Startups.ie

[Hennessy77]

Hi to all

I have achieved all I want to working for someone else. I am interested in starting a business of my own in an unrelated field.
I want to import wines from European countries for sale in Ireland and the uk. I'm Irish, I live and work in France and I speak French.
I can imagine there will be a lot of red tape, label changing, duty etc.

I would like to find a similarly motivated person as a business partner.
Also if anyone has information on this industry I would be interested in their advice.

Thanks

[Startups.ie]

Hi There,

I have lots of experience and contacts in this area, it is a tough business to get into as you need a lot of capital initially to buy stock etc. A lot of my friends who have set up small wine companies over the last few years are really struggling at the moment. There is a lot of bad credit risks out there and many small companies cannot afford to take a hit on not being paid.

If you have a unique angle or deep pockets it can work, there is a great saying in the wine business that unfortunately rings very true - " If you want to make a small fortune in the wine business start out with a large one!'

I don't want to be negative as I don't know more about your plans, get in touch if you want to discuss this more, Stephen@corkage.ie

[d2lan]

Hi Hennessey,

There is a monumental amount of red tape involved in importing beverages. I think the procedure for importing has been changed again recently as well, to further add to the complication. The UK has extremely clear guidelines as to how to go about setting up an importing business and what forms etc. need to be submitted, all clearly listed on govermental websites. Of course Ireland has none. What I can tell you is that if you have no previous experience in this area, and don't know anyone who has already done it, it will take a few months to unravel it.

In terms of other advice, Cash On Delivery would be extremely important to you as your business grows. Otherwise you could be open to being left with huge invoices that will go unpaid as a restaurant closes down, only to reopen the following week under a different name, and you with no recourse to be paid. Of course, initially when dealing with small numbers, I'm sure you won't be so open to this and invoicing will work.

[debih]

Have you had a look at www.smallbusinesscan/export they offer lots of advice on import/export

[AthloneSelfstorage]

hello to All,

I just wanted to drop you a line to say, Congrats on starting a new business I hope you managed to get through all that red tape. If you are looking for an ideal location for storing your wine we : www.athloneselfstorage.ie are based in the midlands. This makes us an ideal location for distributing your product across Ireland. We are bassed just off the M6 so ideally located between Dublin & Galway. Anyway BEST OF LUCK.

[Dattatray]

Post removed - Spam

[dellaharty]

hi friend,
Congratulations for your newly started business. There are three things important in a business- Location, Availability and Updation. The location of your business will be in highly traffic area or according to interest of the people. The products should be available on time as customers do not rely on delayed services and Updation is required to calculate profit and loss for your business.


Accountant Ireland

[kevosi]

Well i have to say it is definitely a great achievement that you have decided to start your own company and let us be honest Import and Export will always be a topic of relevance so I think you could do very good on that. Did you think about focusing on a special topic like gift delivery or delivering certain goods internationally or nationally?

I think the fact that you speak fluent French allows you to open up a lot of doors or branches to cross over - you have to completely consider the broad range of possibilities and focus on the direction you want to specialize in.