Starting a New Cafe

[Beginer James]

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Hi.

I am James and new to this site.

I might be repeating someone else who have already asked this question before but I could not find one. So, I decided to put this up.

I am looking to start a new cafe on the first floor flat of mixed business building.
It is being used as office at the moment but I have approached the owner of the building and got a verbal ok on flat and the huge court yard (which is a common area by the way) for use of cafe.

Does anyone know whether this is permitted by the council to change the use of the flat to cafe? Also, do you require grease trap and exhaust ducting for cooking purposes on the flat? Because this will be a huge problem.

Thank you for your advise in advance.

James

[MyGreatIdea]

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Beginer James, post: 84753 wrote:

Does anyone know whether this is permitted by the council to change the use of the flat to cafe? Also, do you require grease trap and exhaust ducting for cooking purposes on the flat?

James, these are questions you are going to have to ask your local council. I would suggest you sort this out before you go any further with your plans.

Good luck!
Wendy

[fiona@vas]

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Hi James,

I’m not sure where you’re located, but assuming you’re in Australia you’ll probably find that there is State legislation covering food businesses (in NSW it’s the Food Act 2003) and then there will also be local council regulations.

I’d be really surprised if you don’t need to submit a development application to the Council – they’re usually interested in things like: how many other cafes are there in the area; is your business going to create parking issues; will your business cause noise that might disturb local residents etc.

So I’d suggest that this project will probably take you a good few months research!

Also once you know where you stand, take time to research what you need in the lease. Even experienced cafe owners can get caught out – I know one cafe owner who had a buyer for his coffee shop towards to the end of his lease, and only then discovered that his landlord was selling the building and that his lease wouldn’t be renewed, leaving him with nothing to sell!

Good luck with it James!

[Anonymous]

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Hi James,

Welcome to Flying Solo

There are a few links in this post that should be helpful: http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums/starting-business/14182-starting-business-please-read-before-posting.html

Good luck!
Jayne

[Kennethti]

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Beginer James, post: 84753 wrote:

Hi.

I am James and new to this site.

I might be repeating someone else who have already asked this question before but I could not find one. So, I decided to put this up.

I am looking to start a new cafe on the first floor flat of mixed business building.
It is being used as office at the moment but I have approached the owner of the building and got a verbal ok on flat and the huge court yard (which is a common area by the way) for use of cafe.

Does anyone know whether this is permitted by the council to change the use of the flat to cafe? Also, do you require grease trap and exhaust ducting for cooking purposes on the flat? Because this will be a huge problem.

Thank you for your advise in advance.

James

Hello James,

I think it will be best that you speak with a lawyer in relation to the lease – while you have a verbal ok on the courtyard, it is still considered common area and technically unless the body corporate has given you the okay, the courtyard is for the common use of the other tenants. You may run into issues with the body corporate if you attempt to use the common area without their okay.

[MYOK]

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Hi James, There are several things that you’ll need to investigate in this particular scenario (and that’s assuming you’ve done your business homework i.e. business plan, SWOT analysis, etc.).

There is the Change of Use Permit (Planning Dept of your local Council), the fitout limitations (Hospitality Consultant), greasetrap and exhaust requirements (Hospitality Consultant, Water Authority and Council Health Department), Insurance (Broker), Retail Lease (Solicitor) – typically all these need investigation before starting any new food business, but yours is particularly important because of the location. There is a reason most cafes are at ground level!

My advice is – don’t sign anything until you have ALL these things in place…AND in writing.

[Beginer James]

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MYOK, post: 84944 wrote:

Hi James, There are several things that you’ll need to investigate in this particular scenario (and that’s assuming you’ve done your business homework i.e. business plan, SWOT analysis, etc.).

There is the Change of Use Permit (Planning Dept of your local Council), the fitout limitations (Hospitality Consultant), greasetrap and exhaust requirements (Hospitality Consultant, Water Authority and Council Health Department), Insurance (Broker), Retail Lease (Solicitor) – typically all these need investigation before starting any new food business, but yours is particularly important because of the location. There is a reason most cafes are at ground level!

My advice is – don’t sign anything until you have ALL these things in place…AND in writing.

Thank you everyone who has spent time to reply on my questions.
Looks like there is plenty of research to be done before I can proceed.

At least, I now know where to tackle it from.

Thank you again.

Kind regards,
James

[Author]

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