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 had to google "barm", so I guess you're in the N.W.
Where are your visitors coming from? That could make a difference.

I live at the seaside - but somewhere reasonably affluent but not huge population. I think you'll struggle if you are somewhere where there isn't much disposable income.

What does well is there's a coffee place that opens early and encourages swimmers - and has a little swimming club and they do bagels and nice coffee. But I know they struggle in the week at lunchtime.

The kipper bap place does well at lunchtime - it does chips, kipper baps and bacon baps.

Other places that seems to do well in the winter cater for dog walkers and hearty souls on the beach - home made sausage rolls and home made soup and hot chocolate and outside seating with blankets. And dog bowls and treats.

@CarrotCrusader What I love (and it is often surprisingly difficult to find) is a mix of something traditionally English and/or feel-good healthy:

• a selection of homemade quiches,
• a selection of interesting mixed salads (never just iceberg lettuce, a slab of beef tomato and warm cucumber);
• English muffins or bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese and other fillings.
• fish finger sandwiches with tartare sauce.
• Toasties
• buddah bowls
• fruit smoothies
• homemade Victoria Sponge or Carrot Cake

I recently went to a Sunday market in London on a hot day and the stall with the biggest queue sold sliced fruit in cups, and fresh juices and smoothies.

If you feel you really must go for something unhealthy, then Churros always seem to sell well.

I think if you want to make a go at this, find one thing (toasties) and do it really well.

You don’t have restaurant experience. You aren’t a Spanish chef. Don’t be trying to open a tapas bar. Especially not in a place that only has good footfall 9 months of the year.

Do think about your quality of life. Will you need to be open in the evenings? Do you want to work evenings?

You will absolutely need to work weekends. Do you really want to be working weekends? And you’ll need to be 7 days a week to make as much as you can in the busy season. Do you want to employ people to work those extra days? Or can you yourself work every day for months on end? Do not underestimate the stress of having staff to supervise and all the risk assessments and doing PAYE and what if you lose someone on mat leave, etc.

Not necessarily. Gourmet sandwiches are all the rage. Bahn Mi is one of the options at Mary's in Sandsend near Whitby. It's wildly popular despite being not cheap and they sell out of everything really quickly.

https://maryssandwichshop.co.uk/

This being Mumsnet, the brekkie, sarnies and burgs language probably needs a trigger warning.

Eta, the quoted post about Bahn mi being a bad idea got lost

Healthy foods! I live in a seaside town and I am sick to death of never being able to find anything(especially on the promenade) that's not fried to within an inch of its life. It's all fish n chips, burgers, hot dogs, ice cream... even finding just a ham salad sandwich is a chore.

Tapas wouldn't appeal to us. Something where everyone can order a separate meal. Or a lot of catering places seem to be moving away from full evening meals. Ice cream parlours which also offer waffles, churros seem to do well here - they charge quite a lot but it is less than the cost of a full meal out. A good way to treat the kids if you're on a UK self catering holiday and can't stump up £100 for you all to eat out.

Otherwise mexican would be my pick. Short menu, quite similar bits and bobs combined in different ways, can be healthier than burgers etc, easy to make gluten free or veggie or vegan. Oh and absolutely delicious.

OP said that it isn't an affluent place.

I'm guessing more 'decent Blackpool alternative' than Brighton.

I was going to say those proper doughnuts dredged in sugar but perhaps not a sustainable business all year round!

The humble jacket potato van always has a queue where I live. He does about 7 different toppings including chilli, cheese, baked beans, Bolognese, coleslaw and a cheesy sauce with bacon lardons which is delicious.

I agree that, lovely as something niche or exotic might sound, there's a reason why there are so many fish and chip shops and ice cream stalls at the seaside.

A lot of the people who love, say, Vietnamese cuisine will probably also be the sort who would never go on holiday to (or likely live in) working-class British seaside towns.

At our favourite seaside place (mixture of better off and less well-off people, non-pretentious), there's a crepe kiosk on the prom - with a few small tables for people to sit at, or they can just take it to the beach/home/eat it whilst walking along.

It's a lovely place, but my one small criticism would be that they only offer a very narrow range of fillings. With crepes as a basis, with a decent choice of fillings, you can cover all of the scenarios: sweet or savoury; snack or meal; adult-friendly (cheese/tomato/ham/mushroom etc.) and child-friendly (Nutella, strawberries etc.)

Get your menu sorted - a good variety but not necessarily an overwhelming and complicated choice; and fair pricing so that it's affordable for families and regulars (and they don't instantly wince at the prices!) - and that would be my suggestion.

Best seaside food in the world is the fresh mackerel fillets, straight off the boat, turned in butter and served in a soft, white roll from a van on the quay at Mevagissey.

The only problem with jacket potatoes imho is........ nope, cannot think of one!!

Honestly seeing up a decent food business that is also legally compliant is a total and utter nightmare. You have to be trained in allergens, hygiene and safer methods. Your paper work has to be IMPECCABLE and you need to run tons of temperature checks. It’s hard keeping up with legislation if you have a career/background in it the bushes but nigh on impossible to be legally compliant if you are coming into this brand new.

I know four people who have opened doomed eateries and everyone ploughed in life saving worked 80 hour weeks and still couldn’t make it work despite lovely places and really nice food and being busy as there wasn’t the turnover.

I’d always be a bit wary. Seaside what sells well is ice cream but maybe it’s a saturated market and only a few months of the year. I went to a place that did various meal deals and that was great, for kids you got a cheese / ham sandwich (one slice) or some mini sausages, a drink water or little carton juice, capri Sun, packet of Pom bears and a kids teddy cone for a fiver, big kids seven quid upgrade to a two slice sandwich and a waffle cone. Adults nine quid fancier sandwiches, with a traybake and a soup, coffee or icecream.

I thought it was really good as straightforward. There was a lot of discussions in queue as wether you were a big / little kid and my 14yo reckoned he was an adult.

The problem is that tourists don’t come to the beach to eat ham salad sandwiches, and locals simply aren’t going to visit often enough to make it worthwhile having more than a token healthy option on the menu.

When you’re running a business (especially a food business with lots of waste) you have to appeal to the masses, which at the beach means chips, burgers, buns, sausage rolls and ice cream, not salad.

This. Gluten free and easy to have vegan/vegetarian toppings too.

And she's a genius with social media.

The food is lovely but it does take quite a long time.

I love that sandwich shop called "Mary's" - looks bloody delicious!

I cannot stand
Jacket potatoes- boring
Roast dinners in various ways- in a bun, on a plate, in a giant yorkie and so on,

I would appreciate-
smash burgers
upscale interesting sandwiches
good coffee
really cold drinks- none of this tepid can of fanta off a shelf
beers

We were in Broadstairs for a couple of days in August and where there was a gap was nice takeaway food that wasn't fish and chips. So something light we could eat on the beach or sitting on the promenade than wasn't fried food.

But as people have said all seaside places are seasonal in terms of demand.

I wonder if a little beach bar with light snacks would be a good idea? We were at a French seaside town in July that w e go to a it and someone had take over little beachfront kiosk (so place that just sold soft drinks and ice cream to takeaway) and turned it in to a little bar that sold alcohol, coffee, light snacks to eat in - it seemed to do really well. Your issue again is demand would be very seasonal.

I think if you want to make a go at this, find one thing (toasties) and do it really well.
This!!
Thats why Mary’s hits the spot- I’ve spent a lot of time there, and they have this one amazing sandwich… and that’s enough.
( Shame there’s no shop in Sandsend anymore tho)
Theres a bagel shop near me that does proper boiled and baked bagels, with fillings.
Thats it. They are slammed.
Really great pizza by the slice. No one can resist that.
You’ve also got to think about waste. Thats the main cause of failure for food businesses ( I come from the trade).
There are soooo many crap food businesses that miss the absolute basics and it baffles me.

1. make it look appealing! Good graphics, clean, enticing
2. Make sure it’s really obvious what you are selling. Big chalkboard, short menu, clear prices. One of my pet hates is walking into a place and being unsure exactly what they are selling, or how to order it. People want the confidence of knowing what they have walked into and how much it’s going to cost.
3. It’s about profit. You may have a passion for tapas or whatever but you need to find something you can do well, fast and as cheap as possible.
4. Try and make it portable and not too messy.

I think it really depends on where you live and what the clientele is.

Your typical Blackpool visitor is going to be looking for something pretty different from Padstow in Cornwall.

🙄 the OP said she’s not in an affluent town. She will make fuck all from Vietnamese, tapas, vegetables or even frozen ready meals. Side eye at that one.

Whitby is an affluent town and Mary’s, who made their bread and butter by selling cheeseburgers from a truck, have a decent social media following built up over the years and have expanded into events, craft beers etc are not in the slightest bit relevant or comparable to the OP.

She has no experience, she is planning a start up, she’s not in Whitby 🤣

And fwiw, the vast majority of Mary’s menu is breakfast sandwiches and burgers. Yes, they have one Vietnamese sandwich and a burger which has a bhaji on it. But they definitely sell more eggs and bacon than they do pickled cabbage. And if you think otherwise you’re a bit ridiculous

I spend a lot of time in a seaside town and agree that much as one would like an option for eating ,the longstanding fish and chip shops and occasional Chinese/ Indian restaurants are the ones that seem to last. Inland, the pubs do a better food trade and some have quite ‘foodie ‘ type menus. The holiday makers want the reassurance of something recognisable and possibly something with nostalgic memories.They are often thinking of cost and may have children to cater for . Having said that the brunch type venues are very popular and seem to do a good trade year round. I have also noticed that some are doing pop ups in the evening now with eg music and pizza or paella or similar. A good pizza place should do well. The one omission in most places that I know is a good seafood restaurant in the style of US crab shacks; basic premises, short menu of locally sourced crab/ lobster/oysters etc a couple of options for vegetarians and/ or possibly a sandwich menu.No need for a license but should be near to the sea and ideally have a view. They can trade on high standards, there would be rapid turnover and word of mouth would spread, imo.

Food I can trust is safe for my children who are allergic to milk, eggs, and nuts

We tend to bring our own food as it's so hard to find trustworthy places