Turning over profit on a gym bar/cafe

What percentage of your company are you willing to part with?

Aaron Hallett
target the larger % of the gym membership, not the 5-10% who actually care about PreWO, intra, PWO etc...
your target is the people who neither care to research about their diet nor have a diet at all.
 
the reason you see choc bars, crisps etc is because they sell for people who have just 'earnt' a treat.
 
if i was you i would do this:
 
CHECK ALL OF YOUR EXISTING STOCK
- Check the margins you make
- Check how long it stays in stock and how easy it shifts
- Make an offer on stock that doesnt sell well and discontinue the line/re-order
 
NOTE PATTERNS OF SALE AS-IS
- How can you know what changes to make when you dont know what sells and what doesnt
- Look over previous book work of the cafe/bar
 
WHO IS THE FACE OF THE BAR/CAFE
- If you are the worker behind the bar, are you a good person to sell and banter with? If you have the personality of a spoon how can you sell people things they dont need.
- Who else works behind the counter? Are they losing you business? Check staff rotas vs money taken in vs peak times/off peak times. You dont want Jack the luddite behind the counter at peak time losing you money.
 
MAXIMISE HIGH MARGIN SALES
- When i worked behind the counter at a gym i saw protein powders fly off the shelf all day long, the real nasty tubs you wouldnt touch with a low protein soya infused bargepole. I sold 4-5 tubs a day in a very small gym for a high margin. Selling maxi-muscle is a waste of time with the low margins, hence the holland and barrett £50+ a tub.
 
Protein shakes @ £2 a pop made close to £70-80 a day. One tub lasts 35-40 customers @ trade price of £18, which turns in £80...profit margin of £52-62.
 
Buy cheap accessories like straps, wraps from trade sources or even flea-bay and sell them for a mark up. £3-4 straps is an easy £8.99 on shelf item.
 
Sod trying to be the herbal-life health bar, i would turn to the dark side and punt out as much crap as i could to the masses who know little rather than make low margins on items to the small % of members

all of this.
i looked into doing something like this earlier this year as if you sell the right stuff, people will hand money over like it's burning a hole in their pockets. there's a vending machine that'll do you a protein shake at the pure in ancoats and i saw it the other day with a queue. that's nearly £3 for a shake. want creatine? that's another 50p for 5g of creatine mono, which can be bought for less than 5p/5g, so it's a 10x mark up.

100% agree with Aaron.

Could also look at the way supp companies are selling protein. Protein muffins and cookies etc. Things people think are healthy treats because they are 'protein snacks' . Obviously would depend how cheap you can get them

Aaron thank you so much. Appreciate the time it took for your reply. I think both you and Desmo are 100% correct.

To the rest of you; thanks. Any more ideas feel free to throw my way.

welshwizard10
Aaron thank you so much. Appreciate the time it took for your reply. I think both you and Desmo are 100% correct.

To the rest of you; thanks. Any more ideas feel free to throw my way.

no worries mate
 
more suggestions:
 
target the parents of kids in classes.
tea/coffee deals with a bun/cake... invest in a really good hot chocolate.
mums will love sitting down at your cafe/bar with a good treat while their kids are training and even look forward to it. I love going to town as i always swing by a coffee bar while i'm there, i associate going shopping in town with the coffee bar. Bloody good service/food/drinks creates a positive cogitation.
 
Target the snotty nose sh1ts that come out of classes.
Kids always moan they are hungry and parents either tell them to wait until they get home or buy them something.
The vending machines are your competition, dont succumb to this as a rival.
Sandwiches, dairylea dunkers, crisps, fruit slices, fruit shoots.
Fruit shoots will be one of your highest leading sellers, parents love giving their kids this toxic chemical sugar bomb of a drink. When i went swimming every weekend the cafe was full of kids necking this by parents who didnt have a clue. Margins will be lower but buy en masse and punt as part of a deal.
 
deal of the month
Slow selling item? Bundle it with something else and make it into a bulk buy 'uber mega deal'.
Truth is you're still turning a profit and there is no real deal, you still make a margin and clear stock at the same time.
 
 
Fitness Bundle Tuesday! Protein, shaker, mini gym towel and a pedometer for only £49.99!
Truth is, protein tub is £18, shaker is £2, towel is £2, pedometer is £5.... total £27, normally retails for £60 all together so not that much of a bargain but its gender neutral, turns in double your money and not that far at all from what you'd retail items for in single units.
 
Perceived value. I sell a protein tub for £18, sell it for £30 with a "30% off!!" sticker on it, holy fck batman thats a bargain, i will have two. RRP is one of the easiest things to mislead people with. That's how sports direct and many supermarkets do business.
 
Keep your cafe/bar clean, i'm talking cleaning up right away after every customer if you can.
Be seen as the guy spraying down tables and sides and keeping the place tidy. Women will not eat/drink in a crap hole of a bar with crumbs/stains on the sides, they will defiantly not let their kids eat/drink there.
 
Have a stock of the latest womens fitness and gossip mags on the magazine/paper racks free to read.
Don't sell them, there is naff all to be made and usually a loss leader.
Keep a stock of mens health and depending on where your demographics sit on types of customer, tailor the reading material.