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Anyone had a business loan?
starry_rune
Posts: 9,006 Forum Member
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I have an idea for a business that could be very lucrative.
a lorry that travels round and in the back is a kids soft play area. It would stop at various locations for 2 hours at a time and let kids explore etc don't think theres anything like it yet.
It could also have a minibar for parents (beside the checkout so kids don't get near it) and a seating area incase its raining.
I'd charge £5 entry for 30 minutes.
If I was to apply for a business loan, how would I best go about it?
a lorry that travels round and in the back is a kids soft play area. It would stop at various locations for 2 hours at a time and let kids explore etc don't think theres anything like it yet.
It could also have a minibar for parents (beside the checkout so kids don't get near it) and a seating area incase its raining.
I'd charge £5 entry for 30 minutes.
If I was to apply for a business loan, how would I best go about it?
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You'd need to write a proper business plan to get a loan, rather than a vague idea
Not too sure how a party lorry would go down. Also a minibar would be difficult. You'd need licensing and I'm not too sure how easy that is when you're travelling around. As far as I am aware, the current bars on buses for hire require a tens license for where they pull up and attend an event.
Personally, I wouldn't take my child on a soft play lorry - I wouldn't want to be set to a fixed time and/or place. I'd much rather take them to the local soft play area whenever it was convenient.
Leading on from that, a break-down of projected revenue might explain why there's nothing similar already.
An articulated lorry and trailer kitted-out as the OP suggests is going to be seriously expensive and it's going to take up a lot of space which means people might decide against hiring it in areas where it'll block a road etc.
Also, I'm not entirely sure but I suspect the reason why party-buses are viable is because they're always a "vehicle" which might provide them with some kind of loophole with regard to various licencing laws.
If you were using a lorry you'd probably have to uncouple the trailer to set it up and that might make you liable for a load of extra legal hassle.
Given that we know party-buses are viable, I'd suggest that the OP starts off by doing research into them, finds out what laws apply to how they operate, how many people they can support, what they charge, how many venues they attend, running costs etc and then tries to find out what the differences would be when using a lorry.
Just to clarify OP.....
You're driving for a bit and then stopping for two hours. Are you charging for those two hours as well, or just for the actual driving part? If the former, then the minimum you're asking for one child is £25. How may parents are going to pay that kid of money, when they could take them down the local soft play centre for less than 5 quid?
Plus I'm not sure of the legalities of allowing children free reign to play on soft play apparatus in the back of a (moving) lorry.
And for that reason, I'm oot.
Definitely not legal.........
Surely the OP means that he'd drive to a location, set up and then open for business?
You can't drive a lorry around with a bunch of kids playing in the back.
Well I totally agree with the BIB.
I interpreted it that the soft play was to entertain the kids while they're on their way to their location and then they stop, get out and explore. Naturally I could be wrong, but that's why I was asking for clarification.
ETA. I've read the OP again and think I did indeed misunderstand and that your interpretation was the correct one Si. Apologies.
The thing is will you not be limited as to where you can park up for two hours with a large lorry ? also the price of £5 for 30 minutes , whilst you will need to recoup your costs and cover your bills that is a little high to my mind for 30 mins , fixed premises some charge less some a bit more but for longer than half an hour . Then you get the minibar, is that such a good idea , you will have to get a licence you will then have people consuming alcohol , now whilst most people are sensible you will always get some that are not , in a fixed premises you have more staff to deal with any problem on a lorry how many staff will you have if something goes wrong ?
Sorry to look for the negatives but I always find that one needs to to get a real picture .