Taking over a Play cafe..

[Charlottedanielle]

Hello. I currently work at a play cafe in Epsom. I've only been there a few months. But it's not as busy as the owner wood have liked. He is thinking about closing, but I don't want to give up just yet. Due to that, there's a chance I could take over the cafe. I have so many ideas, and a bunch of good friends behind me who have said they will help the "new set up".

The current owner isn't big on running classes, or publicising anything properly.

I would run several classes each day throughout the week: sing and sign classes, little cooks cooking classes, rhyme time, story time, face painting, arts and crafts, baby imprinting, and then maybe for holidays, have a photographer come on and take holiday themes photos for family's at a low price. Apart from the photography, everything else would be £3 per child. Do you think that's too much?

What would you want from a small play cafe?

oh and PLEASE no daily fail! have some DECENT magazines and no bella and take a break! Oh and maybe a loyalty scheme - so you get a free coffee for every ten you buy!

I will take on the mad hatter style tea parties! That's a fab idea! I'm honestly open to try anything new and cater for mums as much as possible. All your ideas and thoughts are being written down, and I can promise that it'll be a place where mums can meet! In really want it to be a friendly atmosphere where mums can meet new mums, and children can make new friends! I also want to welcome mums with special needs children. Having a 4 year old autistic brother, I know how hard it can be for mums to go somewhere where they feel their child will be safe, have fun, and won't turn their nose up if a child has a tantrum, or freaks out. My brother gets anxious, and causes him to act out. My poor mum gets horrible looks when he does this if she's in costa/Starbucks etc. she even had a woman tell her to control her child. It hurts. It's not her fault or my brothers! I for one understand, and want other parents with disabled/special needs children to come and feel welcome! X

Loyalty cards! Amazing idea! Thank you! :)

and maybe a book swap - so people can swap books or sit and read them! free wifi too :)

What about having someone in to do nail art while the kids are doing an activity that doesn't need direct supervision of parents?

Bear in mind that running activities costs money - you will need to make it viable for anyone running these activities. Lots of groups like this fold because there is not enough turnout on some days so you need to work out how that will realistically work. If you are doing an activity for one hour you need at least 3 hours pay for it due to setting up and travel time - if your pay is £15 per hour you will need £45 per session at least coming in. If the activity costs £5 you will need an absolute minimum of 9 participants every time.

Your business is dependent on these activities taking place as they are bringing the Mums in to buy the coffees, so considering their plans is the key to this.

Also, you can't force Mums to have a coffee as someone suggested, as they are already forced to stay and attend. That attitude would just annoy me if I was a client.

We also have free wifi! So if you have an iPad, or laptop you want to use, you're more then welcome! In really appreciate all this feed back! In really want to create a place that mums would look forward to coming to! :)

Consider how you will make money, what items are low cost high profit?

Babycino - varies from place to place I find, starbucks does free steamed milk, M&S charges 50p and you get a nice expresso cup, mini biscuit and a few marshmellows. Toddlers like to copy, so having a real cup for themselves they can pretend to have a latte.

Having classes is an idea, makes it more a venue. However cost of classes will depend who runs them, many are franchaised.

Just a question about food...what sort of food would you like to see in the cafe? Be honest :) x

Loyalty cards are great. After maternity leave I had a huge collection of them. I was in a café every day and not that I work flexi I still am

One thing - it is REALLY important that the staff are polite and friendly. I can forgive a lot but one café near me employs a young man who was really offhand and rude. The other staff were lovely. I probably should have said something to the manager but I think the guy was her son or nephew. So I just never went back and this has cost them a LOT of money.

What about getting a hairdresser to come in for a session every so often and rent the space from you - they could then charge say£5 for a kid's haircut and mums could have a coffee.

Also remember if you are adding value to the business based on activities, when people are in for activities they won't be in for the play so won't be paying for that as well. Will the play element be running at the same time for other people and if so, will it be quiet enough for the activities you are having?

Unless the venue is huge you need to consider this.

Also consider bills and outgoings realistically - there is a reason why your boss is giving up this business, what is it? Have you seen the accounts?

I want but it has to be home-made and it has to be good! I'd like sandwiches on DECENT bread, brown and white and the children's sarnies not to be just jam ham or marmite. I think noobie has a point about the coffees whilst attending the activities - but you could "encourage" them to have a coffee by providing a £1 off voucher as part of the activity cost. I never buy a coffee without something to have with it.

I'd like chips but no chicken nuggets or worse, dino shapes - yuck. My DD loves cheesy pasta, olives, sandwhiches with a few crisps on the side and some cucumber and tomatos.

I think publicity is the absolute key - so advertise in libraries, M&T groups, church halls - you MUST have a website and see if you can send flyers home in bookbags at local schools, some will only do this if it is pertinent to the school kids - so half term offers etc.

It sounds fab, I've never seen one in the UK. There was one where I lived overseas (much more sunshine!) and it had a great outdoor area too. There is a child friendly cafe near me with a great outdoor area, but nothing really indoors (a couple of toys, but that's all). I'd be a regular if I was near you :)

If you take over - will it be 'a job' or will you have to put some financial investment into it?

Noobie - Charlotte explained all of that in previous posts. You don't pay to play and there is a separate area for the other activities :)

The food question is not totally straightforward OP.
You need to know the socio-demographic, and also decide where you want to pitch the business.

Ideally you need regular repeat business rather than treat based, so I would suggest food needs to be pitched at affordable for the average local consumer.
In some areas that may mean that cake at £5 a slice is acceptable pop-in snacking
In other areas it may mean that cake at a £1.50 is top end of affordable.
Product range will be largely dictated by this

Where will you 'sit' in the scale? Useful indicators are supermarkets in immediate vicinity. A preponderance of Waitrose, and very busy M&S food sections means you could probably opt in at the upper end.
As the business has not been going as well as the departing owner wanted, it may be than the pitch has been off and you need to re-examine the demographic.

Market research pays dividends to. Ask locally.

Sounds ace. The one near me just shut down. It had great take-up at the beginning, but the food and drink were very poor quality and overpriced. I think the classes sound like a great idea, and I think mums would stay afterwards for a coffee while kiddies play. Table service would be perfect if that's viable. Friends and I will take our kiddies to quite smart places in town which have table service because with small kiddies it's worth paying the extra. Our children are well behaved, by the way! We don't let them run riot and spoil other people's treats!

I have passed by the cafe on my way to Once Upon a Time upstairs. It never seemed quite clear to me if it was for children or a grown up place with a few toys as an afterthought. I think, like you say, classes, advertising and perhaps a more child friendly front would help. The problem is you have tough competition from Once Upon a Time which is becoming very popular

Food -

Good coffee - a proper machine, not just one of those 'add a sachet of latte mix' type things. You can rent them.

A mix of 'healthy' and 'not so fab but lots of kids like it' food. But remember not all kids only want 'x & beans' or 'x & chips'. Salmon, peas & baby potatoes, spagetti bolgnaise (vege version too), cottage pie, cheesy pasta etc

As many options as you can deliver well. A good range is fab, but being able to do it at a price and time that works is critical. You need to make a profit, but people don't want to pay over the top, they want choice but not if it means waiting forever to be served or get their food.

Providing baby food/snacks at a price that is unbelievably cheap, yet still makes you some margin, will help to keep your profits up. Better only to make a little bit on each item, but have people willing to buy their babies food/snacks there, than to bring it themselves.

What condition is the cafe in & if it's not great, can you get a grant to do it up?

What does that other place do Sigma?

It is right upstairs from you and it has a very nice soft play set up with bouncy castle, toys, ball pit and that type of thing. It does really nice food and it is spotlessly clean. My two love it and I can leave them to play in the soft area while I watch them from my table. You should pop in and have a quick look. I think you should set your prices lower than them and offer something different, maybe more mum focused. After all it is the mum making the decision of where to go

Activities are on the mezzanine level - read the thread properly now. I think it's a great idea and am very pleased someone has the guts to shake up some of these businesses to provide what people really want.

As someone upthread said, pitch it very carefully then be consistent with what you provide. Remember also that rich people are sometimes tightfisted and often have unreasonably high expectations.

I would say the first thing you need to do is get a business plan together and do some local market research. All these ideas are lovely but if they're not profitable they're no good. You need to consider the cost of all your outgoings, bills, licenses, insurance etc which i'm sure you're aware of but often hidden costs are overlooked in the excitement of setting up a new business.

Sigma I am not the OP. But thank you for that information. That is quite possibly why the Play cafe where Charlotte is, is struggling BUT I think that could be turned around quite easily.

I'm in Epsom and I was just going to add that I hear absolutely loads about Once Upon A Time but nothing about you. They have a Facebook page and if you 'like' it and check in when you are there, you get a free drink or cupcake or something in return... This means that some days my Facebook is full of local friends liking and checking in and it's good advertising.

A good website is essential. If I can't see clear pictures of what the play area / play frame looks like, I don't go. My DD has hypermobility and struggles physically, so if I can't check if she'll be okay I just don't bother going for risk of disappointing her.

Oh dear there's another one upstairs? In that case I would reconsider very carefully.

Perhaps set up at a different venue?