selling uk goods in benidorm

Hello, my name is Neil...i am thinking of opening a bar in benidorm in about 8months....however can i bring uk food goods in a van to sell on rastros and in my bar legally...i would like to do around 4 trips a year in a van back to the UK to buy my goods, is this all ok to do legally...any help guys/gals would be appreciated...thanks in advance....i might add, i will not be selling from my uk van, i will have  a spanish car for my rastros....as i know selling from a uk van is illegal.....

Can't see that importing food will be a problem Neil. Many UK owned businesses both large and small bring in food to sell on, Iceland frozen foods is a case in point, they must bring in truck loads each week. No doubt there will be a good deal of red tape and paperwork though and VAT (IVA) will come in to play somewhere along the line, you may have to pay it in the UK and claim it back in Spain. When you say 'Rastros' do you mean street markets?

you have to be very careful with the regulatons on labelling and if you visit Iceland they have machines and a system that generates these which they have to stick on almost everything

Yes, that's right Roy. They normally stick them right over the cooking instructions 

Hi Team GB....not markets, rastros are like our sunday bootsales, would only work on a sunday, as will be busy with bar....IVA, is spanish system for tax i take it....want to do everything legal...

This op must have bumped his head hard when he fell out of  bed he knows nothing about vat /import duty/business in!  Spain or by the sounds of it running any business how many more of these I THINKING posts do we have to put up with the last time I was in Spain two weeks ago food was plenty full I.E full coked breakfast 3.50eu / beer 1.50eu a pint .

Neil20 hats off to you pal,your doing something like I fancied,and plenty of other who have sat at the bar telling the bar owner how to run a bar. but many have never had the balls to do it, And please don't be put off by the wise men of wisdom on this forum, When they first moved to Spain they did no much, And even after years of being in Spain still don't, And at the end of the day what your unsure of get  some legal advice.Good Luck.  

Neil

VAT is called IVA in Spain and unlike the UK there is no exemption or threshold, every business in Spain must account for IVA however small.

Have a look at this page at HMRC, it gives most of the info from the UK end of things.

Most business's in Spain use a gestoria to file the necessary quarterly returns to the tax office, they will be able to advise on IVA. IVA on food in Spain is complex, there are three possible rates 21,10 or 4 % depending on what it is, if and how it's processed and who it's sold to and where. 

Hi Guys, thanks for all the help and possitive comments, much appreciated. To those who mentioned breakfast and pints, i already knew this, been to Benidorm countless times, wasnt asking about breakfasts and beer.

Also not sure sure what a coked!! breakfast is...does this mean you get high...ha ha....anyway lmao

Neil20 l was just being honest by telling you how it is in Spain l actually own a property in Spain l have done for nine years and have given up counting the amount of times I have seen bars closing down and opening up again only to close down again ,many of the poster's on hear that are trying to encourage you don't own a property in Spain they are just dreamer's and holiday makers.

Wndtaker:  Well you have been here 9 years, I have owned a property here since 1983 and have lived here permanently about 27 years.

I can endorse what you say about the seemingly endless steam of people coming from UK without any knowledge of business in Spain (or probably in UK for that matter) and losing their shirts, often within a few months.   A miner I knew lost all his £120.000 redundancy money in a few months, in his dream, a bar.

The only people with real knowledge of Spain who will tell people that they should follow their dreams and buy a business are probably the last lot of arrivals who are desperately trying to get out their 'investment.'

Neil20 l was just being honest by telling you how it is in Spain l actually own a property in Spain l have done for nine years and have given up counting the amount of times I have seen bars closing down and opening up again only to close down again ,many of the poster's on hear that are trying to encourage you don't own a property in Spain they are just dreamer's and holiday makers.

Well, this is about as truthful a post as you can get on this forum, now this place / forum has plenty of (Useless) advice from posters who as you say don't live in Spain or own anything in Spain except the food they buy when they rent and visit every now and again, or less.

I am all for anyone having the guts to start up a business anywhere but the one's who cant and never will, will always say don't, or give out so much expert advice, have to wonder how they know so much.

Many people on here put a downer on any place in Spain near the coasts because according to them it's the beer bellies, brown socks and sandal brigade, but you take the time to look around the bars in the winter-ish time near the coasts and then work out who's keeping the bars open, just remember it's the bums on seats that make it work and to go where these are. Like the Brits or not who cares if they spend the money in your bar.

just remember it's the bums on seats that make it work and to go where these are. Like the Brits or not who cares if they spend the money in your bar.

When I said ,   ”A miner I knew lost all his £120.000 redundancy money in a few months, in his dream, a bar.”  I forgot to mention that when a prospective buyer for the lease was coming to look at that bar, the owner, Paco, used to tell all his mates, Spanish and Brits etc. to come in that evening at a certain time, for free drinks. Of course when the prospective buyers came to check the bar out it was crammed to doors.  I guess it never occurred to most of them to wonder why that wa,  when all the other bars, about 8,  in the same strip were empty.

Incidentally, the miner I mentioned,  kept on Miguel the son-in-law. of the owner,  as a barman as the miner said he did not like Spaniards; he left Miguel to serve them.  One evening I was in the bar and Paco was inviting everyone to have a drink on him  When it came time to pay he asked Miguel how much his bill was.  I must have been pretty high as some of his mates were drinking whisky.  I did not hear what was said, but with a hard look Paco gave Miguel a 20 euro note and got what looked like just about the same amount back in change. I later suggested to the miner that he ought to keep an eye in the ‘Spanish end’ of the bar. He made some rude remark about Spaniards. As I said he was broke in a few months.

Paco told me how sad he was for the miner who had lost all his redundancy money. I suggested that if he really was sympathetic, he could return at least some of it.. That was the end of the conversation.

That bar used to change leaseholders at least a couple of times a year, with free drinks on the night prospective buyers for the lease came to check it out. 

Thats nothing new getting all your friends in when you know for certain that a prospective buyer is on his way,  I would think if a buyer bought the place on this he would deserve to go bust, my mate did this when he sold his pub in the UK, and as for keeping anyone on who had the slightest connection with the previous owner well that does work on a hand over business that takes no cash, but taking cash, over a bar, he deserved all he got.

I sold a shop to a Lady for a vast sum of money, she stayed in the shop with my manager in the 4 weeks run up to christmas and was wowed at the takings, what does that tell you, she then went and changed the name, and sold baby clothes, in our village where next to no babies were born, or around, would I have given her any money back, nope, did I feel sorry for her, nope, did I cry when they lost the home because they took out loans to buy the shop from me, nope.

No one knows how any business will work out even if you do your homework, it takes guts to have a go, that alone should be applauded.

Apropos keeping on old staff. In the eighties my wife & I had a franchise (Haagen-Dazs) in a busy food court in a Dallas shopping mall. We - and every other business owner in the food court, and probably the whole mall - used to fire all the staff after they had been working for a year. The conventional wisdom was after a year any employees would have learned all the tricks, made friends and would be giving away product and spending too much time chatting with neighbouring workers. Also, they might start getting ideas about wanting more pay, whereas they were in fact less productive than on day one, when they were eager beavers and strove to please.  I know it doesn't sound nice, but we were only kids ourselves. 

Hi baz and windtalker, i do appreciate your guys honesty, believe me i have been doing my homework for sometime now...i pretty much know the laws on food etc, and what i can and cant do,but its always nice to get help and opinions, as for the bar scenario, i know there is endless bars for rent in benidorm, and i know there is no grass greener....ive also seen the dreamers and schemers who have had bars, and just never got out of the so called holiday mode....sit in there bar and just drink...and never want to work themselves....i know you guys know what i mean.... i am wanting just a smallish bar that i can build up myself, put my own touch to it...i know that seems strange, but at least then...i know what i have to do, i really do appreciate your help and chats...thanks Neil.

Hi Guys, does anyone know how much sky sports would cost in a bar in benidorm......i maybe also be looking for kitchen equipment, good 2nd hand please, fryer, microwaves,good ovens...any help would be appreciated, and obviously if you guys know some good traders to fit in Benidorm area...thanks again.....Neil.

This message was last edited by neil20 on 15/09/2015.