
Ask HN: What are the ‘restaurant’ or ‘coffee shop’ of online business? - wgx
IRL a coffee shop is a pretty simple, basic business that anyone can start. You need to rent a place, buy equipment and supplies, hire staff. Then, in theory, it “just works”. 
What are the parallel businesses in online&#x2F;tech? You don’t need to develop self-driving AI or a teleporter, it “just works” - and there’s still a space for you against big incumbents (Starbucks). Is this even possible anymore?
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aurizon
What is not mentioned in that perrygroup article is the presence of the
landlord. The stories of these long running family restaurants with good food
etc are OWNED by the family. Sooner or later almost all properties fall into
the hand of landlords whose function is rent maximization. No long lasting
family restaurants here - landlords ramp up the rent until they break. This
leads to high intensity food-fraud businesses like St _rbucks. I say food
fraud when costco sells a can of cok for 22 cents with the can, how much does
the same coke in a plastic cup cost at a food fraud? $1.50-$2.50. The rise of
these specialty food frauds who buy all their stuff at the deepest wholesale
discount and sell at stratospheric prices and cross subsidize new locations in
paramount locations by other store profits. I never buy a thing from St_
rbucks - the scrape of the gouge is too deep to bear...

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clintonb
You may want to rethink the assumption that coffee shops/restaurants “just
work”. Like tech startups, many restaurants don’t last long. Here’s and older
study on restaurants: [https://www.perrygroup.com/foodservice-expert-overview-
on-ho...](https://www.perrygroup.com/foodservice-expert-overview-on-how-long-
restaurants-last/).

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brudgers
Donut shop might be a better example of a food business that tends to work.
They open before other most other restaurants. It works well as takeout. The
product has wide appeal. The starting price is low. Businesses and community
organizations buy in bulk.

Perhaps most importantly, opening early filters out "my dream is opening a
coffee shop" approaches. "Time to make the donuts" is o-dark-thirty. It's a
business were just showing up goes further.

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satanspastaroll
I don't think those are separate categories at all, it's simply a tool. Modern
companies are also internet companies.

That coffee shop over there? On the internet. Order something at PizzaHut?
Over the internet. Want to move some sand? All on the internet.

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yitchelle
What does "just works" mean for you?

It is far from a guarantee way of making a living out of it.

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cascom
online retail, hosting or VPN services

