Firstly I would like to thank How To Books for giving me the opportunity to publish this book, and in particular Nikki Read for many helpful comments, particularly in the early, embryonic stages.

In addition I have received considerable assistance, generally freely and obligingly given, from a wide range of local and national government bodies on a whole range of subjects such as employment law, VAT, National Insurance, planning, environmental health, food hygiene, business start ups and so on. I would say to any budding sandwich-coffee bar proprietor that they should have no qualms whatever about contacting their local authority or any government body for help with any such matters. Just be prepared to persist until you get through to the right person.

I would also like to mention some individuals all of whom provided advice and assistance on a wide range of topics: Simon Ambrose, Bill Dixon, George Gretton, Iain Hunter, Sandy MacCalman, Martin McMenigall, Ross McNaughton, David Miller, Edward Miller and Ottilie Miller. Molli Burrell deserves a special mention for having greatly encouraged the idea during an enjoyable writing course on Lanzarote. Finally my heartfelt gratitude to Judy without whom…

It has become a cliché that job security for life is now a thing of the past. A variety of people, at various ages and stages of their working lives, find themselves without a job – or in a job which is stressful because of the extra demands placed on them by companies concerned about profit margins in an increasingly competitive world.

Many people cast around for ways of escape to new work situations which can offer them security, control and a reasonable income – and if possible some form of pension or asset for the future. This is the situation I found myself in ten years ago. After considering all sorts of money-making ideas, from growing kiwi fruit to buying and letting out flats, my wife and I hit upon the idea of opening a sandwich-coffee bar.

It has proved to be a reliable and secure source of income. Not only that, but despite the challenges and the hard work, we have found it very satisfying to set up and run our own business. It is also stimulating to try out new ideas and fine-tune the operation in response to the ever-changing demands of increasingly knowledgeable customers and new developments in the food and catering industries.

Oh – and by the way, do you have children? If so, you will find that working on a Saturday or during school holidays will give them a protected but authentic introduction to the real world of work.

Throughout this book I will refer to ‘sandwich-coffee bars’ by which I mean a sandwich bar with or without a seating area which also sells coffee. However, this expression doesn’t really tell the whole story. ‘Sandwich-coffee bar’ should also be taken as potentially including:

• café/coffee bar. Many sandwich-coffee bars have substantial café-style seating areas allowing people to relax in comfort over a cappuccino or an Earl Grey tea. These facilities can range from a bar along one wall plus one table and a few stools to a substantial area with ten or more tables.
• Delicatessen (‘sandwich deli’). You will find that many people who started with a delicatessen diversify by introducing sandwiches and coffee and creating a sitting area. The obvious advantage is that they already have much of the infrastructure in place for selling sandwiches.

You will also find places which sell sandwiches and coffee but specialise in tortilla wraps or a range of home-made soups. I have come across a number of newsagents’ shops and bookshops which have successfully created mini sandwich-coffee bars in underused corners of their premises. This makes double sense because it’s an additional facility for existing customers and it attracts more people who might buy newspapers or magazines. And don’t forget the Internet café scene. Really the possibilities and permutations are endless. However, what is beyond doubt is that there is an insatiable demand for bread with interesting food inside and good quality coffee.

As a realistic business proposition a sandwich-coffee bar has a number of advantages over much of the competition.

1. People have to eat so there’s always a certain assured level of demand

This certainly can’t be said of every kind of business, many of which suffer from uncertain and changing demand. Dot com. Need I say more?

2. The level of demand for take-away food in the ‘affordable luxury’ category has increased dramatically in recent years

The cake has increased in size. There is a lot of competition but there’s always room for new outlets so long as the quality of the product and the service is high. In truth quite a few places still suffer from the British affliction of low standards of quality and service in the catering field. So the scope for success is considerable – it’s really up to you.

3. Good quality sandwich-coffee bars are virtually recession-proof

This is not true of restaurants, many of which suffer badly when there is an economic downturn. Indeed, at such times sandwich-coffee bars benefit by picking up custom from people no longer able to justify the expense of a restaurant meal as often as in the past.

4. You don’t need any formal qualifications

Having said that, unless you have recently trained in catering, you will have to attend a course in food hygiene. In addition if you have never been self-employed before you will have to learn some new skills – book-keeping, VAT returns, tax and employment rules and regulations. But don’t worry: you really don’t need to be a brain surgeon to get the hang of what you need to know. A lot of it is common sense and people in the relevant official departments are keen to help. In addition if you are at all computer literate a lot of the work can be done with help of your PC.

5. You can have a life outside working hours

True, you will have to be up fairly early in the morning, but most sandwich-coffee bars close any time between 3 and 5 pm. A lot of your customers may well work in offices so it might not be necessary to open at weekends. Some do, some don’t. In the case of a husband and wife team it is perfectly feasible for one of you to have another job and help out in the shop at times that suit you – possibly opening up in the morning or doing some of the book-keeping in the evening.

This book is mainly about small independent outlets. However, once you’ve set up your first shop there’s nothing to stop you taking on the world. Quite a few places have done this very successfully – ‘Pret a Manger’ and ‘O’Brien’s’ to mention but four hundred units or so. If that is your aim this book will still be relevant because if you don’t know the ins and outs of running one shop you’re going to have a very hard time indeed building an empire.

Your own niche market

I’d like to tell you about an experience I had soon after my wife and I opened our first place which taught me an important lesson. I was working with my wife in the middle of the afternoon. An older man in dirty overalls eased himself into the shop. His suspicious expressions and uneasy body language made it clear he was doubting the wisdom of entering our establishment.

Me: ‘Can I help you?’

Him: ‘Eh, you gotta cheese sandwich?’

Me: ‘Certainly. What kind of cheese would you like?. We’ve got Brie, Cambozola, Jarlsberg, Bavarian smoked, Edam, Gouda or undyed Cheddar.’

Him (after listening to the list with increasing and barely contained frustration): ‘Aw I dunno son, I just want a cheese sandwich.’

I wasn’t sure how to respond to this. I felt, to use that ugly word, deskilled. There was an awkward silence. He then asked if we had any soup. When I told him, tentatively by now, that the soup that day was home-made broccoli and stilton he looked at me in horror and with a parting ‘Nah, nah’ walked out of the shop shaking his head, never to return.

To rub salt in the wound he went across the road to a long-established sandwich bar which my wife and I had rather sniffily dismissed as any kind of serious competition. It was actually closed with the front shutter half down. But the man was too hungry and fired up to be put off. I watched in horror as he ducked under the shutter and gesticulated urgently to the owner who was clearing up inside.

Through our front window I could see them having a lengthy chat punctuated by many violent hand gestures by our erstwhile customer. It was clear beyond doubt that he had made the short but irrevocable journey from potential customer to leading critic. A few minutes later he walked off pumped up full of righteous indignation. He was clutching a small brown paper bag which doubtless contained a basic cheese sandwich (garishly dyed orange Cheddar with thickly spread cheap margarine, I thought with disdain) which he would find entirely sufficient for his needs.

This exchange left me feeling helpless and mystified. Surely I had done everything in my power to provide a good service for a potential new customer? What else could I have done? I racked my brains but I had to face the fact that my best wasn’t good enough. Myriad thoughts of financial failure, personal inadequacy and an early exit from the sandwich making business crowded my mind.

All nonsense of course. Put all thoughts of class divisions, elitism and political correctness right out of your mind. The simple lesson of my little anecdote is that in coming to the market you must have your own particular identity – and realise that it will not appeal to everybody. You might want to target the man in the overalls – fine – it’s a big (though declining) market. You might aim for upmarket business types, trendy students or camera-toting tourists or a combination of them. None of these choices is right or wrong, good or bad. What is important is not to think that you can appeal to them all – you can’t and frankly it would be a dull world if you could because every town and city centre would be full of identical sandwich-coffee bars. Have a plan, be prepared to take a few risks – and follow your instincts.

A growing industry

Sandwiches are big business. According to recent press reports they constitute ‘the fastest growing food sector.’ In America it is apparently the case that 50% of food expenditure goes on eating out. In Britain it’s under 30% – so, given our habit of following American trends there is clearly room for growth. And lots of people can have a slice of the action. If you have a feel for food, are prepared to be flexible, hard working and consistent then, whilst you probably won’t become a millionaire, you have every chance of making a reasonable income, building up an asset of some value and getting to know a wide variety of people along the way. I hope that my experiences help you to avoid some of the inevitable pitfalls and make you aware of the endless possibilities for making a go of it.