​Ice cream/coffee stand. What am I missing?

There is a commercial property for sale near me that I have always thought would make a great spot for an ice cream and/or coffee spot because it overlooks a waterfall and has nice mountain views. We are in a rural area but the property is on a state highway that is the main artery through the area. Its also only 10 minutes from a much higher population density area with a state university. There is no local competition in town for ice cream and the only coffee competitor is a gas station with no drive through.

The asking price for the lot is $45k, it is basically empty but does have an older parking lot and concrete pad that would need to be torn up and re done There is also a pole and frame for a lighted sign by the road for whatever business was there years ago. I would also want to take down a few trees at the back of the lot to open up the views a bit more. My plan would be to clean up the lot as described, bring in the town sewer, water, and electric from the road, install a smaller pre fab building, preferably with a separate drive through window for coffee and an ice cream window on the other side. Build a medium to large deck for outdoor dining looking down at the water.

I plugged all that into ChatGPT (roast me if you must) with some assumptions and instructions on estimating and it came up with about $240k as initial outlay. I have some home equity I could pull on and the rest would be a business loan. I had it do some prospective cash flow plans and even the conservative ones show the business turning a profit very quickly assuming I am staffing it myself and with family. I’m not sure I believe it though, what am I missing here?

submitted by /u/YamIdoingdis2356
[link] [comments]