owning a bar
 

Anyone here ever owned a bar? Any ideas of the costs involved? Post any info you have.

I have worked at bars in the past. I am a sexy bartender

nice info :)

Did you buy it ? or thinking about it?

liquor license

I wouldnt buy anything, if I ever did anything I'd start a new one

You need booze and lots of it :glugglug

I say anything decent you are probably looking at over 1 million..to buy an established bar(not a shit hole).. 2 to 3 million

How about starting a Internet bar. Webmasters can come and have a drink, while making websites and posting on boards :-x I think its a goood idea.

I have a friend that owns a few bars. I knew him since he bought his first bar so I have some pretty good info on what's involved. I'd say dealing with permits, licenses and the city has always been the biggest struggle for him.

:1orglaugh I gaurantee not a single bar in the only area I would start one cost over $200k.

I'm just giving you an opinion...sure you can buy a dump for 200 k here also..its called skid row

I'm not talking about a dump at all

God damb I am good looking

i thought you were a juicy bartender

I operated and owned bars and clubs for over 10 years.

They are like any business - to be successful, you need to know *exactly* what you are doing. If you think you can just walk in, start it up and bingo - please save your money now!

I worked for a major operator for about 5 years before I bought my own place. We spent over a mil renovating the basement of a Sheraton Hotel and sold it to a group of morons 2 years later who had no experience. They managed to fuck it completely within 6 months. Lost all their money and got kicked out of the premises.

Having said that, if you are single, they can be a lot of fun ;))

It wouldnt be a fancy bar.. it would be a college student bar

It takes a lot of money to pick your crowd. Usually, the crowd picks you...

What exactly do you want to know?

costs. liquor license, fixtures, alcohol from wholesalers

iv heard from many that its a lot of hard work and hastles.

Some of the most unhappy people I've met are bar owners. Reasons:

1) Very few bars are incredibly profitable

2) Before they owned a bar, they thought it would be fun being in a bar all the time, but once you own the bar, you're there every single day and it gets old very fast. Once it gets old and boring to you, guess what? you still have to go there, again and again and again.

(Illinois Model)

Lease for property, or you buy your own.
Rural = 14k + per annum
City = 50k + per annum

Licence: Semi populated area in IL, reach of about 350-500 thousand people, about $1000 a year, add another $800 if you want to be open later than 1AM.

Liquor, depends on too many factors.
Some vendors won't deal with you until you've moved a certain amount of stock and you'll get no credit till you establish history, this is different everywhere.
Starting inventory = 5-15k +

Fixtures, what are you trying to create?
Standard long bar = 50k +
Modern sleek lounge = 200k +

Take into account, if you use a large beverage supplier, they will fit out your taps, both soft drinks and alcohol plus a tonne of merchandise, glassware etc.

You will need to pay for cool rooms, and storage, plus initial staff salaries, unless you plan on running this yourself. Some states may require your venue to pass health and licence tests.


These prices are fairly broad... I'm looking into buying something similar to this in IL at the moment.

Ok thats good info, thanks

I can't tell you about the experiences of running a bar, but I did have a friend that ran a restaurant.

He started small, gained a lot of experience, and eventually sold it for a large profit and started a much larger and fancier restaurant.

Remember, experience isn't everything. And you can't get any experience without trying.

My advice is to start off by doing research. I definately don't recommend that you jump into a venture like this until you have a good idea of what you're doing.

First learn the ins and outs of entrapreneurship. A good place to start is www.briantracy.com . He's a motivational speaker who offers a lot of advice and consulting for start up firms. If you buy some of his audio-cassettes on starting a business, you'll learn the varying complexities of business, and very importantly the psychology of business. You can listen to his audio-cassettes in your car, and it's much cheaper (and probably more effective) than taking classes on entrapreneurship.

Next would be to take bartending classes. Do you have experience bartending? If not, maybe you should invest some time as a bartender. Go to local bars and maybe the owners will give you advice. Better yet, go to a library or a book store and read up on bars and alcohol.

Also very important is learning customer service and public relations skills. It was once said that any individual with expert knowledge in customer service and public relation skills will never run failing business. Again, customer service and public relations is a must when you start a business like a bar.

And I know I'm talking too much. But again, if you don't have experience working in bars or as a bartender, starting your own bar will take tremendous effort on your part. If you do have experience, then there are other areas you can work on to improve the likeliness of your success.

And sorry if I'm going to in depth about things you may not be concerned about, but I have done a lot of research on entrapreneurship. I'm planning on making it big one day, but I'm still in the process of learning and figuring out what and how I'm going to start a large business.

Anyways... good luck. And find any investment opportunities you can.

Might want to take a look at a liquor store instead of a bar. I've known a few people that have owned them and without exception they all made mad cash. They got robbed a lot too.

I cant wait!

YOu have to have an oringal idea


you can not start a bar and be like This is my bar

Different ways in different areas.

What area are you talking about (downtown New York or LA)? Most decent bars that I have seen for sale start at around $150,000 in the out skirts of Seattle (don't know about downtown Seattle it self).

Out here on Long Island there was a club , property for sale was 2-3 million..after renovations and shit it is a cool place to seduce ladies.

My family has owned bars since way before I was born. It does make good money, but you have some headaches that go with it. Basicly running a bar is easy, any monkey can do it. My mom used to take month long vacations and leave me in charge of everything. Just get a system down to keep everything stocked and make sure the employees show up on time and arent stealing from you.

You'll make the most money on liquor and mixed drink sales. Say you buy a bottle of cheap rum for making rum and cokes or whatever. Say it costs $9. You sell 40 drinks out of it at $2.50 each. $91 profit. But you gotta figure in the cost of the coke (very cheap) and some states have a high liquor tax, like Texas is 14% tax on all alcohol sold. Of course you'll stock your quality "top shelf" liquors and charge a dollar more per shot, but you dont make near as much profit from those.

Then you gotta deal with the fuckin drunks. I hate being around fuckers that drink and I hate a drunk even more. Pretty much why I'm not in the bar business now. It makes good money but it gets old very quickly, and I just dont have the patience to deal with drunk fucks all the time after growing up around that shit.

Own one now. In fact, just got home from checking on things. I have a partner and it's a high-end martini bar. My advice? Charge an outrageous amount of $$$ for drinks and invest 5k in an air purification system. Also, make sure your ladies restroom is SPOTLESS and cozy. :thumbsup

Dont come to Wheaton Illinois its a dry town :glugglug I could give a fuck cause drunks are the most obnoxious fucks alive. Pump that fucker with O2 Start with the liquor store

Sorry i can't give out better info, but i had a friend that once owned a bar. He had to invest a lot to get it started, time, $$$, social life (outside of work for this case), but they pay off was really good.

i drink. but i much prefer to smoke dank. if it were legal id be all about the banning of liquor. it fucks up homes and fucks up lifes. does a lot more harm then good.

i would own a bar though, kind of got me thinking about it.

if you are aiming at college kids, they are a tough crowd to keep coming back and make a lot of money off of mainly because most of them dont have a lot of money to spend. some do however. and in college towns, there is a LOT of competition, i know bars here in austin come and go a lot.

That's very interesting info. :thumbsup

IMPORTANT!

if i would start one, i would start in Thailand, Pattaya or Phuket

Because it's dirt cheap

If it's a college type setup, ya might try a non-alcoholic bar..
These can be quite successful if in the right place..

Lots of students/residents don't drink and like to have a place to hang out.. watch sports.. dance.. flirt.. etc..


Just sell all sorts of fruit drinks and fancy creations.. Throw in a pizza oven and make a big deal out of sporting events..

The profits may not be as good as a regular bar, but neither will the headaches be..

Way too much politics involved with the liqour board..