Doc, Want some opinion/advice on the bar biz. Been told by some to not do it yet others I know make a killing if popular. I have no idea how to estimate costs to open a place. I have seen some spend a million and shut down in 2 months and others have simply hung a new sign and they are the new hot spot for the next year. Any trick? Any way to estimate costs? I know it depends.....I am looking at an old restaurant so buildout woudn't be terrible. Some walls, furniture and new bar area and sound system, some paint etc. Point is the space isn't bare. Any ideas on time to break even? Again depends on customers. HOw many staff to estimate? What to pay them? Any input is appreciated. oh, place is 6000 sqft which is sort of big, but not huge. Any averages to compare to? People needed per sq ft and employees per customer etc. I just have no way to estimate other than start throwing money at it and see if it works. If not..give it 3 months then bail and kiss my cash goodbye!
Yeah, hes overseas. Another one of our members (a moderator) is currently busy with the military- the air force to be specific. He doesnt get much chance to go online, but he did reply to a PM 2 weeks ago.
I just chatted with him on AIM earlier today. He didn't have to go overseas after all, so he's around. Jim, try PM'ing him. If you use AIM, you may be able to catch him live.
Jim, where is the bar located? As always, it is location location, location. I know a guy who works at a "college" bar down on Greenville as a bartender. Little do most people know, he is one of the owners too and he does VERY well for himself. The whole place is probably about 3-4k sq feet and he said they did something like $1.6 million last year, and that is with a very slow summer time when all the college kids leave town. If they were as busy year round as they are normally, they would be well over $2 million annually in my opinion. Hope that helps a bit.
No particular location just yet. Looking Addison some, Oak Lawn. No Greenville. You're not talking abotu Green Elephant are you and Brad the bartender? Had friend who owned The Pound on Greenville, but it only made money when he worked it, but it was slower so nto a high volume deal so any theft hit he bottom line hard. Another friend owns Corner Bar and it is doing phenominal.
Yup, I am talking about Brad. You know him? The corner bar does really well, but I think thats mostly on volume I would think.
Brad is a good friend of an old roomate of mine who is now my mortgage broker Dave Smith. We go in there from time to time and shoot the breeze with Brad. Make fun of the college kids and their daddy's credit cards. He told me point blank to NOT open a bar. I was in there one night with a ferrari shirt on and a ferrari hat on and he says "do you have a ferrari".....I sheepishly say no.
Green Elephant did about $747K from June 2002 to June 2003. 50 to 60k a month in liquor sales. Not bad. Corner bar is closer to 90K a month. Strip clubs more like 225K a month, but of course you pay $5 for a beer.
