Posted on 03/02/2010 4:33:18 PM PST by Yaelle
In this economy, even Rush Limbaugh said to turn your luck around by creating your own destiny, doing what you'd love to do. What if you would love to buy a pub, and such an opportunity is before you?
Have any of you done this? What were some of the pitfalls? What are the big decisions that factor into whether or not to take the plunge?
The opportunity that presents itself in this instance is of small capacity, maybe 50 persons, light and airy, with a kitchen for pub food as well. Location could be listed as "Could NOT be any better." Water view, tourist and local favorite area, plenty of foot traffic.
The long work day, or no free evenings, weekends, and holidays, does not frighten us.
The Yardhouse is certainly quite successful, on a much larger scale.
Looking for the Brand X article. Only found one about the BoHo pub so far.
What wonderful advice. The book is now on my Amazon list.
We need the business plan, definitely.
Very good tip not to remodel and incur costs right away.
It's already existing but not making full use of its wonderful location. It's not really a restaurant, nor a well-focused bar. It's light and airy, by the ocean, lots of foot traffic, with competition nearby for full on meetmarket style bar and also real restaurants in the area.
We envision a real pub: focusing on the beers (and wine) with great pub food in a small selection. Still doing our research but LOVE these tips and caveats. FReepers rock.
You think like us. We envision it the same way. The food being an excellent surprise. One of us was trained in the US and Europe, and both of us have worked various parts of restaurants.
It does suck about all the laws and restrictions, you are right. Management over great legs, totally agree.
Extremely good point about liability. Thank goodness we have a lot of lawyers in the family. (Sometimes... Some of them were prepared to vote Edwards... :))
It is not badly reviewed there at all. Thanks, we had not yelped it yet.
Brilliant, all of your suggestions.
Thanks to everyone else I didn’t thank — you all are great.
Look for the certificates of inspection, liquor licenses and other regulatory badges at similar establishments in the area. Ask them about the process - or ask an alderman for their thoughts.
Here, the process of getting the city okay to serve wine, beer, and pre-packaged food (no kitchen) run up 10’s of thousands of dollars of legal fees and inspection/licensing fees. And then came the equipment purchases to be in compliance with the health department - washers, sinks, etc.
All to serve coffee, beer, sandwiches and bakery prepared offsite.
Beware of the regulatory burden, and make sure you know who controls the neighborhood from a city government perspective. Aldermen can make or break places here, can even pull licenses. Be on the right side of history with the place you’re looking at - if it has had past problems in the neighborhood, being proactive and being the shining knight can help carry you through the early bumps.
Look at complaints and police calls.
Run a ton of due diligence before you even look at the lease/rent/purchase price or consider the day-to-day operations or marketing.
Whatever the reason, this is a large warning signal to you. This is another failed pub. One of many.
In doing your "due diligence" you will of course examine all aspects and in your mind, have plenty of marketing tips to "turn" the pub around. You fall in love with the 'dream', but the reality is most restaurants still FAIL.
IF you do go ahead, discount the owner's asking price. Not a token mark-down but a significant discount, and simply be prepared to walk away if they won't come down from pie-in-the-sky asking price.
I usually dont read that liberal rag. Mostly used for lining the bottom of my garbage bags but there are ‘some” useful info in it just like that micro-brewery/pub article.
I’m honored and appreciate the fact that you’ve asked me for advice on this matter, but I regret that I have absolutely zero direct experience in the foodservice or bartending industries (Health Dept. regulations about wild, furry animals with ‘occasional’ fleas working around food has always been a sticking point).
That being said, I’ve read over ‘most’ of the advice being given here and much of it sounds VERY worthwhile.
Here in The People’s Republic of Seattle, my understanding is that the restaurant / bar market is particularly intense and volatile. When I’ve heard such matters as opening a new restaurant or bar in the area discussed, it has frequently been accompanied by the caveat “be mentally prepared and sufficiently bankrolled to operate the business for 5 years with zero profit and occasional losses, because that’s how much time it takes to become ‘known’ and to develop a regular clientele of repeat customers.” If you’re buying a turnkey establishment with preexisting revenue streams then that of course would be different.
All I would add is that if this is truly your life’s passion, then you will always regret it if you didn’t at least look into the matter VERY seriously and carefully and gave it a go if the outlook appears good.
I apologize that I’m not more help but I do sincerely appreciate your asking my advice :-)
Best of luck to you :-)
Yaelle,
If you decide to buy a pub, learn the name “rory fatt”
best,
ampu
Only do it if you have considerable experience managing a restaurant or bar. The failure rate on that kind of business is very high. I know people who had such experience and still went broke.
bttt
Thanks, Stoat. I feel like I need to up my donation this month to FR just for the amazing, valuable advice FReeperS give to one another here.
G-d Bless Free Republic, and all the FReepers within!!
Is he legit? No ripoff, sincerely good stuff?
I think he is legit and has made a few thousand restaurant owners successful.
best,
ampu
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