If you are looking for a food related business idea how about providing a sandwich service to neighboring businesses?
Have you ever made a really, really great sandwich? Not just a regular ham and cheese, but a triple-decker something with “all the right ingredients”?
You probably shared it with a family member, or two, and then the great idea was shoved to a back burner.
Well, there are folks sitting in their offices everyday, eating the same sad ham and cheese with a wilted salad on the side because they just don’t have time to go further than the cheap deli downstairs.
Imagine if these prisoners of day-old subs could taste your delicious creation! And why can’t they?
A sandwich service might be just the business for you if you live near office buildings or are willing to drive to them. It is technically a home business, but you make deliveries.
The first things you need are some great sandwiches. Experiment with friends and family to get the best ones and create a menu.
Your menu should be fairly simple, no more than five or six options because you don’t want to stock a huge variety of ingredients.
Include at least one veggie sandwich for those who stay away from meat, and list all the ingredients so your clients can let you know if they don’t want something on their sandwich.
Or you might offer a “Make Your Own Combo” on your menu and list two or three types of bread, about eight or ten toppings and charge a base price for the bread and two toppings, then an additional fee for each additional ingredient.
Just be careful when taking the order and double-check all ingredients.
Include a phone number and order form with your menu when you drop it off at various offices. Design it so that everyone in the office wanting a sandwich can mark it down on the form and one person can phone the order in.
To encourage large orders like these, offer a discount if each business orders a certain amount of sandwiches, they will like the discount and it will simplify your amount of deliveries each day.
You should also require a minimum order per business or building, it’s not worth your time to drive to one location for a couple of sandwiches.
Remember to put your deadline for the days orders on the menu in bold letters. Depending on the amount of business you have, this could be around 10:00 am in order to make a noon delivery.
Use all fresh ingredients and only make the sandwiches as they are ordered.
Anything with watery fillings, like tomatoes, should be made just before delivery so you don’t have soggy sandwiches, (or offer them on the side to be added by your customer).
Wrap the sandwiches in wax paper or plastic wrap and then place each order in paper bags, or wrap them in paper, and write the “delivery to” company name and sandwich type on the outside.
This way, you can just take up the bag with each company's order and you don’t have to deal with digging through other orders, each time you make a delivery.
To do your billing, make up receipts for each sandwich unless the office requests that you give one receipt for all. Request that the money be at the front desk when you arrive so you can make all your deliveries on time.
Or, offer a monthly rate where they pay at the beginning of the month and receive a certain number of sandwiches each day. This saves time counting money and such.
If you want to add on to your sandwich business and add to your wallet too, include soft drinks.
Buy them at a bulk discount store and resell for regular soda prices. You might also consider adding salads or desserts to your menu to bump up profits.
The start up costs with this business idea are pretty low, just your basic food supplies, some printing costs for your menus, a dedicated phone line and of course you will need dependable transportation.
Be sure before you start up a business like this that you check out local licensing requirements to make sure you can legally prepare and sell the sandwiches from your own home.
If you find that you are not able to get the licensing to do this from home, you might want to consider partnering with a nearby restaurant, deli or catering service.
You could work out a profit sharing arrangement if you could make and deliver your sandwiches from there.
To market this business idea you would simply need to get the word out to the local businesses about your service by bringing in your printed menu/order form and leaving it with a receptionist or other office personal.
You might want to offer a get-acquainted special or some type of incentive for a company to place their first order.
Then once you have some regular clients you can decide if you want to keep growing your business by hiring extra help or keep it at a certain manageable size.
Or you might offer a “Make Your Own Combo” on your menu and list two or three types of bread, about eight or ten toppings and charge a base price for the bread and two toppings, then an additional fee for each additional ingredient. 