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View Full Version : how to start an INTERNET CAFE business



Joey
04-07-2009, 09:41 AM
hi.. guys. can you give me some information on how to start an internet cafe business? coz me and my friend wants to open an internet cafe and this is our first time to go in business, we just want an idea on what we will be needed.. and maybe how much we should invest on this by starting this business? any information you can give will be a big help..! thanks alot guys..:D

vangogh
04-07-2009, 12:15 PM
Welcome to the forum Joey.

I've never opened an internet cafe, so I won't know all the details, but I'll see what I can say generally.

You're probably going to need a good amount of capital to get started. At a minimum you're going to need to lease a location, and acquire everything needed to make coffe and whatever other food you plan on offering. I'm assuming of course you plan on offering coffee and food. You'll need to furnish the place and get a computer network in place.

Have you thought about your business model? If it were me I'd probably give the internet access for free and attempt to make money through the usual coffee shop fare. You could try to charge for the internet, but it's free so many places I don't know how well that would work.

You probably want to look into what's necessary and how much it costs to run a coffee shop. Internet access shouldn't be too much money if you offer it free. Basically you'll need a connection and some routers. However you may want to set up 2 networks so you can use your connection securely for business and then allow customers to have the free connection.

As far as how much everything will cost, I really don't know. I think it will also depend on what you decide to offer. Start with thinking about what you want to offer and then start looking into how much each costs.

Hope that helps some.

rezzy
04-07-2009, 12:33 PM
Welcome to the forum Joey.

Do you already have a menu in mind? For me creating a menu people would pay for would be hard. I am not a culinary type at all.

The other thing you should see, is there a market for internet cafes in your area. The market exists everywhere but is there is enough to maintain a business plan based on it.

cocoy
04-07-2009, 02:19 PM
Also keep in mind that while you may have the net to draw customers, it also is an additional expense that other regular cafes won't have.

I'm guessing net access will be free and when you say "internet cafe", you provide the computers too.

orion_joel
04-07-2009, 08:54 PM
Your costs are going to be really linked back to what you plan to offer. If you are going to go with just some computers and tables, and offer some basic drinks and snacks you investment will be a lot less then if you go for a full service coffee shop/restaurant.

If you want to go just the basic path, eg computers, tables, maybe a range of cold drinks and snacks like chips and chocolate bars. You should be able to get away with a minimal investment, maybe 10-15,000 for the computer equipment, if you do it right. This should get you maybe 10-20 terminals, the network equipment, a printer and software to run it, depending on the country and the price range of the equipment of course. Furniture and a generally fit out may run to another 10,000 depending on what and where you get it, but always be flexible in this, you want to get equipment that will last, and not needing to be replaced every month. Keeping snack food and drinks will probably be about $1-2,000 in stock again depending on the variety that you choose and just what type you want to keep so again this could vary, but this is something that will continually be going up and down and will be returning a profit as it is sold. Finally it would be wise to consider having 3-6 months of operating expenses on hand things like lease, internet connection, power, phone, and any other expenses, such as marketing, wages (if you are going to employee people. Even consider keeping a reserve of 6-12months of your personal living expenses if you are going to be working in the business, generally you will be the last people to get paid. So all up i would look to have available at least $50,000 if not more depending on what you decide for the exact set-up.

you could bring this down a little by only offering wireless access, however this limits your market a little and also means you really have to offer something more then just wireless internet and snack foods.

So then if you look at a full service cafe/restaurant, costs will depend on size and level of service. but i would expect you to be looking at needing close to if not more then double what you would be the basic option, anything up to 100,000 or more.

Really one thing that you need to consider is that this is not just a hobby business. It really needs a decent investment, a good range of product/services and an ongoing commitment. Basically this also means you need to do your research up front, if you look around your area and see half a dozen internet cafe's that are always empty, what makes you think yours will be different. Or if you find that two offer free access and make money from the food and drink, but are always full, compared to the other four which charge for internet, and only have 2 or 3 people in. If you are not seeing any competition, try and find out why, it is possibly doubtful no one has thought of the idea, and maybe there have been a number that have failed.

nighthawk
04-08-2009, 03:11 PM
You may also wish to consider offering multiplayer gaming, perhaps charging extra for online multiplayer games, but also allowing group bookings for multiplayer LAN party gaming with friends. You may also consider organising regular tournaments, not only will it bring in extra revenue but will also be good advertising and spread your name.

The downside however is that you will need to invest more in hardware - if you are just offering internet access you can get away with pretty basic spec'd PCs, but if you want to offer gaming you will need decent hardware. It may be best to avoid this in your early years until you start to turn a profit.

Dont forget to take software into account when pricing your startup costs, you will need to provide an office suite as a minimum, you may get away with Open Office but Microsoft Office might be a better bet. Make sure you have decent scanning and printing facilities available.

Another source of revenue may be to offer training sessions on how to use the internet and use office software etc. Perhaps also selling accessories, such as network cables, routers and switches etc.

Here in Scotland, all librarys offer free internet and computer use. You may want to check a similar service is not available in your local area.

Harold Mansfield
04-08-2009, 05:22 PM
Another source of revenue may be to offer training sessions on how to use the internet and use office software etc. Perhaps also selling accessories, such as network cables, routers and switches etc.
.

That is a really good idea ! Considering that Internet is free at just about any coffee shop and you can pick up wifi in a lot of places now, you need to offer more than just internet access.
I don't know what kind of budget you are working with, but I have never seen an Internet Cafe that offered the full gambit...Coffee, Smoothies, Snacks, Classes, and supplies and peripheral Items for sale. Seems like a good mix to maximize every revenue option...maybe even basic office functions as well like fax, and copies, and work stations with MS Office, and Photoshop on them for people to finish up some projects, and burn CD's and DVD's from home movies.

That would also be a place that I would stop by every now and then rather than the local Starbucks.

billbenson
04-08-2009, 06:37 PM
I agree with the above that you definitely need multiple revenue streams. I thought the gaming idea was a good one.

Given that most areas have free internet access and most people have either a computer at home or a laptop, who is your market? When the hurricane hit New Orleans, many people were put in government supplied mobil homes or shelters. I know a webmaster who went to a cybercafe for access as he was in a remote area with little access and no hotspots. Pretty small market though. People that don't have computers are probably computer illiterate for the most part.

From that standpoint, your cybercafe, needs to be something that is second to a major business, not the other way around. Maybe next to a restaurant that always has an hour wait. Wine, beer, coffee, computers and a tv might work?

Cyber cafes are popular in some international locations where a hotspot isn't the same thing as a place with internet access.

If you are thinking of poor areas here, that are unlikely to have hotspots, theft will be an issue. Kids will be stealing the mice for the fun of it or to resell.

I'd think it through very carefully.

rezzy
04-09-2009, 11:16 AM
I think we are all speculating about a best practice. Joey what have you thought about doing and offering.

fountainhead
04-12-2009, 10:28 AM
I can't say the price or cost because I don't really know where you're from, I also have an internet cafe, so here are my pointers, first is to know how much you will need to spend for the place you will put the cafe, if you will be renting or not, second is you need to pay for internet connection and also the electric bills, third is the amount of computers you will put, it is preferable to start with 20 computers and 1 server to handle all computers, you need to canvas the prices for each computers and the specs if it is prepared for gaming and if it can run for a long time, after summing all the price that you will spend, think of how much you will earn for each of your computer, for example 1 unit can go around 8 hours per day so sum it all up per unit and this will give you the idea on your monthly income.

seema
04-14-2009, 04:56 AM
In Internet cafe business you have to alert all the time . First you have to busy high standard PC with good configuration because internet slow down the speed of computer & through internet there are 100 % possibility to attack virus For this you have take precautions like set up fire wall ,good anti virus. You also have to apoint full time network engineer.So you have invest large extent of money.

rezzy
04-14-2009, 08:54 AM
You also have to apoint full time network engineer.So you have invest large extent of money.

Viruses I can see. Network engineer, I think is overboard.

There a few adjustments you you can make that can stop most viruses. Changing/ limiting rights over the computers and installing a good virus program. If you really want to get advanced, you could ghost your harddrive, "create a copy of the drive on a cd" that you can use in an emergency.

Or use a less virus prone OS, Linux or Mac.

vangogh
04-14-2009, 12:02 PM
I wouldn't think a full time network engineer is needed either, though it would probably be good idea to build a relationship with someone who could set things up and be available for support when necessary.

nighthawk
04-14-2009, 12:55 PM
Viruses I can see. Network engineer, I think is overboard.

There a few adjustments you you can make that can stop most viruses. Changing/ limiting rights over the computers and installing a good virus program. If you really want to get advanced, you could ghost your harddrive, "create a copy of the drive on a cd" that you can use in an emergency.

Or use a less virus prone OS, Linux or Mac.

That reminds me actually - I recently came across "Tiny Core Linux" - it is a linux install that takes up just 10mb, and runs entirely from memory. It boots up in about 30 seconds. One key benefit is that it runs entirely from memory, any changes you make are wiped on reboot. It features a handy application picker - you select what you need, and it downloads and installs it as needed. Again - reboot and everything is reset to normal. (although you can save commonly used applications to hard disk so you dont need to keep downloading them)

I remember thinking at the time this might work well for internet cafes. You could leave machines switched off when not in use - they will power on in 30 seconds.

The down side of course is its not windows XP which everyone is used to. If you wanted to keep costs low, the small footprint of the OS would mean you could probably run it off second hand computers, and there would be no license costs.

vangogh
04-14-2009, 04:04 PM
That's a good option if the cafe is supplying computers, which I suppose they should. I guess I was thinking more of having a wireless connection and letting people connect via their own laptops.

Of course both options would probably be better for business.

The linux thing might not be too much of a problem. I wouldn't expect an internet cafe to use the latest and greatest in computers. As long as it can be set up to be obvious about common things like browsing and checking email Linux should be fine for the majority.

nighthawk
04-14-2009, 04:48 PM
That's a good option if the cafe is supplying computers, which I suppose they should. I guess I was thinking more of having a wireless connection and letting people connect via their own laptops.

Of course both options would probably be better for business.

The linux thing might not be too much of a problem. I wouldn't expect an internet cafe to use the latest and greatest in computers. As long as it can be set up to be obvious about common things like browsing and checking email Linux should be fine for the majority.

I did wonder if people were assuming that - there has been a lot of talk here about concentrating on the food side and giving internet access for free - I did wonder if people were asusming the guy meant just offering wireless. An internet cafe in my mind provides computers for people to use.

Like you say though providing both is a must - PCs for people to use, and wireless for those with their own laptop. PC use will have to be charged, wireless use you could give for free.

I have used easyInternet Cafe's in the past, all they offer is web browsing, and the browser is fixed fullscreen so you cant access the desktop. Linux would be fine in such a case, as you will always be stuck in the browser.

However I think in order to succeed you need to be offering a full set of applications, so its more of a rent-a-pc cafe than just internet access. Linux will probably still suffice here, combined with OpenOffice and some sort of image editing software. It may be worth having a couple of windows PCs too just incase some are offput by linux or need to use an application that is windows only.

It may be worth using something like VMWare and locking the user into a virtual machine, that way you can easily switch between snapshots for different uses, or to erase all changes a user has made to the system. It would also allow the user to have FULL system access for their session, installing whatever they wish - one click and all is gone and back to normal.

vangogh
04-14-2009, 06:06 PM
I was definitely one leaning toward the food side of the discussion. I like the idea of using virtualization software. Set up the computers with Linux and use virtualization a few to offer other operating systems.

You probably don't need high end machines for this. Used computers might fit the bill well. Probably is a good idea to have someone who knows IT and networking either on staff or on call. Not necessarily a full time networking engineer, but someone who can troubleshoot the network of the computers.

rezzy
04-14-2009, 06:28 PM
If you decide to offer lan parties... or networked games sessions, you may need something a little bit better, depending on scope and some other details.

If there was a market here, I would consider the idea.

Harold Mansfield
04-14-2009, 06:31 PM
I was also leaning for the products and food as well. I guess it depends on where you are and the need. Where I am wifi can be found pretty easily, there are office and copy places everywhere with computers available, there is free access at public libraries. and a lot of the local sports bars are even putting in wifi. I can step out of the house with just my ipod ( no phone) and find a signal and get my emails.

And I don't know anyone that doesn't have at least one computer at home (even my mom has 2), and a PDA or iPhone, so I am thinking in terms of where I am, not knowing the demographics of your area.

Even on the strip which is all tourists, the internet cafe's are pretty much gone, since all the hotels have internet access in the room, or wifi, and a business center.

So it's hard for me to imagine internet access alone would be enough.