Opening a hot sauce shop: IS IT VIABLE?

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:16 pm

Our local Publix has a free retail spot right next door to it. It is, in my estimation, the PERFECT place to follow my muse and open a hot sauce shop.

I have some questions, though, since I don't know anything about anything:

1. Is it possible?
2. Could you make a living at it?
3. Is it the worst idea ever?
4. Huh?

Does ANYONE here have any experience or knowledge about this sort of undertaking? To simplify, I'll assume everyone has at least one story of a friend or family member opening a retail shop, sinking deep into debt and depression and emptying their skull with a .38 snubnose, so, that aside, anyone got anything?

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:13 pm

You can if you have the right location

You going to make and sell your own custom sauce?

THE
BURNING TONGUE
AARDVARK

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:28 pm

I will not make my own sauce, at least at first.

We're going brick- and click- and mortar here.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 4:53 pm

Flack's parents ran a computer shop in the 80s, if I remember correctly.

My dad, after retiring from Kodak, ran a used car business but that was out of our home. (Zoning is for other people.)

If Paul has run a business, I would ask him to speak up now.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:35 pm

Start with Math 101. Figure out how much the rent is.

Let's take one simple example.

At Walmart, you can get a 28oz bottle of sriracha for $3.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/10452869?wmls ... 72&veh=sem

According to this website, you can buy 28oz bottles of sriracha wholesale for $1.75/bottle (+shipping). With shipping let's say it's $2/bottle.

http://www.grubstreet.com/2013/11/srira ... -cost.html

That would mean you would have to sell 1,000 bottles of sriracha a month just to pay rent (and not make any money). If you want to make a salary of $24k a year that's an additional $2,000 a month you'll need to pull in so that's 3,000 bottles of sriracha you'll need to sell per month, or roughly 100 a day.

Of course at this point you've not given people any reason to come to your store vs. going to Walmart, and as any small business owner will tell you, going head-to-head with Walmart is business suicide. So you'll need hot sauces that they don't sell there (or at Publix).

Your only real hope of survival is offering something those places don't have. You could order from some place like http://www.pepperpalace.com, which has wholesale deals. So you order a lot from them, split up the cases, and put it on the shelves.

The general rule of thumb is you need enough cash to pay rent, buy stock, and cover your salary for a year.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:04 pm

That was a very dumb post. Obviously our selling point is not "sriracha and tabasco", because of course you can get those at the Publix next door.

We're talking thousands of craft hot sauces you can't get anywhere else.

DUHHH.

(Probably still can't make any money, but I mean, come on, man.)

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:05 pm

Also Pepper Palace is a local competitor. I need to take them down first.

I guess what I'm asking is, where can I get some semi-automatic rifles that don't require a waiting period? I'd ask Straw, but he's SILENT ON THE MATTER.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:05 pm

Really I was just trying to stretch this conversation for an hour or two until you lose interest and move on to the next thing.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:58 pm

Flack wrote:Really I was just trying to stretch this conversation for an hour or two until you lose interest and move on to the next thing.

Good point. Paul, how much does it cost to retrofit a hot sauce store into a sobriety shop?

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 7:03 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:
Flack wrote:Really I was just trying to stretch this conversation for an hour or two until you lose interest and move on to the next thing.
Good point. Paul, how much does it cost to retrofit a hot sauce store into a sobriety shop?

About three pints.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 7:04 am

Been here for thirteen years, still no respeck.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 5:23 pm

Went to get a haircut today and my barber is moving. I asked them how much rent was and they said $1,600/month plus utilities, garbage, and property tax. That's for 1,200 square foot.

Here's your homework: find out how much rent that place is, and what those firemen hot sauce people will charge you to be a distributor and let's run the numbers.