you are mixing account methods for one. on a cash basis you only made 17.83, but you still have inventory to sell. so sure you on a cash basis you are 17.83 ahead, but on an overall basis you still have inventory which is still an asset. it just has not been sold. so you have 17.83 plus the value of the inventory.
This is not a terrible idea. it is basically he wants to subcontract out a part of the business he is terrible at running. and the least profitable for him. and your risk is small. you are not leasing the kitchen? ( many hotels do this and they force operators to pay them to do it ).
As long is you cover your risk and make sure the owner can’t change the terms later. I would have everything spelled out on what you would pay him and how it is determined. if you really start making money, he will want to change terms. just like if you are not making money you will want to get out of the situation. have everything spelled out in a contract.
It is not a matter of who is wrong or right. it is something that should have been part of any agreement you made when investing. really it is not a good indication of how this will play out over time with other financial issues as well. you really have 2 decision makers who have the majority. who can bleed out the minority investors. especially when one of them is the GM. They never have to show a profit. they can just draw salaries.
I was a top level vendor on Amazon a long time ago, before they turned into what they are now. Amazon back then did deals with major retailers to provide depth of product in specific categories. I carried toys. they actually contacted me.
Being a top level meant no matter what I was the top of the search and nobody could compete with me on my products. was great. massive sales
Now it has become the wild west.
the main goal for you should be to drive business to your own website. think of it as a marketing expense at first, where the expense is really just lower margin sales. then do as other said, go have product made in China under your own brand.
Also give them an incentive to buy from your website and not Amazon.
The problem with Amazon is: the customer always wins. so you are taking returns. doing refunds you would not normally do. no point in debating with customers because it is not worth the negative feedback, or even worse Amazon’s dispute process. becomes a waste of your time ( if get enough complaints they take action on you the seller ).
As long as the products you sell are going to be found doing a basic search, and not end up on page 10,000 then it is worth it.
my wife’s employer wouldn’t do it. but what they would allow is employees to use a tipping app. there are a few of them out there. the customer can scan a QR code. the employees can even have cards with the info to hand to the customers. the owners just didn’t want to be on the hook for taxes, cc fees or chargebacks, and any unemployment.
the reality might be is that customers use that excuse not to tip. which ended up being the case with my wife’s place of work.
You should do more due diligence with the zoning and licensing side of things. The changing of ownership will trigger many inspections. There could be a long list of things that need to be done to comply with newer regulations. Things that the previous owner was grandfathered into, but a new owner will not be.
You need rights not to just reproduce the art on t-shirts, but to be able to publish the art in digital form for marketing, and not just for you but any affiliates who market your products or buy them. Since this a commercial use of a copyright I would pay an attorney to write up a release. My wife’s employer had to pay off 2 photographers because they fell for a trap about copyright usage. and the photographers intentionally set the trap, several businesses had to pay. It is something you have to settle because because court you will lose big.
let us not forget the health department.
the other consideration with SS is its function as disability insurance as well. Both medical and income. medical is actually the more important part of it. very little of this matters if you have the work credits. since you are playing with numbers you should figure out where you would be at with benefits if you had a stroke tomorrow and needed SS disability.
300k to open a coffee shop? You need scale your dream. If a location needs that much in renovations to get an occupancy permit then find a different location. Coffee shops are low cost of entry compared to other hospitality ventures, you are making it high cost of entry.
You are doing renovations on a property you don’t own, so if you don’t make it the landlord has a coffee shop space ready to rent.
my brother did vending machines as part of his business. since you are an MBA student you should do some research. you need to know what the code requirements are for the location for vending machines and if you require a vending license. probably and not as cheap as you would think in most places.
other than that the issues you will have are:
theft and vandalism to the machines if they are not visible to the employees of the establishment. especially the gumball machines.
the business giving people refunds because they said they put in money and the machine didn’t work. ( this you need to be very clear with the business on your policy. whether you have the customer contact you. ).
liability for damages.
you are mixing account methods for one. on a cash basis you only made 17.83, but you still have inventory to sell. so sure you on a cash basis you are 17.83 ahead, but on an overall basis you still have inventory which is still an asset. it just has not been sold. so you have 17.83 plus the value of the inventory.