Do you dream of running a gite in France. Perhaps a delicious little café, a campsite, restaurant or shop? Maybe a B&B, brewery, a brasserie or a boulangerie. Thousands of expats make France their home and start or take over existing businesses from farms to vineyards, hotels to bars, restaurants to cake shops. But where do you start – and what do you need to know? Top tips to buy an existing business in France…
Find a business you can run in France
It can be an easier way to start a business in France when you buy something that’s already in place. You knot that there’s an existing customer base, plus you’ll have an idea of the income that is already being generated.
Start by taking a look at what’s available with Leggett Immonbilier, the award-winning estate agents in France, which was set up by British expats in 1998 – a living, and very successful, example of what can be achieved. They now have more than 700 independent agents (and are recruiting for more – a perfect business opportunity!). They set up a commercial division several years ago and have helped hundreds of expats to find fantastic options to run a business. With their huge agent network, they’re also able to source opportunities that mainstream consultancies never see.
Leggett Immobilier’s commercial listings include 100s of businesses which range from hotels to campsites, pizza kiosks, a mechanics garage, retail space, bars, cafés, farms, beauty salons, leisure centres and more. There are businesses. listed for sale all over France from Paris to Provence, the Dordogne, Charente-Maritime and the Loire Valley – as far as Corsica. There’s something to suit many skills sets and to make many dreams come true.
Get professional help
Most of Leggett Immobilier’s bilingual agents know the basics of running a business and they will all help clients as much as possible. For small businesses – running a gite or B&B for instance, a helping hand like this can be enough, with agents helping for exampl, to get the utilities sorted and sharing information about local services.
You’ll need to have fairly good French to sort out the administration requirements for registering in the system to run a business and pay tax, and to make sure that you’ve completed all the steps that are involved in running a business (this is France after all, and they do love their admin). Sometimes you’ll also need to complete professional qualification courses in order to be signed off to run certain businesses – especially anyone involved in food production.
If you do need more support, or you simply don’t have time to manage the administration requirements, you find that there is plenty of help at hand. Lots of companies can help you sort everything out and get you up and running with all the right paperwork, in the right business structure administrative category (there are several), ticking all the right boxes and even achieving a licence if that’s necessary.
They’ll help you ask the right questions too – get a copy of profit and loss accounts, stock and equipment inventories. And they can help you find out if there is any support that you can claim. France operates many schemes to support entrepreneurs – especially if you take over an existing business. This help ranges from interest free loans to grants and even French lessons. You can find more information about running a business in France on the government website (in French) here: entreprendre.service-public.fr. Many towns also have a Chambre de Commerce (www.cci.fr/) which you can visit in person for information and support.
If you’re dreaming of running a business in France, you’ll find all of Leggett Immobilier’s commercial properties available here: www.frenchestateagents.com/commercial
