Live and Let Live -- A New Niche In An Internet Cafe Business Plan Example

An internet cafe business plan is tough to put together, and even tougher to fund.

Live and Let Let had a great internet cafe business plan. But every bank they talked to turned them down. The SBA turned them down. Restaurants of all kinds, including internet cafes, are just notoriously hard to fund, and this one had an additional problem: a clientele of alcoholics. A popular AA meeting is, after all, held right next door.

And the owners? Well, they call themselves alcoholics. To the rest of the world they are real heroes, recovering alcoholics. But give them financial backing? The Establishment said No.

Fortunately, the three owners were able to scrape together $40,000 to bootstrap Live and

Let Live, an eclectic, vibrant coffee house in Phoenix, Arizona.

It is an internet cafe, with WiFi available. But it is a great deal more.

Everyone is welcome, and many show up. Some like the smoke-free environment. Some like an escape from chain coffee shops. Some enjoy the open camaraderie. They all enjoy the coffee and sandwiches and cakes that are the house specialty.

Recently, one lady came to the drive-through window and asked for the ultimate comfort food: warm chocolate-chip cookies fresh from the oven.

Sensing the woman had had a rough day, Smith, one of the owners, offered a glass of cold milk.

"We started to talk to her about how her day went," Smith recalled, "and she stopped. She's from New York, and said, 'Where in the United States can you go through a drive-through at 8 p.m. at night and get milk and cookies and therapy?'

"It almost brought a tear to my eye."

Would they do it again? You betcha. None of them will retire from what they are making at Live and Let Live, but where else on the face of the earth can you own an internet cafe that you could be so very proud of?

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