Start Internet Cafe Business

If you want to start Internet cafe business, here are some general guidelines and pointers to different options on software, franchises, and Internet cafe business plans.

A cybercafe is a business just like any other business, but due to the novelty of the whole industry (10 years young, as of September 1st, 2004), the basic business models are still very much in the development phase.

There have been many failures, but many successes in the cybercafe industry as well.

The most important thing is to learn from the existing cybercafes and those that failed before you open your own Internet cafe.

The name of the game is planning ahead. To organize your thoughts on how to approach opening a cybercafe, you should make a business plan.

Start Internet Cafe Business - Business Plans

Business plans serve multiple purposes. Business plans are great for:

• Organizing your thoughts on starting an Internet cafe
• Checking the viability of the business (as business plans normally include projections of profitability)
• Giving investors, prospective investors, and other related parties an idea of how the business will be run and how you are going to make money with it

Generalized, the items in the Internet cafe business plan usually include:

• Stating your business goals
• Strategies you'll use to meet your business goals
• Potential problems that may confront at your Internet cafe and ways to solve them
• The organizational structure of your cafe
• The amount of financial capital required until the business becomes self-financing/profitable

If you find the steps to building your own cybercafe business from scratch too demanding, there is a popular short-cut to start Internet cafe business: starting Internet cafe franchises.

Start Internet Cafe Business - Franchises

Franchises in general are businesses with pre-made business plans. You simply take the business plan along with the brand name, and start your own branch.

The benefits of using someone elses business plans and brand is that the brand may have gained recognition and the business plan may have been proved in real life.

The downside of entering a franchise to start Internet cafe business is that you may have to have significant amount of capital to enter the franchise agreement. Also, you have to follow the franchise rules in order to continue using the franchise brand.

Perhaps the world's most famous Internet cafe franchise is Easy Internet cafe.

Their business model includes full scale Internet cafes as well as simple POPs (Points Of Presences), which are easily integrated to any cafe, or almost any other environment, in fact.

Start Internet Cafe Business - Consulting

Consulting has many of the advantages of franchising without the downside of franchise fees, rigid startup requirements (ie, you get to name your own business), and no ongoing revenue sharing with the "mother company". Once your consultants have helped you opened a successful business and trained you and your employees, it's all yours.

The most reputable and experienced Internet Cafe startup consulting group is Stuff About Games (www.stuffaboutgames.com). Stuff About Games has been in business for nearly a decade and successfully helped over 50 Internet cafes and Gaming Center businesses launch from the ground up. Stuff About Games is a full-service consulting company that helps its clients with business plans, financial plans, raising funding, location selection, lease negotiation, marketing plans, legal plans, buildout and preparation of the facility, technology implementation, and training. Although the majority of their customers are US based, they've also worked on projects in Canada, Europe, South America, and Africa.

How to Start an Internet Cafe - Business Models

When building your plan for business, one of the most important things to consider is the overall business model.

There are three main business models for Internet cafe businesses, but naturally you can use any variation or innovation within imagination to start Internet cafe business.

In fact, giving a unique selling proposition (distinguishing your cybercafe from the competition) should be one of your objectives.

The first business model, and the oldest, emphasizes giving basic Internet connection. You may even decide to forgo the cafe side of business altogether and start an automated Internet kiosk instead.

This type of business is typically volume based, so you need to get a lot of traffic to your location in order to make money.

The second basic model expands from the first model and includes offering a lot of extra services, such as a full cafeteria and basic office services, which is one way of to start Internet cafe business.

Under this model, your customers may come to the cafe for a variety of reasons, some for the coffee, some for the Internet connection, some for the other services.

Under the second business model, some have even expanded into Internet cafes from other business areas.

For example, some computer repair shops have opened cybercafes, so that customers can get a favorite place for both repairing their computer and surfing the web on a cafeteria.

In fact, under the expanded Internet cafe business model, you can upsell other services, such as home broadband connections, or computer accessories, to your customers.

This may bring additional revenues, but can also make it less clear to customers just what your cafe is all about.

Under the third major business model, Internet cafes offer specialized services to their customers. For example, some cybercafes have specialized in serving PC gamers.

Another popular specialization area is to offer business center-like services, where you offer an "office away from office" to your (business) customers.

Specialized Internet cafes typically need to charge a bit more in fees from their clients, due to the fact that the potential number of customers is simply fewer than with more generic business models.

However, the upselling opportunities may be as good or better in the third business model than in the second (Internet game cafes can sell computer games, business center cafes can sell other business services, for example).

Starting an Internet Business - Additional Resources

Opening Internet Cafe
When opening Internet cafe, one of the most important things to consider is start up marketing.

Free Internet Cafe Business Plans
Free Internet cafe business plans allow you to see what others have planned before the opening of their cybercafes.

Internet Cafe Terminals
When setting up an cybercafe, Internet cafe terminals typically take a major slice out of the total investment capital.

Internet Cafe Furniture
Choosing your Internet cafe furniture depends very much on your target customers. If you aim for efficiency, you have plenty of options to choose from.

Internet Cafe Business Plans
Pre-made Internet cafe business plans are specifically designed and customized plans for opening an Internet cafe.

Internet Cafe Pictures
If you're planning on opening a cyber cafe, Internet cafe pictures of the existing cafes can give you new ideas on decor and layout of your cafe.

Internet Cafe Designs
Internet cafe designs are an important consideration when you're trying to maximise profits per sq. ft.

Internet Cafe Software
Internet cafe software helps you in billing, tracking customers, back office functions, and keeping the system secure.


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