Community Bike Shop Revenue
Hi All, I'm working up a budget for a new shop in New York State and I'm looking for a bit of info. I've put together a decently detailed business plan. I want to get a feel for how good (or bad) my numbers might be. So, a few questions:
*Which, if any, of your programs/courses/trainings do you charge people for?
- I anticipate running Earn-A-Bike, mechanics classes and a summer program
- either on my own or in partnership with existing day camps for kids. I
see NBW (Philly) does it as a revenue generator ( http://neighborhoodbikeworks.org/programs/summer-cycling-day-camp/). If you run similar programs, do they generate revenue?
*What kind of sales volume do you have?* - I'm talking about repurposed bikes, parts and merchandise. Of course I anticipate the answer to this question to contain a lot of qualifiers like the size of your operation, your hours, number of staff, volume of inventory, geographic location, etc, etc, etc. I understand that but some ballpark numbers would help. Maybe an estimation of how many bikes you sell per month and approximately how much revenue is generated from the sale of parts.
*How often do you offer mechanics classes?* Again I know this is very much dependent on staff and volunteer availability. I have estimated that with my 8 workstations I could offer a 10-12 week course (adults) for as many as 16 students (working in two-person teams) - provided I have at least 4 volunteer mechanics to assist.
*How often do you offer Earn-A-Bike classes? *Once again, I know this is very much dependent on staff and volunteer availability. I like the curriculum you follow at Community Cycles ( http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Community_Cycles_Youth_E...) and this is very similar to what I have in mind. So to you folks specifically and to others who also run EAB programs, is there any revenue generation here or is this strictly on the expenditure side of the equation for you?
*How do you charge for service/repair work?* I anticipate using a sliding fee schedule and/or a list of suggested donations for the most common repairs. Can you ballpark the amount you receive for the most common repairs you perform?
*How much revenue do you generate from open shop hours? *I know this is very much dependent on shop hours and available work space. But again, rough numbers will help me.
I'm digging through the archives and obviously I'm finding a lot of really useful info. Thanks to all of you who have spent the time to post to the Wiki. It has been immensely helpful to me during this start up time. If you know of links that would help me get my own answers to these questions please pass them along. And if you can answer more specifically that would be excellent.
Thanks so much, Matt
I am interested in this as well
FYI: Our EAB program that Matthew likes is VERY expensive to run. We currently have some funding for very low income people for this (and that is tenuous). I am curious about people charging for EAB. If you don't charge- is it volunteer run or staff run? If staff run, what are your staffing costs (yearly)? If you do charge, how do you get people to pay? I have heard from others who get low income funded that people don't always tell the truth about the low income and Portland had to move to taking clients from social services only because qualifying people for low income was way too labor intensive for staff
On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 7:38 AM, Matthew VanSlyke matt@nybc.net wrote:
We have worked with other social service providers as referral partners from the beginning because we didn't have the capacity to evaluate financial need. It has worked out pretty well, but it requires continuous promotion of the program to partner agencies. -Scott Armory Bike Union
On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 1:34 PM, Sue Prant sue@communitycycles.org wrote:
i wonder if making a google doc spreadsheet is an easier way to collect all this data. interested also, but this will be a huge thread, i fear.
then the link to that doc could be added to the wiki under 'revenue stats' or some such thing.
a
On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 1:34 PM, Sue Prant sue@communitycycles.org wrote:
If any of y'all are interested, the Alliance is holding a call on financial planning for community bike shops next week. It'd be great to discuss some of these issues voice to voice.
Momoko from Bike Farm in PDX, Nathan from the Austin Yellow Bike Project, and Rambod from LA's Bikerowave will all be on the call to discuss how their groups approach finances and there will be plenty of room for discussion.
Register here and feel free to pass it on: http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/site/EventRegistration-N...
Rubber side down, Mary Lauran
On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 4:27 PM, Andrew L breathingplanet@gmail.com wrote:
Good suggestion, Andrew. I've created a simple GoogleDocs spreadsheet and posted it to the Wiki under Organizational Models. Anyone feel free to suggest a better location, this was the best I could think of.
http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Organizational_Models
So far there is info from two shops, feel free to add yours if you'd like.
Matt V.
On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 4:27 PM, Andrew L breathingplanet@gmail.com wrote:
The doc is not editable
On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Matthew VanSlyke matt@nybc.net wrote:
Rich, I was able to open the spreadsheet and add to it. It was automatically saved and when I closed the browser and reopened the spreadsheet through the Wiki my changes were there. I removed my test edits, closed the browser, reopened the link and they were gone. It seems to be working for me. I'm not sure but maybe you have to be signed into the Wiki? Matt
On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 12:01 PM, Rich Points director@communitycycles.orgwrote:
I just requested permission. Let's see if that works.
On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 11:47 AM, Matthew VanSlyke < vanslyke.matthew@gmail.com> wrote:
hi all, the specific place is here: http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Revenue_Statistics
thanks matt, andrew
On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Matthew VanSlyke matt@nybc.net wrote:
Sue,
I founded a Rebuilding Together chapter in Minneapolis/St. Paul. RT is nation-wide non-profit home remodeling organization that rebuilds the homes of low income seniors and single parent families. We had a difficult time qualifying low-income earners for that program. We ultimately had to go with a referring agency, be it social services etc.
Bicycle Longmont will most likely go the referring route, too. Should Bicycle Longmont ever have staff, I have no desire to have them spend their time qualifying people when we can get more than enough candidates through human service or faith based organizations. Having said that, being a service organization we have to remain flexible enough to allow for the low-income person who walks through the door, too.
rjk
On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 11:34 AM, Sue Prant sue@communitycycles.org wrote:
participants (8)
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Andrew L -
MaryLauran Hall -
Matthew VanSlyke -
Matthew VanSlyke -
Rich Points -
Ryan Kragerud -
Scott TenBrink -
Sue Prant