Technology2 mins ago
Internet Cafes
Hi all, would like some advise or information.
I have been thinking of setting up an Internet Cafe and have just found a property on my high street that can take about 15 computers.
Now based on just selling internet useage alone and charging �1 per hour, assuming my computers are filled 6 days a week (which they probably wont be) I seem to just make the rent, I don't think whats left, will be enough to pay for the internet connection, general bills, 1 staff & me.
So am I missing something here, is there something else I should be charging or is there a service I am not offering? I am stumped, there are 2 other internet cafes on the high street, how are they making money?
Is the internet cafe market still a viable business today.
Any help, pointers, advise or information would be very helpful.
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by debs_70. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.you should open weekends and evening and even late night i possible as a lot of people will want to use at these times.
as has been stated the place is a cafe - so perhaps you could insist that the user purchases food or drink before they are allowed to use the computers. put your menu on as walllpaper
you can also charge for floppy disks, printing, etc
i would agree on looking for somewhere else if there is already 2 in the same street.
remember its free in libraries so keep well away from them
It's just me personally, but I think the concept of an Internet cafe is old hat now. Many more people have computers of their own than they did years ago, and nowadays the concept of "hotspots" seem more favourable as, again, more and more people have laptops and such.
If it were me thinking of this, I'd make it a cafe with a hotspot and a couple of computers, but make this secondary to the food and service.
I agree with Postdog. With home PCs being very affordable for the novice and many companies offering broadband packages that are becoming more affordable, I personally think that you would struggle to get this off the ground, especially with 2 other providers.
How about having a cafe aimed at the professional, have the broad sheet newspapers, hotspot connections, organic food etc? Aiming at �1.00 per hour per customer is madness - how many hours would you need to tot up before your outgoings on PCs was covered?.