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.
Listen to the folks here telling you how to get it done and ignore all the naysayers.
That’s my advice, good luck!
ask questions of the neighboring businesses, if there are any.
My aunt was going to buy a bar, and her hairdresser told her stories about the place being a trouble spot.
She asked around and found out it would not be a good investment.
The bet mechanic in the world cannot, necessarily, operate a garage, a great beautician cannot, probably, run a beauty salon....the point being is that running a business, any business, has to do with running a busuness. If you have no business acumen whatsoever, hire someone who does......your management staff will mean more to you than a waitress with cute legs!!!Tax laws, compliance with liquor laws (and some are ludicrous) health dept restrictions( your ice scoop may not be on top of your ice machine, it must be in the ice, but the handle may not touch the ice!)The waste containers in the womens rest rooms must be covered. On and on and on goes the state......that having been said, running your own business is a great thrill!!!I’ve done it for years (not a pub) and got great satisfaction from doing so.....no great money, bet a lot of satisfaction!!
Can you imagine?
That would be great!
No debt.
Large emergency fund of cash.
Lots of tax advice BEFORE opening.
Don’t take any tax credits to start the business, since they are so fickle.
That’s a great list. I’d emphasize one more thing, though, from my experience managing restaurants: COSTS, COSTS, COSTS!
Just about any bar or restaurant is a law-margin business, and costs will sneak up and wipe out your bottom line if you don’t keep on top of them. A couple of Le Chien Rouge’s recommendations speak to this, but I’d add another specific one:
An experienced kitchen manager/chef who is good at controlling costs can be worth his weight in gold, because two of your biggest sources of unnecessary cost will come from food waste and overstaffing in the kitchen. If he can keep kitchen staff turnover low, particularly with line cooks, that’s a huge plus.
Also, I probably don’t have to tell you that, for a pub, the bartender is the face of your business and can be key to a good regular clientele (which itself can pay big dividends in word-of-mouth advertising). If the customers like your bartenders (hopefully for some reason other than the bartender giving away your beer), that’s a big competitive advantage. Pubs are social places first and foremost, after all.
The Hereford-n-Hopps you mentioned is here in my hometown...Nice to see the UP get some notice...lol
If that ever happens, I want to be on it, thats for sure
My cousin had a bar. The thing I remember was that he had minimal decoration, and what he had was nailed down, because patrons liked to take home “souvenirs”.
Also, when he first bought the place, several old drunks occupied the seats in the midday to afternoon. This was not the crowd he was after, as he wanted young people and rock music. I think he either turned up the music or closed during the day to get rid of the old guys.
Finally, I visited his bar just once, on New Years Eve. It was so much fun, and his good service and good cheer really made a lot of people happy that evening. If you want to make people glad they came, night after night after night, I say go for it.
Awesome. They used to have a restaurant in Wausau but it closed last year. I really enjoyed being able to grill my own steak and the beer was great. All at a reasonable price. I hope they’re doing all right now.
Don’t forget adequate record keeping. Those in the know consistently state that the greatest single cause of business failure is inadequate record keeping. Next rule: keep the record keeping task as simple as possible. Next ask what particular menu items sell best. Good Luck!
Not exactly a pub, but an interesting article about the failure of TOP restaurants.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/mbauer/detail?blogid=26&entry_id=55634
“This shows that over the 15 year period, about 63 percent of the restaurants survived.”
Be careful in who you employ.
Skimming in this business is common. The more active the pub/bar the more chance of skimming. Insist on a cash handling and inventory procedures and don’t accept any excuse from anyone who tries to skirt the rules, even once.
Have regular spotters come in to monitor the operation. This is a business that demands close owner involvement. It is not a hands off business. Expect long hours. Books have to be kept, payrolls maintained, ordering has to be done, cleaning has to be done to satisfy inspectors, not only customers, inventory has to be taken and most of the time all this is done after hours.
Tip...prior to buying...read what others are saying about the pub on places like http://www.yelp.com/
rabidralph’s advice about partnering with local microbreweries rings true to me (as a consumer). Microbrew fans (like me) will clear their schedule for a tasting night hosted by a local microbrewery. Create some type of frequent visitor rewards program, gather patron email addresses, and send out regular email newsletters (it’s cheap advertising) with announcements, events and digital coupons to keep your place top of mind.
And that depends on if you do the payroll taxes yourself or if you hire someone to do it for you.
Maybe it's just me but it looks to me like the shows are all scripted and that the problems he finds in the kitchen are greatly exaggerated in order to make good TV.
When I was younger, I dreamed of owning a bar. I pictured it being something like what you see in "Cheers." After a year of actually working in a restaurant/bar, I never had that dream again!
Not that it's all bad. But it takes a special type of person to own/operate a bar.
In the first few months it will make tracking every ticket item and every menu item much easier. Menu items, pricing, ingredients and sundries stocking, results of various test pilot promotions, staffing levels at various times.
As mentioned above, you can also play the various restaurant POS terminal vendors off each other to get the best price. The freaking credit card surcharges will eat away your razor thin profits on marginal and loss leader menu items if you aren't careful.
Heck, this guy I knew downloaded the sports schedule to every local team and turned it into a excel spreadsheet so he could track which sports events brought in the best crowds for him... granted he was a sports bar near a college town. DO NOT show UFC fights!!
Bank financing will be difficult in the current environment, CIT has basically shut down, leaving a void in the particular banking sector you need to utilize.
Check out SBA websites, and SBA loan options,
however without a 5 year track record and a solid business plan most SBA loans will be unattainable. So as mentioned above, get a solid 5 year business plan written so you are qualified for some of the business loans. Try to avoid Bank of America's small business lending unit, total freaking crooks with the new fees and hidden surcharges. You will also need prior years taxes, work history, forms of collateral, references etc available for which ever bank you start working with. The banks in California will demand personal collateral if you don't have a current business with assets to use as collateral. Ask yourself what you expect to happen to your community if in 5 years California has not recovered from this recession. Ask yourself what your community will look like in 5 years if California springs back from this recession. Can you find a contented lifestyle if the future is closer to the 'no recovery' new normal some are predicting?
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