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Originally Posted by gent3278
My wife and I are in our mid 50’s and would love to move to The Villages very soon. We are looking to stay working and may open a business down there. We currently own a very busy breakfast and lunch restaurant and also have 25 years experience owning a Vacuum sales and service business. Which one of the 2 would be a good fit in that area?
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1. There are a lot of places around The Villages that sell pizzas, but not a single one I’ve heard of that can make a decent New York pizza such as one can find in a thousand pizza places in the New York metro area. Not one! One near a town square that sells slices could do especially well. (Perhaps even a pizza food truck nightly at a town square that reheats slices from pies made at some non-restaurant place in a commercial area in the right kind of oven. After all, generally slices are reheated just before serving.) Your restaurant experience would make this possible, but only if you are actually from the New York area and learn how to do it right. There are more people here from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania combined than from any other three states, I believe. We know what the real thing tastes like, and we don’t find it here. We would be loyal.
2. There are a lot of people here who can no longer drive, whether because of age, vision, health issues, or even having their license revoked after a DUI. They feel like they’ve lost an important part of themselves and their freedom and power. Yes, there is Uber. That can work well. But I think there would be a market for a small fleet of cars (ones that are easy to get into and out of) and drivers FROM The Villages who will take people where they need to go and stay with them—medical appointments, beauty salon, stores or restaurants, or whatever. These would be mostly rides of two or three miles with lots of waiting. Let’s say an elderly woman is the customer. Her driver not only picks her up and drops her off, but helps her into the doctor’s office and waits with her, or stays with her in the grocery store, if she wants. Some clients might set up a weekly appointment for a certain number of hours. Others might call and take the next available driver or make a reservation. The drivers would all be “safe,” and the clients would come to recognize them. Charge, say, $25 an hour, with $15 going to the driver and the rest to cover scheduling, costs, and profit. It could be run from home, without a sign, but you would need a parking area elsewhere, or you could hire only drivers with appropriate cars. No airport runs. Say a ten mile maximum radius. I think that would be a service to the community. Okay, so, a four hour weekly block of time might cost a client $100 each, or $400 a month, but how much were they paying for that new Cadillac and insurance they no longer need? How much would they pay to take an Uber to all these places and how long would they wait for it, and who would be driving it, and what if they aren’t flexible enough to fit into the back seat? Many people here pay far more for weekly housecleaning services. Meanwhile, retired men and women could, say, work twelve hours a week and earn $740 a month. On a fixed income, that’s a huge help, and it’s fun work that would make them feel valued—because they would be!