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Creating a Sicilian food franchise [HELP NEEDED]

Xeon

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Could you please remind me what chapter do I find this list in ? Because I cannot find it :/

Chapter 35. There's a list presented in a table format.
Page 335/513 but because I'm using Google Play to read, the actual page number may be different from yours.
 
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Walter Hay

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4rd step : investing the profit of the first store to open a second one and so on, in order to create a national/international franchise in the future.
At least this was your fourth step, but before you can consider creating a franchise, you must be successful. I suggest that you need at least one year of good bookkeeping so that you can prove profitability.

The costs involved in setting up a franchise are not huge, but the red tape is something you will need to understand.

Walter
 

Umbired

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Bingo. It sounds like Chinese dumplings here in the states. Unless you're a dumpling house, you're buying it from a third party.

The benefit of B2B here is that it would provide you with sales and capital to fund your commercial kitchen, which I doubt is cheap if Belgium is anything like the States. Why sell 1 when you can sell 100?

Now that we're on the subject, are there any other Sicilian delights that aren't executed well in Belgium? Why stop with Arancini when you can bring other products to market? Especially if you're going to go to the expense of kitting out a truck.

So if I understand well, in the US you can get Chinese dumplings only via supermarkets/grocery stores/restaurants ? Is not there any artisanal store/brand selling them ?

If you open a store here in Belgium you have some financial support from the government, but of course you always must have some capital aside. I'm not against B2B, but what I fear is I always have to rely on big businesses who could stop the partnership for any reason overnight. They would control my business. In contrast, owning a store (and then a franchise) would be more reliable because I would depend on my own business (and of course on my customers). But yes, B2B would be complementary to that.

Yes, there are a lot of other Sicilian meals. Therefore they would be more elaborate dishes and you must have skills for that, that I do not have. I am way too far from being a chef. Arancini is quite easy to cook and easy to teach to a future employee.

Beyond that I would also propose Granita, a fresh summer drink made up of ice and lemon/almond/grenadine syrup. It exists in different variants too.
And by the way, for the very first step I am not going to open a store or selling in a food truck (in order to test the market and to keep prices low), but from home as a caterer.
 

Umbired

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Chapter 35. There's a list presented in a table format.
Page 335/513 but because I'm using Google Play to read, the actual page number may be different from yours.

Thanks Xeon !
 

Umbired

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At least this was your fourth step, but before you can consider creating a franchise, you must be successful. I suggest that you need at least one year of good bookkeeping so that you can prove profitability.

The costs involved in setting up a franchise are not huge, but the red tape is something you will need to understand.

Walter

Hi Walter,
The franchise is my ultimate goal. Indeed I am aware it will take more than months to setting up a franchise. That is why I am starting by selling my Arancini from home as a caterer to test the market, then open a small store or food truck (although I have read that a food truck is very expensive) and then a franchise.
 

GeoffP

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So if I understand well, in the US you can get Chinese dumplings only via supermarkets/grocery stores/restaurants ? Is not there any artisanal store/brand selling them ?

If you open a store here in Belgium you have some financial support from the government, but of course you always must have some capital aside. I'm not against B2B, but what I fear is I always have to rely on big businesses who could stop the partnership for any reason overnight. They would control my business. In contrast, owning a store (and then a franchise) would be more reliable because I would depend on my own business (and of course on my customers). But yes, B2B would be complementary to that.

Yes, there are a lot of other Sicilian meals. Therefore they would be more elaborate dishes and you must have skills for that, that I do not have. I am way too far from being a chef. Arancini is quite easy to cook and easy to teach to a future employee.

Beyond that I would also propose Granita, a fresh summer drink made up of ice and lemon/almond/grenadine syrup. It exists in different variants too.
And by the way, for the very first step I am not going to open a store or selling in a food truck (in order to test the market and to keep prices low), but from home as a caterer.
I am specifically referring to the dumplings sold in restaurants. They are labor intensive and as a result many restaurants just buy them as opposed to making them in house.
 
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Umbired

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I am specifically referring to the dumplings sold in restaurants. They are labor intensive and as a result many restaurants just buy them as opposed to making them in house.

Great idea you gave me here GeoffP :) Thanks
 

Umbired

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Hi guys ! Little update.
I have ordered these molds in order to give a good shape to my Arancini :
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWVJfEqfDr0

But there is something I am confused about : do not you think making Arancini with this little machine don't look a bit too "industrial" to my customers eyes ?
At the beginning, as a caterer, they won't see how they will be made, but once I'll decide to open a store/foodtruck and making Arancini in front of them, the process of making them maybe will not be as "sexy" as they thought, since it's done with a machine and not totally by hand ?
Food trucks/stores making crepes use dispensers and clients are not shocked of that industrial way to make them. What about this making Arancini process ?
What are your thoughts ? Too much industrial or that's the way ?
 

Xeon

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Hi guys ! Little update.
I have ordered these molds in order to give a good shape to my Arancini :
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWVJfEqfDr0

But there is something I am confused about : do not you think making Arancini with this little machine don't look a bit too "industrial" to my customers eyes ?
At the beginning, as a caterer, they won't see how they will be made, but once I'll decide to open a store/foodtruck and making Arancini in front of them, the process of making them maybe will not be as "sexy" as they thought, since it's done with a machine and not totally by hand ?
Food trucks/stores making crepes use dispensers and clients are not shocked of that industrial way to make them. What about this making Arancini process ?
What are your thoughts ? Too much industrial or that's the way ?

I don't see any issue with that. That doesn't feel "industrial" at all to me, it's just a primitive tool and I would think it's necessary. "Hand-made" doesn't have to be taken too literally.
It's only industrial if it looks something like this:

sheeter.jpg


cb8c.jpg
 
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Umbired

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I don't see any issue with that. That doesn't feel "industrial" at all to me, it's just a primitive tool and I would think it's necessary. "Hand-made" doesn't have to be taken too literally.
It's only industrial if it looks something like this:

sheeter.jpg


cb8c.jpg

100% correct.
But don't you think customers be like "Oh, I just have to buy one of these online and then I can do it by myself" ?
Or do you think that even though they will come back for the quality ingredients, know-how I provide and the fact they can eat them quick without getting their hands dirty ?
 

Xeon

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But don't you think customers be like "Oh, I just have to buy one of these online and then I can do it by myself" ?

Speaking from a customer's POV.....nope. I want to eat arancini and I want it now. I don't want to prepare the ingredients, the sauce, whatever, I don't want to go through all the troublesome process of preparing it. I want it served to me pipping hot where I can then eat it while watching TV or reading a book. I don't care about the tools, just the food.

You don't go to the ice-cream man asking him what tongs he uses or what is the process he uses to create his ice-cream flavours.....you go to his cart, salivate over his ice-cream pics and menu, and you want to eat those now. Unless you're someone with a fetish for ice-cream tongs and tools.

Or do you think that even though they will come back for the quality ingredients, know-how I provide and the fact they can eat them quick without getting their hands dirty ?

You'll be selling the tastiness, the convenience, the story, the human connection of talking to you while you prepare their arancini and associated food delights....and if it tastes good, and it's convenient, I like who you're and the price is reasonable, I'm sold.....
 

Cinquecento18

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hi guys, and hi Umbired, i'm another sicilian man here, and i'm glad to see many other on this forum.

The tools on the video, i dont know if is this the same, is produced in a city near me and im my opinion is only for made more easy the arancini, nothing industrial. I think you can use at the beginning and after when you have more practice you can use only your hand.

Arancini is fenomenal product and you can play with many ingredients to sell a good tasty product, the key is only the quality of the ingredients who you use.

In upsell you can consider implement with cannoli, to fill in front of client, good idea of implementing in my opinion. Also you can offer a good sicilian wine red or white for arancini, and a dessert wine like as "moscato" or "passito" for cannoli.

Sorry for my english :) I wish you the best! for anything, im here!
 
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Umbired

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Speaking from a customer's POV.....nope. I want to eat arancini and I want it now. I don't want to prepare the ingredients, the sauce, whatever, I don't want to go through all the troublesome process of preparing it. I want it served to me pipping hot where I can then eat it while watching TV or reading a book. I don't care about the tools, just the food.

You don't go to the ice-cream man asking him what tongs he uses or what is the process he uses to create his ice-cream flavours.....you go to his cart, salivate over his ice-cream pics and menu, and you want to eat those now. Unless you're someone with a fetish for ice-cream tongs and tools.



You'll be selling the tastiness, the convenience, the story, the human connection of talking to you while you prepare their arancini and associated food delights....and if it tastes good, and it's convenient, I like who you're and the price is reasonable, I'm sold.....

Got it now and what you say sounds logical. But when it comes to my business I become a bit "paranoid", thinking about all bad things people could say about the food, process,... I always try to imagine all kind of situations to be prepared.

As I said, for now I am starting as a caterer but then I would like to open a store-front (expensive) or a food truck. I'm still doubtful. Each has his pros/cons...
 

Umbired

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hi guys, and hi Umbired, i'm another sicilian man here, and i'm glad to see many other on this forum.

The tools on the video, i dont know if is this the same, is produced in a city near me and im my opinion is only for made more easy the arancini, nothing industrial. I think you can use at the beginning and after when you have more practice you can use only your hand.

Arancini is fenomenal product and you can play with many ingredients to sell a good tasty product, the key is only the quality of the ingredients who you use.

In upsell you can consider implement with cannoli, to fill in front of client, good idea of implementing in my opinion. Also you can offer a good sicilian wine red or white for arancini, and a dessert wine like as "moscato" or "passito" for cannoli.

Sorry for my english :) I wish you the best! for anything, im here!

Ciao Peppe :D
It's quite interesting to see how many Sicilians there are here. I would not have bet !

Yes, they produce it at Ragusa (I just got my order this morning!). I already make arancini, but I thought to buy these so that they always have the same shape and weight for 2 reasons :
1. My customers will be accustomed to the regular shape (round and pointy)
2. I ordered also small ones, in order to propose another size : small and big
Making them by hand is more traditional, but they always be different. Do you understand what I mean ?

Yes indeed, it's also possible to make them with chocolate inside, as a dessert. Do you think people would buy both : arancino for meal and arancino for dessert ? It would be too much, would not it ?

Thank you for the nice ideas you gave me and do not worry for your English (I also learned English in Italy eheh)
 

Umbired

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Hi guys !

I have contacted a small local influencer on Instagram (+2.500 followers), talked to her and is very nice. I'm going to bring her 6x arancinis so that she can taste, publish on his account and talk around her about my little business.

:)
 
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Cinquecento18

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Great for the influencer! It's a good idea to promote on social media!

For the chocolate arancini, personally i don't like it, but it's my opinion, you can try to sell and see if this is a good idea.
But also if you eat arancino with "ragù" or something like that first and after you eat another with chocolate, imo it's not a good choice, the much rice in there can destroy the flavor of first eats and can be not a good experience for client.
For dessert you can give your client something different to arancini, and i suggested you cannoli (easy to prepare) or cassata or other dessert.

Remember it's my point of view... ;)
 

Umbired

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Some incoming news...
I have just got the paper that attests that I can produce and sell my arancini by authorities! Great news !

I'm now thinking about the definitive business model I should adopt.
Selling arancini to privates is cool because I could create my own brand but it would take a lot of time to be someone in the (local) food industry and I should sell a lot in order to live with this activity. If I would like to get more trafic, I should open a store but it has an important cost and that's not the best thing to do when you start.

The alternative I am thinking about is to look for local sandwich bars, contact them explaining the advantage of my product, the profit they could get selling my arancini. I would do this for the sandwich bars near my town, than expand my prospection area and hit more and more sandwich bars in my region.

What do you guys think ?
Is it the second alternative (B2B) more interesting to hit the Fastlane, or would you suggest something else ?

Thank you !

Umberto
 

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