Sonic, Arby's, TacoBell, Rally's, Dunkin Donuts, Wafflehouse, DairyQueen, or a Carl Jr. Hummm... I must be hungry.
¡Que Onda Martin! Welcome back to México. I am a mexican national as well, I've been living in Cancun for 4 months now after living in the States for 20 years. Life isn't easy in México, but I'm sure you know that already. We've had a very rough start, salaries are a joke and if you are over 35 years old you wont get hired very easily as most business want young people. If you don't have the capital to start a business, you should probably take your friend's offer. Then again, "nadie experimenta en cabeza ajena." If you really want to give it a try you've got to come down here and find out for yourself. And please don't misunderstand me, you could start a business anywhere if you have the money to back you up. ¡Buena Suerte!
Another tricky part of starting a business in Cancun is finding a storefront with the right type/amount of foot traffic and reasonable rent. I used to live and work on Nader near Uxmal. Unbelievable amount of people in the area in the day from Monday-Friday during the day but, limited traffic at night. Numerous business went in and most failed. The steadiest business that always amazed me was the surf shop that was located on the first floor of my old office building. Seemed they had the reputation and did well with locals and tourists. With so many of the resorts going to the all inclusive model the business in my opinion really needs to focus on the locals. Why not have each person who reads Cancun Care bring down $300 of Victoria's secret lingerie each visit which you could then mark up ridiculous amounts!
Fish and chip shop in the hotel zone, one of those Harry Ramsdens that charge a fortune? A shop that sells well made clothes? Selling crack (no sorry thats the way to end up in the paper De Peso with your head chopped off and a card board sign around your neck telling you not to deal drugs in Cancun!)! Decent computer shop that sells internet phones? Arcade with decent arcade machines? Ice cream shop in the hotel zone? And Steve, when you say Beans, does beans meanz heinz? If so, i'll pick some up in March when I go to Beliza (get it?), infact get me a list, it'll help pass the time there!! Speaking of food, does anyone know where to get bread that doesn't taste of sugar, like that Bimbo crap, I mean how random sweet bread, I just want a piece of toast, not a piece of bread that tastes like i'm eating a cake!
Cancun used to have a fish and chip shop "Sirena" but it closed amonth or two ago, it was overpriced and Cod and Haddock are a little rare in these areas, which you need to make it authentic. A decent arcade would be a great idea if you can get the machines. Business ideas, I would mainly look at catering to the growing "middle class". Tourist stuff just has too much competition, and there seems to be less tourists each year. Lots of people here with cash to splash, but poor quality goods in so many areas. Sam, of course Beanz Meanz Heinz . To get them in Belize you'll have to go to Belize City though which is another 4 hrs or so after the border, and it's a bit scary. If you do go then pick up a case or two for us. I hate that Bimbo bread crap too, Wonder is slightly better but not by much. 18.5 pesos for a loaf of sugar tasting nastyness that stays "fresh" for a fortnight :roll:
Sirena is open, they just moved. They are in the mall across the street from Monteverde School one store down from Starbucks.
The things you can buy that I miss from the states are Victoria's Secret underwear, decent quality shoes, decent quality clothing, decent healthy bread that isn't 50% sugar and healthy peanut butter (not that Jif shit). When I go back to the states I always drop a lot of money in Target. And I always buy some decent clothes.
Can you get a bread maker down there? I have one, but havent used it in a few years. But it made killer bread. All you need is flour, salt, bread yeast (not brewers yeast, used to make my own beer too) and the machine. Its really easy to make (so is the beer).
I thought about the bread maker, that's the way to have non sugar bread, my mum makes nice loaves, I just want a piece of toast with marmite, that's all! Steve, travellling to Belize City does sound a bit scary, the family have land down in a place called Machual or something like that, close to Belize so gonna convince them to show it to me and take me to Belize! I take it there's a lot of British import stuff in Belize as it's part of the commenwelth right? (can't spell in English anymore, only Spanish, sorry!) I bought some different bread aswell, it's called Pan Integral Blanco, oh it's Wonder, I was looking forward to trying it but now i know i'm gonna get that sweet taste when i bite it now, I'm gonna give it to the street dog outside my house instead! Thanks for the warning Steve. I'm going to check out the new fish and chip shop this week, will let you know how it goes!
You don't need a bread machine to make bread, but even if you have one you can't get good bread flour, nor good whole wheat flour. I haven't found molassas anywhere and rye flour doesn't seem to exist, either. I bake our bread during most of the "cooler" season using the local flour and yeast, and while it's better than what is available here in Cancun, it's not as good as what I baked when we lived north of the border. Chalk it up to the quality of the flour and processed bottled water that has had everything removed from it except hydrogen, oxygen and lately, lots of chlorine. BTW, the 2 Pan Rusticos that are sold in Wal-Mart (stacked vertically in baskets opposite the counter), white and whole grain, are probably the best breads available down here. We're leaving for Europe on Sunday, where I'll be reminded daily of how bad the bread is here in Cancun.
