Thoughts On Setting Up Cafe That's Child Focused

[Jsway]

I know it's a nightmare to find somewhere to eat whilst having children with you. Makes LunchTime Very Difficult, so thinking of setting up a business that will help other Mums

All the soft play places round here are closing as they aren't making any money. We have fewer SAHM parents and most of the youngsters are at nursery or preschool. I know of one that is becoming a nursery instead.

They all had nice cafes and charged an entrance fee for the soft play, but they just didn't get the footfall.

You need to see if you have a large enough target market where you live, or limit the cafe to kids at certain hours and open it to the general public at other times of day.

Dd said it was the better off parents who were the stingiest

There's a cafe near me that's very child friendly. Business is booming and they're always packed!

They are in the park and so have lots of space to "expand" when they're busy though and people hanging around just drinking coffee doesn't stop others being
served.

There's another near MILs that has a small softplay and seems busy.

And another in London that has classes and stuff going on as well as being a cafe.

It is definitely possible - the risks above are risks you need to be aware of, sure - but doesn't male it impossible.

If you loyal customers you need somewhere the kids can play. If It's just at tables That's fine when they're babies and immobile but when they're older they need to be able to play.

The kid friendly cafe in my town is my most visited place as It's a destination for the kids. I meet non- parent friends for a catchup there because the kids go play while I chat! Wouldn't work if it was just a room with tables, I would have stopped going years ago.

We do buy food not just coffee!

There used to be one locally that had proper grown-up cafe downstairs and some seats with a small play area upstairs. Prams to be parked near the till (I assume they'd limit numbers as the number of pram slots was more or less equal to the number of spaces upstairs).
It was lovely and I mainly used to go there for lunch, not one coffee for four hours (the play area wasn't that exciting). Generally bought food for the DCs too.
It changed hands after at least 5-10 years, and they made the upstairs toy free. Lasted 6 months.

I've had two friends (who didn't know one another) who wanted to do this. Both of them stopped at the same stumbling block, finding large enough premises at an affordable rent in a place where people can just pop in while out shopping. There's a reason a lot of soft play places are on industrial estates.

I think another thing to consider is whether you'll still want to be running a business aimed at pre school children once your children have started school. I suspect some people would and some wouldn't, I can honestly say that once I was out of the baby and toddler stage I had absolutely no desire to go to places full of very young children and their parents.

All the ones I see go bust (lives in a London nappy valley). The only one that has sort of worked uses a local pub which doesn't get footfall during the week.

I think another thing to consider is whether you'll still want to be running a business aimed at pre school children once your children have started school.

I've often wondered this about people who run nappy/sling/baby food type businesses. It's such a short period in your child's life.

Our local cafe had some toys that school age children would like, books etc. So a family with a 3yo and an 8yo would be happy. I've also seen a family with those kinds of ages doing homework there.

Was a lovely one near us, just closed due to problems renewing the lease, landlord redeveloping etc.

hungrycaterpillarbristol.co.uk

There is a cafe near me like this, it seems to do well, google the Wendy House Gosport.

I should add they charge for kids to play and have all sorts of toddler toys, Wendy house and a reading corner with lots of lovely cakes and snacks and space for several tables

I think another thing to consider is whether you'll still want to be running a business aimed at pre school children once your children have started school. I suspect some people would and some wouldn't, I can honestly say that once I was out of the baby and toddler stage I had absolutely no desire to go to places full of very young children and their parents.*

Interestingly I know a couple of women who run toddler/pre-school classes and only started when their children went to primary school. Mainly because it enables them to have a business running during school hours and closes during the school holidays.

While I see many negative comments for the idea, personally I feel its a good idea. That said, you could keep the cafe child focused and also include any other target audience closely related (could not think of any now but just a thought). That way you can keep the business running as well. Else you can keep it open at certain times and close at other times. You need to do some research on when it can get busy etc.