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.
Find out to the penny what it will cost you to pay someone say, $9 an hour. It will blow your mind...
The sure way to make a small fortune in the food/beverage service business:
Start with a large fortune.
Don’t hire anyone with the last name Kennedy as your bartender...
The bartender really is the key. They can make you or break you. A sneaky bartender can rob you blind right in front of you. Do NOT pay off any inspector. Make your place spotless. Keep the drunks out. Ban anyone who even looks like a druggie. And most important..Have fun!
Hey, opening a pub would be a great thing, and a service for others. Americana and the American way!
Even HST said his greatest ambition was to be a piano player in a xxxxxhouse!
I lived in California for 30+ years after I retired from the Corps, and I had come to think that the rest of America had been paved over too.
Then I married a lady from Rochester NY—imagine my surprise to move there and discover communities of neighborhood bars, brewpubs, etc, almost like my boyhood memories of Providence and Cranston, Rhode Island.
I now reside in a small town in central Fla—just a dot on the map—and it too is like old times.
America still exists, find it; recreate it!
Semper Fidelis
Dick Gaines
aka: Gunny G
*****
What will you do to change that? Would it pay off?
How to improve things(?), without driving off present customers, unless there is some sort of other crowd, just waiting out there, well, somewhere...
Bars of long existence build a reputation. Changing the decor doesn't necessarily equate with changing the reputation.
Oh wait! A big one! Earthquake retrofit? It better the hell not be in an un-reinforced masonry building!
Remember to think basics and profit, not grand ideas and vanity indulgences and personal fantasies, and I do so much recommend Kitchen Nightmares, like so many others here do.
Kitchen Nightmares is a chance to see in real life, the mistakes and the solutions involving restaurants and pubs.
Location is an absolute requirement, then you need to have a marketing edge - offering something no one else has - maybe the menu, maybe connections to organizations, or community, or some speciality - you need an edge, and you need to do the marketing survey to make sure it will sell in the locality.
Given the current economic conditions, anything less is foolish IMHO.
No freeloading relatives!
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a list of Freeper owned businesses so we could keep those free enterprise dollars in the family?
If you are going to be in L.A., one of the recent editions of Brand X had an article about successful beer-only micro-pubs that somehow makes money. If you just stick with booze, you are going to be OK. A friend of mine used to be one of the owners of the Yardhouse.
Have you ever managed a bar before? If so, then I would trust your judgement.
LOL. No harm meant, but have you got a link for one of those?
You’re opening in California? That’s too bad, I could’ve tossed some money your way (if the beer is cold and fresh).
Skip all the licenses, and go the moonshine and home brew route.
The location has somewhat of a conservative-controlled local gov’t. There’s a hard-core bar down the street that serves liquor and very little food (chips, nuts, etc.), so we would hope that would cut down on the number of drunks. Appreciate all the comments so far.
According to Beck, breweries enjoy about an 18% profit margin so you should be able to work some great deals!
I got out of corporate radio 10 years ago and started a publishing company. I would not trade the decade for anything. It has not been all roses. But, I have had my freedom. I encourage you to proceed and to bring to actualization, your spirit of enterprise with some caveats.
Write a business plan! A detailed plan, it will bring into focus all aspects of the venture you entertain along with the inherent pitfalls and potential payoff. Make sure you have a good accountant and legal counsel. Don’t become one of those that put on the mantle of “I’m a business owner”, it will lead you to bankruptcy. Always operate with a bootstrap mentality. Don’t institutionalize hard costs that are not absolutely critical to operations. Acquire a food service software package, read extensively on the hospitality industry, think hard about what you’ll name your pub. In that pursuit, read Postioning Battle for the Mind by Levinson. I could go further, yes it’s homework, but it will coalesce your thoughts and change an emotional decision into a clear vision for the business and help insure profitability.
Pay your employees first, your vendors second and yourself dead last.
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