[campusmuscle]

I have had this business idea for quite some time and wanted to know what you guys thought of it.

My idea was to start a new business called 1-800-BEER RUN or something like that. It would have a similar business model to 1-800-FLOWERS in that people can call from any where in the United States and order beer or other drinks/food (instead of flowers) to be delievered right to your house. Like i said the company would opperate like 1-800-FLOWERS in that the customer calls our company and places there order. We then forward this order to a local liquor/convienece who deliever the actual product directly to the customer. We then charge the store a nominal finders fee (flat fee or percentage of sale).

How many times have you been at a party when you or the host run out of beer and have been to drunk or lazy to drive and get some more? You would then have to find a phonebook and search for hours trying to contact a store who will actually deliever the beer. No matter where you are in the country you could just call this number and have the beer delievered to you, no need to worry about spending the time to searching for the number from a phonebook.This company is espically useful if your on vaction or new to the area, you would.

This idea has just been running through my head and I wanted to know what you guys though about it. Would this be a successful business and how would I start something like this?

[sleighter]

Very few convenience and liquor stores deliver.Those who do , rarely deliver at what would be your busiest times.After bars are closed etc. Could be done,but would be a lot of work , and would require significant capital to start.

[akula]

is there a sucessful competitor doing this?
if not, guess why not

Originally Posted by campusmuscle

My idea was to start a new business called 1-800-BEER RUN

[Nigami Enterprise]

Originally Posted by akula

is there a sucessful competitor doing this?
if not, guess why not

Fear is the thief of dreams. Just do it. It wont cost much to set up and could be a whole bunch of fun. And if there is osmeone already doing this that's great u can learn from them, if not the balls in your court.

My next bit of advice is dont listen to people on forums.

[consumertreehouse]

Sounds interesting, but how would you know that you are not delivering beer to a house full of people under 21.
Just to cover yourself you should check the person's ID when you arrive to deliver and make them sign an agreement that clears you of any responsibility if something were to happen or if someone underage drinks what you delivered.

This is interesting for sure. Good Luck with the idea.

[xiphos]

That is a pretty good idea. 1-800-floweres just has a network flower shops. I think the network is called ftd or something to that effect. I would make it, like the flowers as a gift type thing. Girls get flowers for presents and guys get beer.

[2gould]

Personally, I think it is a good idea, especially in a town like Boston with over 60 colleges/universities in the Metro area. The only real difficulty is the legal aspect of the biz. You would definitely have to research the liquor liability laws and make sure that you don't serve minors etc.
You would have to spend some money building up an inventory of different beers/kegs, then throw up a decent website and start marketing. Canvass the local colleges with flyers, put ads in the college newspapers and place postcard ads around the local bars. I don't see this as being a overly difficult business to start up.
If you could manage the legal aspect, i actually think it would be quite sucessful. At least in the big college towns. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[bizboy]

Since not every liquor store makes deliveries, you should put ads in local newspapers such as "looking for part time workers to make cash on call to make deliveries", basically you will create a database of contacts across America and when you receive that order then you will know who to contact to finish it.

Start small such as your city and cities nearby then start expanding when things take off.

[2gould]

Yeah, you would definitely have to start small and then expand if the concept worked. After my last post, i gave the idea some more thought and it truly would be a legal nightmare. The first employee better be an in-house counsel... But I would like to see someone give the idea a go.

[Check-m]

Just do it. If you think it's a good idea go for it. Don't wait for someone around you to give you the thumbs up so you can start. Ray Kroc was ambushed with with people saying that his franchising idea was stupid and a scam. Just keep going. Don't let anyone stop you.

[zoobie]

This is interesting! I guess this business will be doing well. So how much would you spend for the start?

[rogercbryan]

Be very careful... In college there was a restaurant that did this in Cleveland... the owner I think is still in jail. I may venture to say that most states have laws against alcohol delivery. Contact the liquor control in your state before you do anything. Every state has different licenses for selling beer. When you deliver beer to a house you are taking responsibility for everyone in the house and everything they do after they drink. As much as I would love to tell you to go for it... be careful. This is not a new idea and those that I've seen do it have all ended up in trouble...