tips of having a business in spain
 

Hi, thinking of having a business in spain, anyone got any tips, such as what EXpats lack etc.

thanks
jon

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

oooh there's a leading question.
Many of them lack business experience and acumen, fail to plan sufficiently or carry out market research, many lack adequate financial resources, a plan B, a working knowledge of the Spanish language...
:cool:
(or is that not what you meant? ;) )

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

:) thanks for your reply, thats helpfull, i was also wondering if there was a lack of specific service etc

thanks!

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

I know where Iam (Benidorm) all bases are covered and there are tons of people thinking of ideas like you.
If there is money to be made here you can guarantee it's already been done.

Also bear in mind it isn't an ideal time to start any business. Spain is in recession.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

buy a bar you will do well...........lol

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

What kind of background do you have in terms of experience? Industries you have worked, types of jobs you have had etc..

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

To be honest these soorts of questions are just too vague to answer. To get some better responces you really need to write more about what you services you have in mind and what area you intend to settle in.
Imagine we asked the same question in your home country. Maybe you can now see the difficulty in answering your questions.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

A better question would be to ask what people (incl. expats) are willing to pay for.
The answer is (sadly) not a lot. It seems to me that there are two types of expat in Spain: those with money and those with jobs. There aren't many with both, as jobs in Spain don't pay very well and those with neither are all going "home" - back to the UK if they can. Even those with money are feeling the pinch, as most of them still get a lot of their income from a Sterling account, so are not as flush as they used to be.

added later.
OK, here are a few ideas, in no particular order.

* Portrait photographer. Go to people's houses and take good-quality photos. Include a good quality lighting rig, backdrops and all the other paraphernalia. Supply the photos in nice "ready to hang" frames. Obviously you have to be a professional photographer to get into this business and speaking Spanish is a given (as there are more spaniards than brits, so they'll be the majority of your customers).

* Baker. I'd probably pay 1.5 euro for a decent, 800gm white unsliced farmhouse loaf and I daresay some others would, too. Do a few varieties of british "traditional" breads, plus some german, dutch, scandanavian breads too. Sell them through the local bakers' shops, rather setting up you own.

* House dresser. When I was house-shopping, I was surprised by the state of some of the properites I viewed. Even the ones that were inhabited seemed to be in a pretty sad state. No effort had been made to tart them up for prospective buyers to see their "potential". The benefit is that you'd be paid for the work done, not when the place sells.

* Party caterer. While most people have a barbie and can slap a few burgers on it, not many can provide a full-service package for a 50+ party (incl. food, drinks, glasses, setup,. take-down, tidy-up). If you can do this for 10 euro a head, you might (just) get a few bookings. Maybe branch out into weddings etc. too. Again you'd need good spanish as they'd form most of your clientele.

* Toy boy. Including general fetch & carry. Get the shopping, clean the pool, do the gardening and in the evening ...
cook the dinner. You'd need to be able to do all these things, plus find a rich person (people ???) who'd be willing to pay for it. Again, with the language to "buffer" your employer from day to day details.

* Holiday-let dogsbody. For people with villas, who aren't resident but still want to let them out. This is a rather crowded market, but if you can come up with a USP, there might be a niche. Prepare the place between guests, buy their groceries, do their laundry, gardening, general maintenance, check the inventory when people leave. Also provide consierge type services for the guests (where can I get a ..., book us a taxi for ..., we've been arrested ... etc).

The thing is, any of these could be a success, or a failure - it depends on you, your location, your skills, the effort you put into it and mostly the amount of luck you have. However, when you make your millions remember who gave you the idea!

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

My biggest tip is if you do start a business get the advice of at least 2 different accountants on :

1> The setup costs and will they do it for you (don't attempt it yourself unless you a fluent in Spanish)

2> How the taxation of whatever business you start up will work as there are quite a few different ways ones business can be taxed in Spain.

And also be prepared to actually pay in percentage terms more tax in Spain than in the UK as it's quite possible you will...

---

On a different note don't let people put you down for trying with all this talk of recession and what not. Some of the richest people in Europe made their money in times like this.

It just all depends on the business idea!

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Maybe there should be a 'Starting a businnes in Spain" thread sticky at the top of the forum where people can come and ask questions and brainstorm ideas. This question comes up again and again, and many good business ideas get lost in older threads.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

I tell you what people lack (according to the missus)
Asda,morrisons,Sainsburys or Tescos (iceland has been a godsend)
Starbucks coffee(although Major cities like Madrid and barca have them)
More Primarks
Wimpy
Greggs (pasties)

Take your pick!!

Infact the Greggs idea isn't a bad idea at all. Even in this recession I reckon if someone opened a franchaise especially in Benidorm they would do very well.
Greggs in the UK always has people in and do get extremely busy.;)

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

tbh you need to look at and research the area you are thinking of having your business, check out the competition and see what you can do better or what gaps if any exist in the market.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

theres 6 more primarks coming to spain shortly, read it in an irish online rag t'other day.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Starbucks are quite cut-throat when it comes to franchises ... they let multiple coffee shops open in the same neighbourhood and fight it out amongst themselves for customers ...
For example in Reading town centre (UK) they currently have 4 outlets within several hundred yards of each other :unsure: and in Sevilla (Spain), there are 3 in the shadow of the Giralda alone...

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

I don't think they are franchises, they are all company owned stores. Starbucks doesn't offer franchises, unless you are an airport, university or large retail location or something.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

That is interesting ... I'd assumed they were franchises as the cost of fitting out the premises must be huge and in the two examples I have quoted, there isn't enough business to support the number of outlets they are running :unsure:

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

One way of having a succesful business is you can take something people are already doing and doing it better. In fact, do it really, really well.

Let us take something as simple as fish and chips.. yeah.. yawn, they are all over the place. But, what if instead of buying a batter mix, you experimented and came up with a really good batter. And instead of serving frozen chips out of a bag, you hand cut the potatoes and made them fresh every day. And you made your tartar sauce and a knock out mushy peas. Try it. You are guaranteed to have line ups every day. Even in this recession and doom and gloom.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

I don`t think many Spanish would go into a Starbucks when they can get great coffee in any bar for a €.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

That's right, to a point. (and in fact Starbucks are now closing 100s of their outlets worldwide). However what you have to remember that Starbucks aren't really selling coffee. They're selling an image, an experience, a (non-smoking) place where trendy people can spend 80 minutes drinking a skinny flappy crapuccino. Which is part of the reason their prices have to be so high. They did seem to be successful in Madrid when I lived there (quite often filled with Sandinavian cabin crew for some reason).

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

That was probably the mile high club in the kitchen attracting them. ;-))

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Couldn't agree more .. the ones in Sevilla are very close to the University, Giralda and Cathedral and seem to mainly attract foreign students and foreign tourists ... the Spanish chain Cafe des Indias (one of which is close to Starbucks on Avenida de Constitution) sells highly superior coffee and cakes at a very competitive price ... that is where those in the know, and also a lot of Spaniards, go :thumbup:

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Last year I read an article about coffee shops. Apparently the only key to success (presuming the staff aren't psychopaths and systematically poison the customers) is the location: putting them close to the paths people take from A to B. It may be that Starbucks have so many outlets close to each other is simply to prevent competitors using those sites.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Starbucks is not competing directly with the local Spanish chains. People go to Starbucks because they know that Latte they order in Sevilla will taste similar to the one they ordered in New York. In a new city, there is a comfort factor to that. And the locals who go to Starbucks do so because it is American. Many people are enamored by America and dream of living in the US. At Starbucks they can partake in that American lifestyle.

As for Cafe de Indias, they do actually offer franchises.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

You would be amazed,especially with the younger people. The thing is they have so many different varieties of coffee,cappuchinos,frappuchinos etc etc.
The one I went to in Barcelona was always full. I agree you do pay more than your standard coffee but you also pay for the fact you can sit and enjoy it sitting on one of their nice sofas with a piece of their really nice cake and enjoy their wi-fi spot.
Totally different to your spanish cafeteria.

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Buy a ice cream van & go along the beachs selling 99s you would make a fortune i think:confused:

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Interesting fact in the paper the other day. there are around 67,000 varieties of coffee combinations that can be ordered in Starbucks.

Ok, so maybe not that interesting :-)

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

you news bussiness how and dos off it

1 Financing A New Business , how much you going to lay out for your frist year
2 Can be online for you house are you need to rent shop
3 Advertising , to hom from loacl paper , radio , tv and online
4 listen to you loacl heads and find out what there giving out about , could you improve it and make a living
5 Paper work is 90 % off you new company
6 Pay you taxes
7 Staff , you cant be there 24/7 , you need holidays and days off

there my tips

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

I think you have had some really helpful and thoughtful replies to your original question but they have really only addressed the question of what might be a good market. This is obviously a key question (probably the most important one anyway). But it seems to me it's only one side of the equation. The other side is "what do you have a genuine enthusiasm for?" I've done a lot of different things during my business life, and some of them have made me a good income but the ones I feel have been a total success are the ones I have enjoyed and had a natural aptitude for. So, where do your skills and personal interests lie? :unsure:

Re: tips of having a business in spain
 

Why the F**k do you want to associate with Ars**** yanks Italians make much better everything than the Yanks especially coffee and ice cream dont market anything American everyone hates them .