Flip Flop Millionaires

September 12, 2016

I spent Labor Day weekend at the beach. Schools are back in session so the beaches are much less crowded. My choice of beach reading was about some newly minted, technology based, millionaires. I started thinking about how wealth is being created today. There is no doubt that fabulous wealth has been created by businesses based on technology, but many others find opportunities in low tech areas. As I spent some quiet time at the beach I witnessed three businesses that have captured the ability to generate meaningful wealth for their owners. Each was a low tech, but heavily client focused business and I wish I owned just one of them.

The first is a restaurant. I know that this is a hit or miss business, but when one hits watch out! At the beach I coveted the Red Bar Restaurant in Grayton Beach, Florida where a 45 to 60 minute wait is common. The food is simple and the menu has not changed in decades. Moreover, two glasses of wine and a beer at the bar goes for $26.00 so you can imagine the revenue. As far as overhead this is “Shabby Beach Chic” décor at its best. My booth was upholstered in duct tape, and the same product was holding the door of the women’s restroom together.

My next most desired business is Cabana Man beach rentals at Seaside, Florida. Many seek escape from the intense sun, and slumber is almost guaranteed in the shade with a cool ocean breeze. But this beach shelter comes at a price. One umbrella and two chairs for five days is $203. On this basis, renting out 20 one umbrella/two chair set ups for 150 days grosses $120,000. No surprise that the beach was covered in a sea of blue umbrellas.

While the Red Bar Restaurant and Cabana Man are attractive businesses, my favorite business is housed in a seventeen foot Airstream trailer called Frost Bites. Frost Bites sells one product, has no competition, and owns its specialty market of snow cones. You need three ingredients for their product: a cup, ice, and flavored sugar water. At $6.00 a pop, and located in an area where hundreds of kids are looking for a cool refreshing break, Frost Bites nails it. With lines regularly growing to twenty customers or more, and open from 9am to 9pm daily, this business is the definition of a cash making machine. Thousands and thousands of snow cones every season at $6.00 a pop. Kick back with your shades and flip flops and just count the money, a brilliant business.

Carl Gambrell