Anyone in the bar/club business??

[DollaBill]

Make it into a strip club.
Will i get free drinks there?

I second that

[BobbyB]

"Make it into a strip club"..typical BobbyB response..Charlie Sheene Jr.

Of course Bobbyb would get free drinks...

Ok that works. And make sure hot woman go there alot.

[THEJOKER]

Find Michael Stancomb , Peppers Racing......he'll give you the good and bad.

[Chris]

Yeah. Stancombe. Look what it did to him.

[.38Special]

I would say this investment is kind of like a boat. No matter how much you plan on spending, double it. Then make sure you have "reserves" to put in every month for; rent, payroll, etc... Because your not going to break even immediately. And remember if you're banking on the colleges, those kids leave in the summer. Like BraceYourself said, he spent 600k and sold it for 50k just to get out of it. The second hand owner always makes the money, because they don't have the buildout costs, initial advertising costs, etc... Not trying to be negative, but we've been through it (a restaurant) and hate it. We're still open and it does fine, but not nearly worth the time it requires to run it.

[stinger]

Find Michael Stancomb , Peppers Racing......he'll give you the good and bad.

I think they have two bars here in town

[MarylandMark]

Been there, done that- much, much, much, much, much better to be on this side of the bar than that side of the bar. Yes- there are some pluses, and if it is an established joint there are even a lot of pluses. Getting to the pluses is tougher than almost every one thinks. #1 reason it is the #1 business that fails is because it looks so much easier than it is.

Profitable in a couple years and then sell it? Sorry to burst your bubble but highly unlikely that will happen. Like, very highly unlikely. Say you have $100K in it and want to sell it for $125K- a buyer could open a place down the street for $100K and dump that $25K in to promotions and price cuts and your profit margin will be cut in 1/2 just like that. Beer/liquor companies love to offer successful bars and brand new bars promotions. After your newness wears off but before you are successful (most of the time newness last a few weeks to a year, to be successful we are talking over 5-7 years)- they won't give you squat.

Colleges kids want cheap drinks- 10 cent wings and $1 drafts don't pay the bills. High income earners, they don't want to be in a place with college kids and a lot of the high income earners I know are..um....let's just say "thrifty". Value- every one wants it.

Minority grants? I'm checking in to this right now for my fiance. Not saying you can't and wish you the best, just not as easy as saying "I'm a minority and I want to start a business", especially if you aren't already in that business. She's sitting on a Bachelors of Science, 2 Masters and 12 years in the business.

Don't let BobbyB or Seltzer in, your rep will be pooh

You think the "lifestyle of a typical bar owner" is because they want to live like that? They have to or the doors would close. 18+ hour days, 7 days a week. If you pay someone enough not to steal, you won't be making any money.

Just being honest and wish you the best- but be prepared to hemorrhage cash for quite some time. I could type all night but the best advice is DON'T DO IT.

[Chris]

I could type all night but the best advice is DON'T DO IT.

I hate to ever tell anyone that directly. I like to give them the honest perspective and let them figure it out themselves.

I was thinking about this thread earlier this evening. This is what came to me- if you've got the skill, willingness and financing to make this a go, you can do damn near ANYTHING. So why not focus on something that has better odds and far fewere barriers to success?

I travel alot and I see quite a bit. There's a new franchise out there that's absolutely booming. It's called Five Guys. They have hamburgers and fries. You can't get into the parking lot at lunch or dinner time and they're steady all day long. And they're only in a handful of markets. if you've got a great location where you can draw college kids, business lunch traffic and suburban dinner traffic, this might be a winner.

[Expensive Date]

Any business can fail and most if not all will have you working double the hours than working for someone else.But you also have something else the chance to make more money and control your life financially if you do it right.If you are married your wife has to understand my wife's father had his own business so she thinks 90 hours a week is normal.I am in the mobile tool business which has an extremely high failure rate May 3 is my 17 year anniversary and I have made money every year.Its getting harder because a lot of suppliers are trying to back out of there warranty's but you adapt.As stated you need a good accountant that will make or break you.Mine is great I emailed her last week at 1:00 am and she responded at 5:00 am.Most importantly you need cash you will not be able to borrow if you have a slow start and if you do this do not change you lifestyle(spending) for at least two years.

[Expensive Date]

I travel alot and I see quite a bit. There's a new franchise out there that's absolutely booming. It's called Five Guys. They have hamburgers and fries. You can't get into the parking lot at lunch or dinner time and they're steady all day long. And they're only in a handful of markets. if you've got a great location where you can draw college kids, business lunch traffic and suburban dinner traffic, this might be a winner.

Obama goes there all the time.There is one of those in my route its never that busy.Hence location.location,location

[Expensive Date]

http://www.fiveguys.com/franchise.aspx




That's a lot of coin for only lunch and dinner Mcds are over a mil.but they have breakfast.I really could not deal with the 6%.

[JupiterSunsation]

http://www.fiveguys.com/franchise.aspx




That's a lot of coin for only lunch and dinner Mcds are over a mil.but they have breakfast.I really could not deal with the 6%.

They opened one in the next town.........not terribly impressed. It all was greasy and expensive for $hitty food!

[JupiterSunsation]

I had a friend that owned 30 Domino's Pizza stores in S. FL. They had managers making 75K a year, driving Land Rovers as company cars stealing pizzas in large scale (like 25 pizzas a day sold out the back door). They sold the group of stores and swore that if they ever went back in the restaurant business it would never be a franchise. The fees, forced purchases of inferior products/ overpriced products made them nuts!

[showtime83]

I thought about the bar/club scene once, wanted something on the water. A good friend of mine is in the hotel business(knows these business well), we sat down and talked about it for a long time. Came to if it were to take off, it would be around 7 years before it would really be making money. I figured I will continue to take my chances working construction.

[Expensive Date]

I had a friend that owned 30 Domino's Pizza stores in S. FL. They had managers making 75K a year, driving Land Rovers as company cars stealing pizzas in large scale (like 25 pizzas a day sold out the back door). They sold the group of stores and swore that if they ever went back in the restaurant business it would never be a franchise. The fees, forced purchases of inferior products/ overpriced products made them nuts!

I am under the old contract with Matco the current one is totally different.Most if not all currently offered franchises are not that great of a deal and in some cases not even viable.

[JupiterSunsation]

This is the best bar story I have ever heard or seen!
http://www.squaregrouper.net/history-recent-past.htm

You may recognize the spot in the Alan Jackson video 5 o'clock somewhere.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUOHz6clCis

Short story was it was a 800 sq ft bait shack on the Jupiter Inlet. Local developer buys it and beats the city at their own game. 800 sq ft bait shacks only need one bathroom for men, one for women and a dozen parking spaces. Guy gets a beer/wine license and built a tiki hut over the 800 sq ft shack to give it a little bigger feel (like 1200 sq ft). Built a sea wall, backfilled it with white beach sand and set out a few hundred beach chairs. Now the city quickly approved its newest "bait shack" and the place opened. Alan Jackson lives nearby and became a customer, filmed the video and now it is the busiest bar in town. When it first opened it only took cash......classic. It serves microwave food only (hot dogs, chicken wings), chips, soda and beer/wine. I have been there on nights that had 500 people there. It overlooks the 100 year old, still working lighthouse and the Jupiter Inlet is 1/3 mile east. The water is turquiose and on most days has 15 ft. visibility.

Now the city screwed up big time so they bought an ajoining lot and build a parking lot for a couple hundred cars and wants to charge for parking (still working on that). Hurricanes damaged the old docks (he never encouraged boats since they usually were jammed with coolers of beer, not good for sales). He re-did the docks with sportfishes in mind and rents the 19 slips monthly.

No A/C bill (nothing at this place has A/C!), beach sand is the flooring, he doesn't allow anyone under 21 (even kids during the day are banned, rare in FL), is open every night, he bought this piece of property for 1.05mm 10 years ago. Even without the bar revenue the land is worth twice that now! Lower taxes since it is only an 800 sq. ft. "bait shack!"

Place is a homerun with tourists and locals and is busy year round.......not a bad place/idea for a bar!

[JupiterSunsation]

http://www.squaregrouper.net/news.htm
Scroll to the 2nd video and you will get an idea of what it looks like now. Beer guy is a local reporter that visits bars around town.......

[Expensive Date]

I chartered a boat out of the docks at that place once.Wanted to show my Dad and kids the boat the night before they did not even want to let the kids cross the sand.They did but told us to walk strait and not stop.They were nice about it though and yes I was down there off season and it was busy.

[MacGyver]

I did the wiring for Anduzzi's second bar here in Appleton. The first was in Green Bay. The owner is young and never works. He spends all his free time hunting all over the country. Like you said, you'll never know until you've tried.

[fund razor]

I hate to ever tell anyone that directly.

I should have known that before I took you with me boat shopping.

On topic, I think that she got some very pragmatic advice. That's probably a good balance to go with the youthful enthusiasm.

I agree that if she has the skills, attitude, drive and capital to start investing in new business models, there are certainly many options with less known and predictable hazards.