Opening a business in Playa Del Carmen
Many dream of moving abroad to start a new life or new phase of life. You many have saved up a little stockpile of money and want to work some in retirement years or move to work while still young. What is it like to open a business in Playa Del Carmen Mexico? What type of businesses are good to open? Where should you open? What are the pitfalls of opening a business in Mexico? We will examine all these things in this article.
We will note that we are not going to talk about the legal paperwork and governmental requirements for each type of business. This is best discussed with an immigration lawyer and with the appropriate office at city hall.
What type of business should you open?
Do you imagine yourself opening up a small beach bar and spending your days looking between the palm trees while serving fruity drinks to expats? Many people imagine that, and this could be a dream job, but reality will wake you up in a hurry from this dream. For one, Playa Del Carmen is a small town in some perspective, but the cost of a beachfront bar will cost you at least a million dollars to get into the real estate market.
Many people think about a bar, but restaurants are by far the largest business opened by people moving to Playa Del Carmen.
Bars in Playa Del Carmen can be good money makers but also are often owned by restaurant groups or are well connected businesses. Bars and clubs are best left to people with a lot of time here in Mexico and connections here.
Restaurants in Playa Del Carmen offers a way for foreigners to express their talents and bring a taste of home to a new place. Bringing something unique to Playa Del Carmen is often a business route many take.
In the following sections we also mention some types of businesses that have worked and are run by expats.
It does matter WHERE you have your business
The beachfront for one, is limited in space and highly desirable. So, this is out of the reach of most people. The next obvious location is 5th Avenue. Here there are thousands of tourists and locals walking every day. The foot traffic is perfect for most businesses. But rents are very high, and you will be competing with many long running businesses that have a good reputation to run on.
This makes some start to look at 10th Avenue or side streets off of 5th Avenue. Rents can be nearly half but often your visibility and foot traffic are 80% less. Playa Del Carmen is a block-by-block town. Some blocks are notoriously dead blocks for business. We have seen some blocks have business after business open and close, never to learn the lessons of previous businesses. It is important to know Playa Del Carmen well and pick a location that will fit the type of business you want to open.
Business trends in Playa Del Carmen
We talk with hundreds of business owners every year in Playa Del Carmen. We see what is working and what people are thinking of doing. Here are several trends we are seeing happening. Below is our map for reference of the topics of location and trends.
The entrepreneurs’ avenues
For many restaurants the rent is very expensive in the center of Playa Del Carmen. For those that want to have a small restaurant without the high overhead but still be accessible to the center and good neighborhoods, there is one area that has become popular. We call this the entrepreneur’s area of Playa.
This area is on 30th Avenue from Constituyentes Avenue to 38th Street. Then part of 10th Avenue, 34th Street and CTM Avenue basically. Here you can find such restaurant success stories like the Don Chendo Restaurant.
People with a passion for good food have carved out a location that locals will go to, expats and some tourist. It takes building a reputation but once you have established that, you can have a stable business to grow on.
In house and deliverable business
Do you want low overhead and work from home atmosphere? What about a business that you can deliver goods and not have a physical storefront? We have seen this for small startups in Playa Del Carmen.
Mostly this has dealt with food delivery niches. Some people are doing healthy meal deliveries that service busy and healthy minded individuals. It can take some time to market this since you don’t have a storefront but once you have a following it can be easy to have a steady clientele.
You will need a good product and volume to make delivery affordable, but you can cost cut over a restaurant because you have lower overhead. Some also make this work near to 5th Avenue since workers all need affordable meals. If you are able to have meals between 60-100 pesos you can sell to locals working and even offices.
Other ideas for online or at home businesses are services like interior decorators, wedding photographers, air condition repair or business models where you meet people at their home or office.
Start small and end up with a storefront
You can even start a home-based business and transition into a storefront when you get big enough. This is what many food-based businesses have done.
The other side of the highway
Most everyone focuses on the tourist center of Playa Del Carmen. After all this is where the big money is. But with so much competition, you can find yourself fighting for just a small piece of the business.
This has made some people look to open a business on the other side of the highway. The 307 Highway is not only a physical divide in Playa Del Carmen, but also a mental one as well. It divides the tourist center from where the locals live. Most businesses that open their focus on serving locals and very few tourists. Only if you have something very remarkable will tourist even cross 30th Avenue to visit.
With a growing middle class, there are neighborhoods like Los Olivos that have thousands of working professionals that all will eat out or shop once a week or more. On the map above we have the popular avenues where businesses have found a good opportunity to open.
Some have found the rent to profit ratio better than being in the center of Playa Del Carmen. You also take out of the equation for the most part, the low and high seasonal differences that mostly effects tourist-based businesses.
Moving out of Playa Del Carmen to start a business?
Another business trend we have noticed is moving out of Playa Del Carmen all together. The first instinct when moving to Playa Del Carmen is to think about a business in Playa. Some have found the rents and hassle of doing business hard. Once people are more comfortable living in Mexico and you see opportunity in other areas, you might venture out to open a business.
This does not mean you have to move from Playa Del Carmen. It might mean you split your time living between two places, having the best of both worlds. So where have people moved to open a business?
Places like Isla Holbox and Bacalar have lured businesses with the ease of opening a business and lower rents. Both locations have very small populations and are more remote. At first you might think that it would be a bad place for business. While locals might not be customers, the fewer tourist that go their flock to your business because you offer a quality product. You might open a restaurant, bar or hotel that will cater to the tourist market.
Even small places inland like Valladolid and Coba are drawing attention of businesses. With websites like Airbnb and others, it makes it easier to connect with people looking for a guesthouse or retreat off the beaten path.
Marketing and advertising a business in Playa Del Carmen
If you have gotten to the point of thinking about opening a business in Playa Del Carmen, you will need to think about advertising. This process should start early because you will need to hit the ground running. The idea of “build it and they will come” mentality does not really work here. There are a lot of places that open and then fail because they did not build a customer base fast enough and word did not get out.
Marketing in Playa Del Carmen is hard (be sure to read our guide on advertising and marketing, it has a lot of details for you). Most likely you are coming from a location where most everyone speaks one language and there are regular media outlets to use. Mexico and Playa Del Carmen in particular are very different. For one, if you are targeting a tourist market, there is a new audience each week and you have to reach them. Second, there are multiple languages to reach. You will also need to know how people find out about places and how to reach our in multiple languages.
Most people in Mexico do not watch local TV stations or the nightly news. Radio stations are very few in Playa Del Carmen. In fact, there are very few places that a majority of eyes. This makes marketing hard and a puzzle to get the message out. it usually takes some multiple places to target your audience.
Pitfalls of opening a business in Playa Del Carmen
What can we tell you are some of the things to avoid doing wrong? Here are a few tips we can pass onto you that we have learned in dealing with hundreds of businesses.
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Most businesses don’t make a profit the first year.
Between inventory and the cost of paperwork, it can take a while to break even. You should think more long term in terms of success. Playa Del Carmen is not a get rich quick scheme of a place.
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Don’t open a business to cater to expats.
This is a 101 beginner’s lesson. It might sound easy to target expats and deal with people that speak your language. But the expat market can be tough. For one, this is a limited market. In comparison to the overall population this is less than 10%. So, you already exclude 90% of the market. Expats also know local prices and those that have been here for a while will speak Spanish and know who offers services at a good price. While it is a tendency to work with people that speak your own language and trust a little more those from the same place, after a while people integrate more. If you are a tradesman, your skills may be very good, but many locals are also very good and know local materials. Plus, they are used to local wages. This is just one example of why targeting expats s hard.
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Think about the low and high season.
Any business like a restaurant that runs off tourist will need to appeal to locals as well. Many people will tell you that it is the locals that carry you through the low seasons.
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Have capital.
You will burn through money and without a buffer, especially the first year, you just might end up wasting your investment money. It is a shame when we see a new business open and then close within a year. We think about all the time it took to get the location ready and buy the equipment. Much too frequently people end up selling things off a fraction of the cost. It is why you see so much restaurant equipment at the Bazar de Remate on 35th Avenue.
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Get a good deal on rent.
Most people are going to rent for a business. If you can afford to buy you probably are not the type that is going to work behind a counter as well. Rent can be tricky in Playa Del Carmen. On one hand you want a good deal but don’t want to sign a long contract because you want to see how your business will go.
If you only sign a year contract and your business is going well, then your landlord ups the rent to the point of forcing you to relocate, it can seriously damage your business. Not only is there the stress of finding a new location, renovating the new location but also reaching out to customers to tell them you moved. Just think of all the places your business is mentioned, websites, Trip Advisor, magazines and online forums. All of this free promotion will be wasted if people cannot find you.
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Buying and selling a business.
If you are looking to buy a preexisting business or looking to sell one, there are pitfalls. Businesses are like clothes. They fit the owner well. When a potential buyer comes along, it can be hard to fit into the existing business model. Each owner likes to customize it to fit their wants. We have only seen a small number of businesses sell successfully and continue to run. This means that on both sides caution should be used when thinking about selling or buying a business. If you are looking to buy an existing business, does it have a good reputation? good location with long lease? and is it a business you want to keep fairly similar to continue to success?
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Hiring and dealing with Mexican work habits.
Finding good help can be hard. No doubt you have an idea of how you want to conduct your business. Training can take time and finding someone that is a good worker can take even longer. The fact that people often change jobs in Playa Del Carmen shows that it is easy to find another job. This speaks well for the business climate but not good for employee retention. Finding good employees and keeping them is a challenge. Often foreigners tend to do better because they pay a little better and have better work environments.
We hope this give some perspective on opening a business in Playa Del Carmen. Some other reading might include our article about moving to and living in Playa Del Carmen.
If you have comments or questions about opening a business in Playa Del Carmen, we would love to hear from you in the comment section below.
About The Author
What kind of new businesses do you think are really needed actually in Playa del Carmen?
Hello Alfredo
Hotels and restaurants are always what people think of first. These focuses on tourism. It would be good to diversify from this model. Furniture makers have made a good new trade seeing that there is a need for this here. Energy audits could be a good thing if you can convince people and businesses that it is important and you can help reduce cost. Accountants that know Mexican business laws and are bilingual. Good management companies for condos are always in need. These are just a few things we have seen that are good options for opening a business.
How necessary/popular is auto repair in the area? Are there “chain” auto repair shops like we have here in the states?
The big repair shops are new kind of like Home Depot is a new concept. We do have Carfix. Many local mechanics and do it yourselfers but it is hard to know who to trust and who is good. Many people have new cars and for the first couple of years you have to service them at the repair shops to maintain warranty. English speaking mechanics that re good would be popular but you should never base a business just on expats because they are only a very small portion of the market. Just some advice.
Is museum or artspace can be a good business?
There are several gallery spaces on 5th Avenue. One notable one just closed and another one closed about a year ago. There would have to be a balance between rent cost and sales. Not as many people buy art on vacation and many people buying condos for rentals are not looking for the best art to put on the walls. Many artist get permits to sell on 5th on Thursdays, so this is a way to reach people and not have much overhead. A gallery or space would have to house upper end art and that means having ac on all the time. That is another expense.
Hello
We had a great tea in the same place you wrote about in less than 3 weeks ago..it was great and the funny thing is my wife and I were talk8ng about the simplicity and the culture touch
My wife and I are very interested of opening small business rather say food business in fifth ave
We have been there for almost 12 years in a roll
So we think it is the time
We are very moravited after reading about your article
You really helped us a lot
We do not know where to start so my wife suggested to send you an email to help us to start
So here we are ready for your advice..real estate license … basically what we need to do to start a business and who should we contact…so would you be able to direct us in the right direction please !!!!
We are from USA by the way with Egyptian Asian background …..we are lacking of the language
Thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon
Hello Hany
There are two places to stay, one is with immigration. A great resource and good person to work with is Milly. https://everythingplayadelcarmen.com/immigration-lawyer-playa-del-carmen/ This will be part of the first step so you know what type of visa it will take and some of the requirements. The next step is looking for a place. You will need to have your visas sorted out first so you can start the paperwork for a business and all the things you need for it. We do have a list of recommended realtors here: https://everythingplayadelcarmen.com/realtors-playa-del-carmen/ Lilia has an office just off 5th Avenue and knows what is going on with rentals on 5th. So this would be a good person for you to contact.
Hi I would like to know if I open an accounting office with a specific market such American living in Mexico could be profitable? I am an accountant graduated from an American university and I would like to provide a service for American there.
thank you,
There are two options. One is leaning how to do foreign taxes for expats. Local accountant need to learn a lot of Mexican laws and it is going to be hard to become efficient enough to do everything you need to. If you can do it though, you can get a lot of clients.
Hello. Would I be able to rent out a space for a laundry mat before seeing an immigration lawyer ?
So you would rent the space in your name and not the business name or use a business account because you will not have one. This might cause some problems in the future. But we are not sure about the details. A good person to ask is Milly who works in immigration assistance. She might be able to best guide you. Here is here info and contact. https://everythingplayadelcarmen.com/immigration-lawyer-playa-del-carmen/
What about the Diving and hostels industry, does it worth looking in to?
Hostels are well represented and the most popular ones have invested a lot, so competing is hard with a small investment. Opening a hostel in a smaller location that is yet on the map is easier for the first time opener. There is a lot of investment also for a dive shop with paperwork and renting a good location. Tourism in the Riviera Maya is not new and most businesses that are “typical” tourist businesses either need a lot of investment to catch up to established businesses or have something different that others done have. It can take a while to know the reasons why people come and the flow of people in order to make a good business decision.
Hello,
Thanks for this article, it’s a real good resource for at least have an idea of the Play Market. What about e-commerce in term of local customers? Do Mexicans in general often shop online? I am in fashion for Women, Men and Kids with a big focus on beauty products for women and men grooming products. I am also in home furniture, specially home decoration products. Is local delivery fast for a product shopped online? How about delivery from USA to Mexico, from Canada to Mexico and vis-versa? I will be in Playa soon but is there a lot of beauty physical shops also in playa?
What about taxi business there also? I am looking to own 2 to 3 Taxi there too.
Thanks for your info.
Hello Albert
Here are the answers to your questions. Taxis are all controlled in a central union and it would be near impossible to join that and operate. We would not even recommend pursuing this. Amazon and Mercado Libre are the two big online websites. They are both fairly new and people are just getting used to shopping online. It is a growing market but in general for beauty supplies, there are many stores in neighborhoods and people do not buy online unless it is a very specialty store that offers higher end products. You would need to ship all over Mexico to make a success at it. Amazon has done well with shipping things from the US to Mexico. There is a lot of customs and inspection process which Amazon has figured out. Many times though for small businesses there are issues with importing things on a regular basis. Home furnishings and decor is a growing business and there is a need for this. Ikea is just opening their first location in Mexico and they will be a success. However, most of the furniture for the Yucatan Peninsula needs to be built to fit the climate. Pine furniture and soft woods will mold or get eaten by bugs. Having a design service and supplies online is a good idea since there is a flow if new condos being built in Tulum and Playa all the time and they all need furniture.
Greetings,
I plan on relocating to Playa Del Carmen and opening a transportation company that hires women drivers and only serves women and couple patrons. Do you think there’s a demand for that service in PDC, Cancun, and Tulum?
If there is a market is one question, the other is how you will work with the Taxi syndicate. Transportation is pretty much a monopoly outside of the airport and part of the airport transportation. We imagine you would not just offer airport transportation. This is one issue you would have to tackle. The second is the issue of targeting a very small market. It would not be 50% less because many people travel in a couple or with teen male kids. So maybe your market would be 15% of the trips. Then there is marketing to reach those 15% and then your service has to have enough cars and drivers so you offer good service. So those are some of the challenges you face. There has been this type of service in Mexico City. You might want to see how it functions there, or maybe you have already done this.
My husband and I was getting ready to open up a taqueria to sell empanadas and tacos. we’re one block from Galaxia school. there’s a rumor the people at the school are selling food there and they told the neighborhood that they’re not going to let anybody else open and sell food so then the next day we had inspectors come over here just before we open. so now we find we didn’t have all the papers in order. we have to go to more than five different places, it’s like chasing your tail and keep going back to the same place over and over because they never give all the info that you need. We pay for trash and they never come and pick up the trash. we paid for a license it was good for one month and now we have to renew. so it’s a lot of running around go to the old municipal building the new municipal building in three different areas. we go to 1st and 15th avenue and then a couple other buildings all around Playa. and the fire department. it’s such a big headache, we really wanted to open up this little place out of our home’s driveway. it’s just in the driveway at our home in galaxia but now it’s all become a big nightmare. my husband and I are over the age of 60 so nobody will will want to hire us to work. it would be a great idea at our age to make and sell food from our home and it looks like Galaxia could use a place like that.but the county makes it very hard. I was very excited about doing this but now I’m very depressed. If things don’t change this week, we’ll just have to close.
It sounds like you are running into a lot of hassles and learning how things work in Mexico. In schools, there are many that make a business out of making food to sell to students. There are no meal plans in schools and people set up impromptu food sales. This might be some of the blowback from the locals. When you have lived in Mexico for a while you learn there are 5 ways to do things. One is to the letter of the law, and then there are shades of it after that. Being a foreigner and of course you want to do everything legal because you are here as a guest, and you want to preserve your status as a law-abiding resident. Sometimes is good to sit back and watch how things work and are before trying to start your own thing. Knowing what is needed and what people in your area want, then setting up a business to serve that need. If you have issues in your area, you might want to look at other options in other areas. We will say that we don’t know of many people that make a fortune off tacos, there are other businesses that can be less public but still make good money without having to deal with some of the permits. Food is always more detailed since it is dealing with food safety. We wish you luck and hope you have some resolution soon.
Hi, hope u are doing well, im from canada and me and my husband are thinking on buying a only delivery restaurant in playa it has been open for 3 years and the owners are retairing, we are excited but would love your opinion on that. As qe have seen from the accountant side it seems pretty legit.
Thank you have a good one
Hello. Home based companies can be much easier to operate in Playa. The one thing we think about is how the business has changed in the past few years. During the pandemic many people offered home delivery. It might not be as popular now. We do see however many niche markets of food delivery like healthy eating, asian, keto, and the like. The secret to success is consistency in Playa. This means being available almost all the time and have consistent food and delivery. We often order from a home delivery company. They have consistent quality, but sometimes don’t work one day or do not check messages frequently enough and you can end of waiting an hour or more to get food. We have noticed that most businesses in Playa do not ask the clients what they want or want differently. The expression “the customer is always right” does not exist in Mexico. We have seen a lot of businesses close because they were just out of touch with the customers and never listen or asked how they can be of better service to clients. So those are some comments for you, we hope this helps you some.
This is an amazing article, thank you for putting in an effort.
I am thinking of relocating to Playa and I have a lot of jewelry retail experience in Canada. At the moment I am doing handmade jewelry with precious pearls and corals, as well as another selling high end jewelry findings with great success on Etsy. Recently, I saw a great concept during my visit to Seoul Korea, and I think Playa is a perfect place for it. It is a store selling high end fashion jewelry at wholesale cost. The store is line floor to ceiling with high quality jewelry and customer put their selection in a basket. Prices ranges from $ to $20, including sterling silver jewelry. This store opens 24/7 and is busy at all hours.
It will need a good location but not a prime location. Store will be design beautifully and jewelry are packaged well and lined the wall. I would be interested in adding my hand made jewelry that are $50-$250 range.
At this price range, I do expect tourists as well as locals to be my customers.
What do you think of this idea and what location do you recommend? I can start smaller, and expand in the future.
Thank
Rachel
Hello
We have thought about your idea and have some thoughts for you. Random ones at that, but all hopefully helpful in helping you make decisions.
1. Rent will cost somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 pesos depending one where it is. Your advantage is space. You are able to sell from a smaller location. So smaller but in better area would be optimal.
2. Most jewelry stores we go by are not that busy. They must make money from higher priced sales, but fewer sales. So, volume at lower prices might be harder. There are also salespeople on the street and in artisanal markets that sell handmade jewelry. For many tourists, this is fine for them, and they might buy something. So, some of the market might go to these people since they pay little rent on the street and offer cheaper materials or quality. So, you are kind of the middle market.
3. People in general wear less jewelry here. It is hot, things are more casual here, so many locals do not buy much jewelry.
4. Alternative ideas for your store. Cozumel gets lots of cruise guests. There are a lot of jewelry stores, but not as many artisanal things. That could be a place to run a store. There are some markets in Tulum and art walks that have spaces for rent for artisans. It could be a way to test the market in Tulum without much commitment. Tourism in Tulum in general is a little wealthier and more appreciative of handmade things. Some nice hotels work with artisans, and you can do things on consignment. In fact, most stores will only offer consignment. And really out of the box, some of the smaller destinations that get good quality tourism, but have cheaper rent, are actually good for businesses. Holbox is one place and Valladolid is another.