Hi all,
I’m going to be talking to a business advisor about sources of finance tomorrow and I’ve been going over my business plan and there seems to be something wrong! I was wondering if anybody could point me in the right direction?

I have been asked to project low, average and high sales for a Hot Dog Cart which I am hoping to set up in London. The location seems good. It is in Central London on a very busy road and just 50 yards from a very busy underground station. There are a lot of offices around and also a lot of bars and night- clubs. I am going to go down a few times next week with a tally counter to chart the numbers of passers-by per hour at different times of day, but I don’t have those figures yet.

There is a thriving lunch-trade in the area, but no Hot Dogs. Certainly no  “American-style” hot dogs. I intend to sell both higher quality Dogs (such as Sabretts etc.) as well as a very low-cost smaller Dog – all with toppings (at extra cost). 

It is very hard for me to gauge the market and I don’t think it would be wise to rely on just the more expensive ones, I’m hoping people will be attracted by the variety in both choice and pricing. There is no more affordable hot-meal available locally than the basic dogs will offer. I am intending to do a lot of flyers and loyalty cards as well as some “guerilla” marketing. 

I intend to open from around 11am to 7pm. 

I have calculated my average serving to be £2.50 for 1 regular chilli cheese dog, 1 soda and 1 bag of chips.

I have calculated 50 such transactions per day for 5 days a week as low, 100 as average and 150 as high sales.

The problem is that it looks like I’ll be rich beyond my wildest dreams!!!! 

In all seriousness though, are these figures so wacked out?  

I know I’ll need to consider many things especially the weather in London. How does it really affect you? Do you not go out at all in rain? I was intending to go out all the time until autumn at which point if things were going well I’d buy a stand in cart. What do you think? How much should I remove from my guesses?

Any comments would be most appreciated.