the nutritional impact of foods, people are generally more keen to eat healthy and ensure that their foods are fresh, organic and have the nutrients they expect. To this end, I have thought of a few ideas:

Salad bars

Again, with the move towards health, I’ve seen these new york salad bars packed to the hilt at lunchtimes and evenings. These salad bars have a huge variety of items for your salad, and then toss them for you so that you get a good, tasty mixed salad. Such a simple concept, but yet few in London seems to be doing it. In the mornings, the premises could be used to sell smoothies, teas, coffees and perhaps bagels. At lunchtime, this moves to fresh tossed, organic salads, and perhaps soups. Keep it simple and I believe that this could do very well. Look at Subway – such a simple concept, yet such a huge global franchise.

Organic, locally produced fruits, vegetable, packaged and fresh cooked foods

Farmers markets are taking off across the country. The reason is that people prefer organic, locally produced foods – organic, so that it is not full of pesticides; locally produced so that it really is freshly picked, and doesn’t have food miles on it. The problem with farmers markets is that they tend to be outdoors (think of the British weather!), people don’t get the convenience they get in supermarkets – paying by card, etc., they can’t combine it with other shopping, etc.

Now extend this to the fast-food market. People have little time to cook and often end up picking up ‘ready meals’ from supermarkets. So what if these ready meals were actually home-made, by someone local, and had locally produced organic ingredients only. Many ready meals contain life extenders, but that’s not healthy…you wouldn’t put that in your meal at home. We could also add other home-made items such as sauces, pastries, etc.

In the US I have noticed a huge number of items come from very small producers, eg. Local produce from small farmers, someone with a restaurant will release their own sauce, etc. Both in our store, and working with local supermarkets, we could agent and sell these small-batch items. And since they are small-batch, they will always be locally produced and fresh.

So, thinking aloud here - a local farmers market, but under a roof, with whole foods, small-batch items and home made ready meals. We could even do ‘food boxes’ for local delivery, ie. Deliver a selection of freshly picked vegetables weekly to people that subscribe. As this develops, we could even buy into local farmland too to expand vertically. Farmland itself is becoming big business as people move from high-stress city jobs to something more natural, hence there’s long-term growth.

Coffee

Starbucks started the recent coffee revolution, but then it lost it’s way. Even Howard Shultz, the CEO of Starbucks, admitted recently that they expanded too rapidly, losing quality on the way. Starbucks now vacuum pack their coffee so it lasts longer (coffee is best drunk within a week or two of roasting) and they use automated machines to create their drinks (a true barista will make the coffee by hand).

While I strongly support Starbucks as a socially-responsible company, the actual stores have become too commercial, and many people prefer smaller coffee outlets that hold onto high-quality traditions. Hence there is potential for smaller coffee chains to bring back the quality with locally roasted beans and proper barristas. They can then sell high-quality coffee drinks, and whole beans for making coffee at home (another growing trend). Coffee tasting is similar to wine tasting, with different regions, styles, strengths, etc. and as people learn more about the magic of coffee, they are keen to taste and experiment.

Tea

The loose-leaf tea market is ready to explode. As knowledge spreads, people are starting to realize that most tea bags use very low grade tea (the fanning), and are starting to appreciate the superior taste of loose leaf tea. There is also a growing interest in the health benefits of tea, as people look for alternatives to coffee. There is a huge range of single and blended teas available so there are lots to explore and experiment with, and even the most avid coffee drinker will find teas they like (and this is from a hard-core coffee drinker!)

Think of what Starbucks did for coffee, the same revolution is ripe for tea. (check out www.serindipitea.com and www.mightyleaf.com as two excellent companies that are in this business) I could start the import and distribution of fine loose leaf teas and blends into the UK, possible teaming up with one of these guys in the US. Also tea outlets are gaining popularity and I have come across some fantastic ones here such as The Tavalon Tea Bar (www.tavalon.com ).

Fruit and vegetable juices/smoothies

Fruit and/or vegetable juices are also gaining ground as people look at the health aspects. Jamba juice (www.jambajuice.com ) has built an empire with this simple concept. To my knowledge, this trend has only just started in the UK and there is room for growth. This could be a fun business, with retail outlets, as well working the numerous streetfairs, festivals and other outdoor events. However could it survive as a standalone business? I don’t think so, although the climate is getting warmer, during the cold and damp months, people still prefer hot drinks, hence some sort of combination business might be better.

Coffee/tea/smoothies

So the above might manifest in separate business, or perhaps a retail outlet for the coffees and teas, ie; a shop where people can try the coffees and teas and then buy them for drinks, or home consumption. Imagine a whole range of loose leaf teas, and whole bean coffees to see, smell and taste. This could also supply other local businesses with the fresh coffees (daily roasted) and whole leaf teas.

We could also open convenience outlets that sell just drinks using the superior coffee and tea from our shop, but also smoothies – that way we cover the hot and cold months. This could also sell pastries, fresh organic sandwiches, etc. There is still a lot of growth in the market for drinks and food on the go – think of every underground and mainline station, every high street, every office complex and so on.

Wine bar with a twist

I love wine. I’m certainly no expert on the subject, but I know when I like something. On our travels to New England, I came across a great flatbread pizza place, flatbread pizza made in a primitive wood-fired oven. So I figure we could combine the two – a very natural-looking place where you can enjoy an excellent selection of wines by the glass, a range that changes regularly. Combine that with some cheeses and fresh made breads from the oven. And if when you’re really hungry these flatbread pizzas will hit the spot - not too doughy, and they have that wood-fired taste.

Take that further and have a changing range of wines by the glass that you can try, perhaps do wine flights so you get to try a selection. You could also sell them by the bottle for consumption at home. Again, it would have to be a small changing selection of wines rather than some giant list, each hand picked carefully to ensure they are ready for drinking. We could have regular wine-tasting events to build people’s knowledge of the different types of wines and different regions. This whole concept would strictly be something for the middle-market - people who enjoy wine and are happy to spend money on it, but are certainly no connoisseurs; they like to try different wines, but don’t really know what is good and what isn’t from a huge selection.

Right, it's time to go and do something more productive...!

I think you get the picture with these business ideas - my brain has clearly been on overdrive! By getting them onto this blog, at least it allows me to put them to one side so that I can stop thinking about them and come back to them later. As many have suggested, I’ve taken to walking around with a notebook so that I can put ideas down as I think about them, and flesh them out as thoughts come to mind. I clearly need to chill out though, so we’re off to the Dominican Republic for a week where hopefully business will be the last thing on my mind!

Again, I’m very open to thoughts and feedback on anything written here, so either respond here or send me an email: jondhia@hotmail.com

Adios Amigos!