[gmandan]

I'm not sure if this post is appropriate for this forum, but I'm interested in starting my own business. I’m hoping to spend a great deal of time first actually doing some research before I jump into this. Does anyone have any good advice or sources of information I could learn more about developing a storefront, commercial leases, and health regulations that I will need to consider? I’m hoping to sell a type of food product I believe could be very successful. There doesn’t really seem to be a comparable business, so I’m thinking about researching similar companies like Jamba Juice to get an idea of a similar business and maybe possibly get a part time job there to learn firsthand how to operate a store similar to the one I wish to open.

Since I’ll be building the store from scratch, I plan on estimating startup costs such as equipment, remodeling the store, ingredients, etc. These fixed costs should be easily quantifiable, but what I’m more concerned about is what should I be looking for in an ideal retail location? Ideally the first thoughts that come to mind are tons of foot traffic with a majority of them being the demographic that I plan to target.

Also, any recommendations on low priced but high potential locations in the general southern CA area? Unfortunately, I’ll be limited to only that region.

I’ll probably update this post with anything else that comes to mind or to answer any questions.