Budapest business

aminamunzoor wrote:

Can somebody guide me about the business opportunities in Hungary? My dad is thinking about opening a new convenience store or buying a franchise like CBA or Coop?

1. Does he speak Hungarian? If not, and he wants to run the store himself, don't bother. First of all, to run any retail store in Hungary you have to go through and pass a store retail course, and as far as I know these are only taught in Hungarian.

2. He can also hire someone to run the store, but employees can be a significant drain on a small business and might limit your open hours.

3. Hungary is a pre-pay tax country. He will have to pay all his business taxes, and usually the income taxes, in advance monthly or quarterly. Even if you do not make any money that month or quarter. And there are added required expenses such as the obligatory accountant -- no self business accounting allowed in Hungary.

4. The rules of running a business are numerous and not always clear. Yet store inspections can happen randomly. Make the smallest mistake (such as leaving a can with a torn and partially missing label on the shelf) and the fines can be quite high (as I was told once by someone who runs a small store and stated this happened to him).