I live in this mini town, approx 5000 people. It's a military town so obviously you are going to have people up around the clock, so you would expect people to actually stay open for 24 hours. However, this expectation is wrong. The grocery store is the only thing 24 hours besides 7-11. No pizza delivery, no fast-food, nothing for a sap who pulls nights. I am assuming that a few people on here have their own business, or have at some point anyway. Why is it so hard to stay open 24h? You would have to pay some teenage kid minimum wage, and keep the lights on etc to work nights. That (I would guess) can't cost more than maybe 90-100 USD (from 10pm-10am). So, if my guest-imation is close, if you sold 10 pizzas between 11pm and 10am at around 15 USD a pop, you would still be making money. And I am sure that if you were the only all night pizza place, that you could easily sell 10 pizzas during the night.

So, why doesn't anyone do this? Especially in towns where the population is up around the clock (ie college, military). Anyone know if it's hard to open a pizza shop, I think I am gonna see if I can open one.

Ok, so I called around cause I am bored, and DOMINO's Pizza is open til 3 on Fri and Sat nights, and 2 on weekdays. Gotta love Domino's. But what about after 3? Night people still get hungry. Hmmm, still thinking about the business...

No kidding mate. I get off work at midnight, but I don't live my free hours during the daylight, can't stand it, so I'm usually wandering around until 5-6am. I live in a city, same bloody deal, expect my Dominoes only hacks it until 11pm, and The P'hut only till 10. I can drive a bit and hit a few of the rowdier late night bars, there's waffle house (this is the south), and about half of the grocery stores, a quarter of the gas stations/quickie marts, but what about everything else?

My biggest pain the ass: I wish there was 24 hour movie rental. THAT, would make my nights easier to handle, Netflix just don't make it here fast enough.

Cheers,

Finegan, fellow nocturnal zombie.

i will ramble a bit here because i dont want to be structured at 4am. i drifted into a nightowl existence when i became increasingly more frustrated with the crowded daylight condition of everything- when most of them are in bed, the world resumes a peaceful aspect that i like. i have been involved with late night ventures and my experiences have indicated that while it is possible to make to make a go of it, the reality of things as they are must be respected in an all nite business plan-your numbers for example don't sound unreasonable, but i think you will find that keeping a place open over night will cost more than 90-100/nt-9pm to 6am is probably a more useful interval to consider because that seems to be the real deadtime and thus the gap to be funded so to speak. the kid will cost you more than $6x9hrs for various reasons and overhead is always higher than budgeted in projections(the kid will require or simply set the heat or air conditioning on max, for example, while he sits outside smoking). to offset this drain and more than that , to justify the effort and increased work on your part, you're going to want to see a good haul from each night's activities-if it's $200+ a night in your pocket it will be cool, but if it's 20-30 bucks 5 days and 50-60 on weekends(when it may be you working, because the kid has plans those nights), then you may not feel that it's worth it. several other things too-you need a service for a viable market-most people aren't up all night and you want to take advantage of the opportunity to provide for those that are accessible to you-some things come to mind but i must tend to the coming dawn. you're thinking in terms of demand-that's the foundation of a successful business and a lot of people like pizza.

Yes, Pizza... But Fin's right, on my nights off I would sure like to watch some videos that I don't already own. A d/l off Gtk-gnutella would take half my night, so that's usually not too feasible. Maybe I will look into a Pizza/Video Zone! Cool. I see your point about my guessed numbers, I will have to do some research on this I see. Good thing I have hours to blow away here. 'Chad's Pizza/Video Zone, ALWAYS open 24 Hours'. Cool, maybe it will be a chain. I am sure Video stores is an easy way to make some $. I used to work in one, and we were able to come out ahead after 1 month of being open. Too bad I only got paid a rats pay there.

Hmmm, Pizza and Videos, cool.

Where you located MasterC? I'll help you out!

I have to travel 28 Miles to the nearest dennys and I _hate_ there food but it's the only place to hang out really.

Wish a book store like barnes & noble was open 24 hours too. EVERYTHING should be 24 hours

I guess I was kinda lucky... the 'city' I've lived in for the past 4 years (Uni city) had a 24h Spar (which is damn expensive, but does rent movies), and some dodgy bar called Good Body's. The bar itself closes at 3, but they serve food 24h, and I do like my food. I know how you feel, MasterC, night people do get hungry at stupidly early hours. The number of times I've done all-nighter courseworks and just had to nip to Goodies for a nice greasy fry-up at 4am is ridiculous.

Well I found out that it's more work than it's worth to actually open my own shop here when I am leaving within a year or so. So, I am currently petitioning (sending nasty emails and letters) a local video store to stay open all night, and the local Pizza Hut and Papa Johns to also stay open.

It's amazingly expensive to open a pizza shop if any of you are wondering.

But a video store is the BEST way to make a business thrive and the cheapest of the 2. Video stores are an excellent business to get into, you get videos for VERY cheap, and then they pay for themselves within a month or 2 of opening. The only bills you will have are new-releases and overhead (Utilities bills and paying the poor sap to work there, and the occasional theft/tape wearout and now that DVD's are becoming popular, that is almost non existent anymore). I was talkin to the local Video Store owner, and he was full of info. Doesn't sound too stoked about the all night idea though, so I guess I will just have to deal for now.

Cool

the mere fact that no pizza place bothers to stay open all night might be a hint that it wouldn't be economical to do so. you'd have to have someone making those 10 pizzas a night, someone else delivering them... ect. it probably costs more than you'd initially guess to stay open all night.

on the other hand tho, you'd think that the only 24-hour pizza place in a military town would get some decent 4am action. exactly how many single aimless 18-25 year-olds does it take to sustain a pizza place?

the whole city is alive 24/7 where i live. food and drink all round. i have no complaints...

MasterC I feel for yuh man. I am really not the all nighter kinda guy andymore, nor am I a pizza buff. I do understand Oak's lack of decent necessities though for a naval base. I'm in Everett and at least here you can find a good all night coffee shop or the arseload of Texacos everywhere. How about buying your own oven to take where ever you go so that you can always just pop in a pizza for that homemade/pizza shop taste? Mmmm, I do so like certain pizzas, maybe it's just been too long?

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza. Remember to sell beer as well.

24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?

i suppose you could throw in 24 women as well...