GSB-46: How to Start, Run and Grow a Successful Deli Business Inside your Gas Station

Welcome to Gas station business 101 podcast, I am Shabbir Hossain, This is only podcast show of its kind where I discuss every aspect of gas station business from how to find and buy the right location, how to market your business, how to do bookkeeping, how to minimize theft to what type of insurance do you need to have for your business. So it is a one stop shopping for any of you that are in this line of business. You may ask how does he know it all? Well I don't and that is why I go and ask the experts sometimes, and I also want your participation in this, because I know some of you out there may be great at something that I am not, so together we can share our knowledge and empower the rest of our community for a better future for our business. Sounds good?

Let's get started

In Episode 17(click HERE to listen to that episode or to see the show notes) I touched on this very topic briefly, but I wanted to make an episode out of it as I have had many email requesting more information on this very topic.

There are two ways to setup a deli in your store.

Fist, you can have limited deli food. This applies to stores that have limited space and small; the other way is opening up a full deli where you offer a full menu from Breakfast to dinner.

But before you open up a deli in your store, there is a certain degree of due diligence you need to do to find out if deli will generate enough business to make it viable for your store. Deli is not for everyone; deli tends to thrive in rural and blue collar neighborhoods, So some research needs to be done to find out if your store should benefit from having a deli business.

Looking at the demographics of the immediate area of your store can tell you if it will be a good idea or not.

Look at data like:

• Age of the population
• Income level of the population
• Housing (median prices for houses and if there are rental apartments around you)
• Are there other stores with Deli within 1.5-mile radius
• Ask your customers if they want to see food in your store
•  

After doing the research, if you are still not sure, smart a small limited menu deli.

Limited menu deli is essentially what you see when you walk into a 7-11 or Circle K type corporate stores, where they carry cold sandwiches, hot dogs, and other pre-packaged ready to eat meals.

Once you decide you will want to start a deli business these are the next steps to carry out:

• Health dept requirements
• Equipment requirements
• Space requirements
• modification requirements
• What food to sell
• How to price your food items

The benefits of having a deli inside your store:

• Extra income stream
• Increase in sales of other products
• Increase sales of fuel
• Lunch hour rush
• Loyal customer base

One small announcement, I recently published a book call How to Master 13 Negotiating Skills and Win in Business, it is a soft launch, but any of you are interested in seeing it, just click on the book title and you will get to see it. This book is one of the three that I have been working for a long while; I was finally able to finish it recently. As of now, I am putting the finishing touches on a book that I co-authored, and that book is all about the various types of investment visas for people that are interested in investing in the USA.

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