What would you want to buy at the seaside?

[CarrotCrusader]

I am sick of the grind and unsupportive managers.

I live in a very busy seaside town. Nine out of twelve months are busy.

One of my passions is cooking and I'd love to have a unit and turn it in to an eatery. Apart from the usual fish and chips, what other food would you like at the seaside? I thought about Spanish tapasand streetfood but perhaps that's too niche. Also thought about hot roast barms with a few roasties as sides. This isn't an affluent town and I'm thinking small premises with no more than six tables, but mostly takeout.

I would love Vietnamese but maybe that would not work with your demographic profile.

What local eateries are busy at the moment and what has shut down in the past? Italian coffee shops are very popular in seaside resort I go to which also offer some speciality cakes and snacks.

Banh mi, but surely the question first is what can you cook well?
I live by the seaside and there is a chip place that does really well, they hand cut the potatoes and offer lots of different toppings in big cones the tourists love it

It’s so so hard to run a successful food business, and even harder in a region that effectively shuts down for three months of the year.

If you’re sick of the grind, it’s the last thing I would aim to do. Sorry to be so unsupportive.

I’d love tapas as long as there were plenty of vegetarian options. I have very fond memories of fried doughnuts after a day on the beach so if your unit served churros I’d be at the front of the queue.

Vietnamese? Bahn Mi? 🤣

She’d make fuck all and a lot of it in a British seaside town.

Honestly, I’m sure posters on here just want others to fail.

I meant to add to this - I live by the seaside too and we’ve had so many little businesses start up and fail over the years, but especially since Covid.

The popular ones are the long-established ones, even if they’re not necessarily as nice. People try the new ones but always return to their old favourites.

Exactly. This is someone’s life, not a novel 🤣

My first thoughts would be:
Classic greasy spoon
Baguettes, sandwiches and jacket spuds with lots of filling and sauce choices
Hot pork baps

What's missing in your town? It's a difficult market so you don't want to compete. Can you get staff?

Good customer service and offering food a bit different to what's already on offer is likely to be a winner. Could you offer something a bit different over the winter months - a supper club, OAPs lunch once a week etc. Would give you a chance to experiment and build up a local customer base.

Vegetables! It’s so hard to find healthy options. What’s the demographic (tourists aside) in your town? Could you try a food truck before committing to a bricks and mortar cafe?

I’d want to eat something like a pasty at the seaside or fish and chips. Nothing fancy as for us we tend to just want food we can sit on a bench and eat. Nice icecreams always seem to go down well but assume there are loads of sellers.

I’m a local, so what would work for me is an early coffee, I come for a swim/dog walk etc early in the morning. But I always bring my own coffee because £4 for a coffee is ridiculous. I’d quite happily suport your business if I know that yes, I’ll get a £1.50 good coffee most mornings, and sometimes I’ll have an egg bap or something since I’m there, I’ll bring my friends for brunch etc, but what will keep me coming back is a good coffee that I can afford.

The other thing is I go to the beach in the evenings, again, for a swim/walk. A cone of chips with a bit of ketchup and mayo and a little beer would go down well. But it doesn’t have to cost the earth, I’d never come to you for a £5 beer, I’d bring my own, because Lidl does 12 small beers for £4.
Basically, I find the cost prohibitive, coming to your place with be on a very occasional basis. But if it’s cheap, I’d come 2-3-4 times a week.

I’ve just come back from France. Every morning I walked a loop and ended up on this terrace. A coffee was €1.5. They had a set offer till 9 am: coffee, fresh orange juice and a pastry for €5. I did that for a week. The place was buzzing. The owner asked me every morning what my plan was for the day. And then casually mentioned she’s happy to keep a slice of pizza for me to take home after my hike if I’m back before 6. We ended up eating there most evenings too.
that kind of stuff.

Is there a good quality gluten-free café bakery? If not, that could be a gap worth filling - particularly if you do off sales.

Carvery baps would work, I like your idea of roasties. You could do pigs in blankets as an extra side too.
Or stone baked pizza always seems to do well, and pizzas are cheap to make so good profit margin.
Or a nice coffee and cake stall, maybe do cream teas, homemade cakes. You could sell them from home during the winter months - Christmas cupcakes and cookies etc

What are the demographics of your area? You say it is wealthy - is the wealth concentrated in older people - if so, what do they want?

If it's more tourist influx - what groups are common, which places are constantly busy/which are empty?

Is there a need/opening? What are the business rates like. Have you costed out a business plan?

This is the sort of business that fails quickly and hard - to be able to succeed you have to put in a huge amount of time(and money) before and during the start up of the business.

I agree with you, a reasonable priced coffee and open before 9 am which is when everything seems to open in this seaside town.

I always think there would be a great market in child sized icecreams, I'm sick of paying £4 for a huge cone for a 2 year old so I avoid the ice cream stalls, if someone did a half size for £2 I'd be a regular customer. It isn't even just the money but the mess of an icecream that is just more than a young child can manage, I've even paid the £4 but asked for them to make it smaller but they just don't.

A food truck is a good idea. Particularly if you can rent one for a few months and get a realistic idea of how much trade you’ll get.

carvery baps do sound good, but as others have said, it’s going to depend on what’s available in your town already and what demographic of visitor you get.

Food truck and toasties would be the way to go for me. You can do sweet ones as well as savoury.

I like the Six by Nico model where he changes his theme every 6 weeks.
you could do something similar and make it a seasonal special. April could be lamb in mini Yorkshire puddings with gravy, and a chocolate brownie. July could be lobster rolls and ice cream
sandwiches. August could be fish and chips and lollies. October could be pumpkin soup and cinnamon buns. December could be turkey and cranberry soup with mince pies.

A really good Seafood salad!
It annoys me that I can get a tray of Prawns but no salad.
Jacket potatos.
Or maybe a hot pudding place i.e a crumble or warm chocolate pudding - this would be perfect for a winter walk.

Being affordable! Good value coffee/tea. Simple sandwiches and crisps. Veg soup. Jackets with chilli. Excellent sausage rolls. Small useful gifts eg colouring books, mini craft kits for rainy days.

look at the black dog deli in Suffolk - that’s a good range of stock but perhaps pricey

Carvery baps or jacket potatoes with a variety of toppings.

A fridge with frozen ready meals like cook. So cheaper than eating out but still a treat.

I live in a small seaside town in Kent.

The establishment that seems to be thriving the most is a coffee shop on the high street that also does breakfast and lunchtime meal (they are not open in the evening).

They do things like veggie breakfasts, sandwiches, soups, cakes, smoothies, beans on toast but with organic ingredients and a modern feel to everything. Everything is made from scratch in their kitchen, including the cakes and pastries.

It has a trendy feel but also is traditional enough to appeal to older people and families and the staff is really friendly.

It is always packed.

Seaside towns are quieter in the winter of course but people always need somewhere nice and reasonably priced to seat down with their friends and have a chat with a coffee and a cake.

Something else that is doing well is a local fishmonger opening a seafood restaurant. They also sell fish and seafood on the premises and you can seat down to have a meal too. Looks modern and also they are keeping the prices affordable.

You would also want somewhere with outside space where you can put a few tables so you can make the most of sunny days.

Burritos or gyros.