I am part owner of a pub for the last 7 years.
The best advice I could give you:
1) location is EVERYTHING
2) start menu very low budget with high profit margin foods like wings,fries and Pizza
3) play the beer vendors off each other to get best deal
4) start all people part time and keep the best for full time
5) remember what Rodney Dangerfield said about the business world in ‘Back to School’....prepare to ‘grease’ certain government inspectors and zoning officials
6) have fun!!!!!!!!!
Bless you — great, precise advice, all points. THANKS!
According to Beck, breweries enjoy about an 18% profit margin so you should be able to work some great deals!
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.