How to Start a Cooking Oil ATM Side Hustle Business
Have you ever wanted to start a salad cooking oil ATM business but don’t know how to go about it? This post is just for people like you. We will be discussing important tips on how to start a cooking oil ATM side hustle business in Kenya. We hope that by the end of this post, you will have gained important insights and confidence to venture into the business.
How to start a cooking oil ATM side hustle business – Important preparations
Market research
Anyone venturing into a business, do it to get maximum returns while meeting the need. But you need to establish if really the need is there. That is why you need to do a market research before venturing. You need to establish if it is a viable business to avoid wasting your resources in a venture that does not bring any returns.
A market research helps you know if there are sufficient potential clients for your product/services. It also helps you know if there are many other similar businesses you will be competing with and help you establish if it’s worth it.
Identifying a suitable location
Location is one of the most important considerations you need to make when starting a business. It’s so important that it can mean good success or terrible failure in your business. When it comes to cooking oil ATM business it’s no different. You must be located in a place where potential clients can easily find you. The business must be easy to find by even someone who might not be conversant with the area or a child who has been sent by the parent.
It should also be in a place where people are not discouraged to come either because they have to pass through mud, garbage point, leaking sewerage or dark unsafe corridors. These are common scenarios is many informal settlements like slums.
Renovating the premises
For many business premises, they might not be design ready for your type of business whether it’s new or old. Oftentimes even a premises that had previously been occupied might need renovation to be able to accommodate your machinery and products. Sometimes the previous occupant might have made custom modifications to suit them which might require you to bring them down to do your own.
Depending with the setup you want, you can do it yourself or you might need to bring in a technical person like a mason. The good thing with a solely salad oil ATM business you don’t need much set up modifications. However if the shop will be used to sell other products you will need to do much more modifications.
How to start a cooking oil ATM side hustle business- Requirements/must haves
High quality cooking oil ATM
A salad cooking oil ATM is the most important machinery you will invest in this business. You need a high quality cooking oil ATM that offers optimum performance. A high quality salad oil ATM from Phymac Ltd gives you return on investment and ensures you don’t get affected by machine breakup when you need it most.
Our cooking oil ATMs are designed to perform at the highest level for a long time without need for constant repairs. More importantly, they are come with a 1 year warranty.
Business licence
In Kenya, it is a requirement to have a licence for any legal business. You need to have one if you want to operate your business without fear of running into trouble with the authorities. To get one, visit your local county business licencing department to know which licences and permits you need.
Reliable stock supplier
Stock suppliers can make or break your business. Unreliable business suppliers can mean you losing a lot of business and eventually closing down your business. Therefore before starting, make sure you have identified a reliable supplier or source where you can be sourcing your stock. A good supplier can be a distributor or wholesaler. Some can bring it to you while in some cases you might need to be going to get it yourself.
In order to avoid being disappointed by suppliers no matter how reliable they might be, (after all sometimes it can be due to unforeseen circumstances) it’s highly advisable you have a buffer stock to last you at least a week. This way even in the eventuality of them not being able to supply, you have a sufficient time to make arrangements for an alternative source. However for some far away towns like Northern Kenya regions where sometimes floods cut off road access or insecurity incidents stop movement of good for some time, you can have stock that lasts even a whole month.
Electric power
A cooking oil ATM uses electric power to operate. While you are searching for a business premises, ensure it is connected to power grid. If not you need to invest in alternative sources like a generator or solar panel. It’s advisable to have a backup plan even if you are connected to the power grid especially in places where there are constant power outages and it takes long before it is restored.
Scaling up the business
Any business has the potential to grow and expand and a salad cooking oil ATM business is no different. There are several ways you can scale up the business.
Opening more branches
One of the best ways to scale up your business is to open additional branches in different locations. You are at advantage here because you can use the gained knowledge and experience running your current business. This helps you get established much quickly and reach your Breakeven Point (BEP) (investopedia.com) at a much shorter time frame.
Selling alternative types of oil
Another way of expanding your business is selling other types of oil like pressed sesame oil, canola oil, sunflower oil etc. These are common oils used by the Muslim community and the coastal community as well. However you might need to invest in an oil pressing machine if you don’t have a supplier for the same and you will just be buying the seeds.
Selling other products
A third way you can expand your business is expanding your product catalogue. You can add items like cereals as part of what you sell. This gives you more margins and helps you make maximum use of your business premises.
Final word
From the above tips on how to start a cooking oil ATM side hustle business, you should now be equipped with some of the basic knowledge you need. We are not saying this information is conclusive but at least it helps you have a sound knowledge of the most important things you need to start this business.
Feel free to inquire from other people who are already in business who can give you an honest opinion about running a business. It would be more advantageous if you can find someone in the same business who can advise you.
Get in touch with us for a high quality cooking oil ATM
Phymac Ltd is a leading manufacturer of salad cooking oil ATM machines in Kenya. If you need a top quality cooking oil ATM machine you are in the right place. We are experienced in building salad oil ATM machines that help clients run successful businesses without hitches brought about by breakdown of the machines.
Get in touch with us today if you need one. You can call us, WhatsApp us, email us, fill out the contact us form, leave a comment here or visit our showroom in Ruiru. We are located in Kihunguro stage next to shell Kihunguro along Thika road.
