Not sure how it works outside the states but in America one of the biggest factors in making a profit has to do with the price you pay for the fuel and much of that is based on the contract your supplier has with the major oil compaines so take lots of time and research the contracts from each supplier before you go with one brand. Good Luck!
I owned a convenience store with gas and I woudn't do irt again on a bet. Gas margins are very thin and at times I had to sell below cost to stay even with the competition. Lots of hard work with marginal returns.
Stick some used cars on it. We all know the sob stories about petrol markups being 2 p per liter, but did you know that LPG which retails here for 42 p per liter drops to 21 p per liter for tanks of 5000 liters in one go.
selling used cars, fixing cars, sell food, sell gas and owning the real estate that shall be the perfect combo
Check out NACS. The National Association of Convenience Stores . . . This includes gas stations, carwashes, mini-marts, and the like. They have trade shows with all the related vendors and lots of information if you are serious.
Have a lot of snacks/food and stuff which will sell like Monster, Red Bull, candy etc just for backup. Also have security cameras...
what kind of deal are you getting on the gas station? you could always buy it for land, knock the place down or build on it into something and sell it off for profit. if its in a good area right off the street people would pay good money for popular land.
order your gas at the coldest part of the day so it expands in your tank(middle of the night) expansion from the heat during the day will give you less gas by delivery when it cools... (I drove fuel trucks for years) in Arizona... it's amazing how much gas expands with a few degrees when your talking 8500 gallons
The two problems are competition and profit margin. Operating solely as a gas station isn't actually that profitable.
it's very very good business, probably the best out there, next one would be fast food restaurant btw, i do merchant services, i have very low rates for credit card processing, we have a lot of gas stations with us, feel free to PM me
Of all businesses to get into, that's one that I would definately NOT recommend. As mentioned by many people already... the profit margins on your gas are miniscule. In fact, you'll be lucky you don't lose money from your gas sales. Location... Location... Location... Expect to pay dearly for a good location, otherwise you'll make hardly any money on your higher margin items. Unless you are a national chain, Tigermart (Exxon), Racetrack (Raceway), etc, you will be forced to go to use Sams/Costco/etc to purchase your inventory. Not to forget the EPA regulations/inspections, ugh. Not a headache I'd recommend to anyone. You are looking at a ton of money for a ton of work. Land based businesses work best if they are owner operated for at least a year or two. It works two-fold; you are there to ensure that your personal interests are protected at all times, and you develop a rapport with your customers. Customers like seeing the owners working at the business. That means a lot of time investment for you. For the amount of money you are spending, go with something that requires a lot less man hours, ie: carwash. Still pricey (over $100k per bay), but its a virtual cash cow that requires 2-3 hours per day of your time. Not that I'm recommending a car wash, but it beats a gas station in terms of investment and man hours. Just my 2 cents...