Part III: Startup Needs and Costs

The business is extremely easy to setup and only takes about 1-2 full weeks of work. Follow the step by step guide below and you will be well on your way to starting this business.

1. Before you do anything at all, visit your local government officials and make sure you can run an online grocery shopping and delivery business. Make sure you give them all the details and they can supply you with any local or state laws you have to abide in order to run your business legally. Of course, you will also want to choose a business structure for your company and file the necessary documents to do so. Your local officials can help you in this process.
2. Research your market. You'll want to identify some of the following:
   • How far will you deliver?
   • How many people live within your delivery range?
   • How many people actually have internet access to place orders?
   • What are the demographics of people in your delivery zone and who do you want to promote the service to?
   • What is the competition in the area?
   • Can you isolate the markets you wish to target with effective marketing?
   • Do you think people in your area will be willing to use your service? Get out and talk to some people, pitch your idea to them and get their feedback.
   • Do you have a reliable vehicle to deliver groceries with? Can you get one? It doesn't need to be a big truck or van, but you should have one that you can trust on a daily basis.
   • Where can you shop for groceries? Do you have a local Wal-Mart, Super-Wal-Mart, low cost provider? What are your options?
3. Identify what you need vs what you have to get the business off the ground and price out the costs. You should have the following:
   1. A large refrigerator (1 to start---hopefully you will need more!)
   2. A chest freezer or large freezer
   3. Delivery bins. These should be plastic bins that look attractive to your customers. We use STERELITE bins with our logo printed on them.
   4. A delivery vehicle or a driver with a delivery vehicle
   5. You need to identify, setup, and pay for all the legalities and insurance costs with setting up your business
   6. Identify an office. You can use a home-office, your garage, or any nearby small office space. The grocery operation shouldn't require any more than 300 sq ft to start off with. You can find more space as you grow.
   7. Some shelving where you can organize groceries
   8. A large table for sorting and bagging your groceries
   9. Plastic and/or paper bags to bag your groceries with
   10. A reliable computer with high speed internet access
   11. Office supplies: pens, paper, computer paper, stapler, paper clips, etc
   12. Marketing supplies (we will detail these in the marketing section)

   Assuming you have a reliable car and computer and you can use a home-office to run your business out of, your startup costs will look something like this (not including website):

   Professional Grocery Startup Costs

   Bags and Table	$100
   Freezer	$150
   Legal/Insurance	$750
   Office Supplies	$100
   Refrigerator (can be used)	$250
   Shelving and Bins	$100
   Total	$1450

4. Locate and choose a grocery supplier - You must choose whichever strategy you want to focus on regarding product offerings (a full grocery store, bulk products only, organic and natural products, or select groups of products). The strategy that you choose will relate directly to who you choose as a supplier and whether you can partner directly.

Next: Product Selection