Booth Frame Kit.......would it sell?

[Steve at Silverstone Fabrics]

Hey Group. I have been approached by a frame source here in NC to help  develop and sell  un assembled booth frame kits.

These kits would be standard booth sizes and styles.  A CNC router would be used to cut the frames from 5 quarter plywood......1.25" thick (easy to ship and assemble with  glue, clamps & a  frame gun). The kits would be marketed toward upholstery shops that have the knowledge and skill sets to upholster them but not the woodworking equipment to produce the frames.

Pros and Cons of this idea would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your input . Steve

[JDUpholstery]

could be feasible, as far as frame building though most people can build a frame with just a skil saw and a hammer, so not sure how much market there would be, I did these benches with a skilsaw, jigsaw, and a nailer



of course, there will always be some people who just do not want to build their own bases and that would be your target market

[sofadoc]

They would have to be cheap. Hard to compete with these prices: 
http://www.restaurantfurniture.net/Booths.html

[Rich]

sofa, have you ever actually seen any of those restaurant booths? Seems to me that they would have to be flimsy materials at those prices!
Rich

[sofadoc]

sofa, have you ever actually seen any of those restaurant booths? Seems to me that they would have to be flimsy materials at those prices!

I'm sure they are. But every time I bid a booth job for a "mom & pop" restaurant, they shove a catalog in my face with those ridiculously low prices. The bottom line is all they care about.

[gene]

That link won't give you shipping costs. You need to talk to someone. I wonder also what they are made from.

Their web site says: RestaurantFurniture.Net is a leading contract seating importer and distributor.

Probably shipped directly from overseas to your restaurant.

Steve, I would think shipping would cost  a few dollars with that plywood.

As was mentioned, you would be competing against a local guy who can make the frames himself. How much money would be saved by the upholsterer in buying on line?

I hope others can offer more feedback.

Good luck.

gene

[sofadoc]

That link won't give you shipping costs. You need to talk to someone. I wonder also what they are made from.
Their web site says: RestaurantFurniture.Net is a leading contract seating importer and distributor.
Probably shipped directly from overseas to your restaurant.

Actually, I just pulled up that particular website at random.
There is a restaurant supply in Dallas that sells new booths in the $250-$350 range. I'm sure that the quality is poor.
But most mom & pop restaurants are on a tight budget. They'll probably go belly-up before the booths wear out.

[baileyuph]

From the link above, it is intuitive that the booths can be purchased, finished with upholstery.

With direct marketing the way it is, then couldn't Mom and Pop just order them complete direct?

Marketing mentality of the day!

Doyle

[Steve at Silverstone Fabrics]

The quality of the booths I would bring to market would allow smaller shops to compete with large manufacturers like Falcon and Shelby Williams.

My idea would be to allow local designers to specify COM fabrics for quality booths.......produced by local shops.

A Chinese restaurant in my city just had booths installed from an internet company........total crap!  Poor construction, poor vinyl and horrible seats.  Steve

[byhammerandhand]

I got some kits for Morris chairs from Chervan a few years ago.  While I could build them from scratch, I assembled them in less than an hour.  So, yes, I think there might be a market for someone who needs to get a restaurant up and running.   There is definitely labor advantages to CNC machining a known design rather that head scratching and designing from scratch.   You may also be able to reduce waste by efficient layout.

One thought to consider is using pre-finished plywood.   A lot of kitchen cabinetmakers use them for the casework.

But I do agree that many restaurants are cheap, have leads on contract furniture, and their fixtures get beat to death.

[sofadoc]

A Chinese restaurant in my city just had booths installed from an internet company........total crap!  Poor construction, poor vinyl and horrible seats.

In the last 2 years in my town, 2 Chinese and 1 pizza joint have expanded their dining rooms (almost double the size). I had always recovered their booths in the past. They called me about either custom building some new booths, or buying some used ones and recovering them. I gave them a bid both ways. They ended up buying a truckload of the $300 booths like the ones that I linked above.

I don't eat at those restaurants, so I can't tell you for sure how they're holding up.

Being a small one-man shop, the only restaurant business that I normally get is recovering of torn seats. And usually, it is for independently owned restaurants (Mom & Pop........NOT chains).
While I DO recover booths for the local outlets of chains like KFC, Pizza Hut, Red Lobster, etc. When it's time to gut the place and totally remodel, they have their own contractors who take care of the all new seating.

So what I'm saying is, in MY particular situation, I don't think that I would have a market for booth kits.

[gene]

Steve, I thought of your post when I saw this video. I don't think it's a repost.

There may be some ideas for you on your booth project.

gene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu7zSCDECOc