Let's build a business.

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
Chaos,

"Once the business plan is 100% good to go, I will be bringing it by the SBA to see what kind loan I can secure. The plan is calling for $200k from the SBA (and another $90k from investors)."

Fascinating updates. What sort of operating capital reserves do you have in the plan?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm most likely going to settle for approximately $60k, or 2 months of operating expenses.

[Rootabager]

4. Your target market.

I'm still confused who they are. It sounds like you're trying to appeal to everyone. A word of advice; the 35 year old crowd does not like to hang out with the 18 year old crowd. Work out who will fill your place and who will spend more and where the current vacuum is and target accordingly.



No mistake here, I am appealing to the 18-24 year old market, with obvious emphasis on the 21-14 range.


I think this is sorta a problem as well. Even 21 year olds dont want to hang out with 18 year olds. Especially anyone that is over 21.

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
First floor will be the basic, smoke machines, black lights, strobe lights, effervescent colors on the walls, maybe a plasma or two up on the walls (near the ceilings), DJ booth in the back near the stairs. Almost totally open space.

[/ QUOTE ]

Once a place gets full and people start dancing, one of the major problems is air, or lack of it. The oxygen starts to turn into CO2 and it's just a matter of time before everyones legs turn to jelly and you lose the energy. Have a good ventilation system, open windows, and for gods sake do not use a smoke machine. It is the most useless invention known to man.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a really interesting point, however I am still planning on having a smoke machine for the third floor. The ceilings are going to be very, very high, and I'm going to be sure we're extremely wary regarding ventilation.

Also, regarding opening windows...this is going to be a problem dealing with sounds issues, which makes good ventilation even more important.

[ QUOTE ]
Your description of the first floor sounds boring to be honest. You've got an open space with some lights and some stuff on the walls and some plasma screens. Well, it might work when it's full of people, but when it's empty it'll probably look like crap. Which means that it will be difficult to get it full. You room must look comfortable and inviting with no customers in it. You don't want your first floor to be the basic. You want it to be the best. If I go to your bar and the first floor is the basic, what's going to intice me to go further upstairs?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, this idea has now changed (as you already know).

[ QUOTE ]
Lights. They will make or break it for you. You want natural, yellow lighting. Why? Because people look good under natural lighting. People look bad under artificial lighting. They look horrible under neon lighting. If the girls look good under your lighting then they will stay. Your bathrooms should have the best lighting possible. When girls go into the bathrooms, look into the mirror and they look fantastic, they're staying in your bar.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right now my idea for lighting is to have the bar and dancefloor both pretty dark with neon tube lights on the bar. The dance floor will have a light grid with moving spotlights.

[ QUOTE ]
You mention one or two plasma screens. Why? What's the idea behind them? What are you going to show on them? Do you really need them? Do you know how much those things cost?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, this idea is gone now. Initially I wanted to gather as many ideas as I could and throw them on paper, and now I am in the reverse mode of what can we ditch and still keep the general idea for the establishment.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not trying to be mean here. But you're running around talking investment of 200 grand and you really haven't got a clear idea of what your space is. I worked on what I wanted for my own space for three years before we started work on it. And we ended up changing about a third of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not being mean at all, you're being constructive and I'm reading it that way.

[Zeestein]

Sorry if this is already made clear, but by 16-18 staff, you mean on the staff roster and not all required at the one time right?

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you serve alcohol on level one if 18+ people are allowed in?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

[ QUOTE ]
Will all ages be able to move freely once inside this bar?

[/ QUOTE ]

The busy night of Thurs-Sat will be 21+ for ease of management. All other nights will be 18+ with different promotions like karaoke, salsa night, etc.

[ QUOTE ]
I think you might be better off just serving alcohol and not food (unless you can do food really well). If a place gets a reputation for having mediocre food it will probably hurt the bar's business.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm going to be working very hard to separate the two different places, both physically and in the branding. The purpose of the food and arcade isn't meant to be a part of the business, it's meant to be synergistic with it. As I'm sure you've read by now, since I'm a month late in responding to it, the idea is paninis. Something that relatively easy, fast, easy-to-clean, and hard to screw up.

[ QUOTE ]
Level one would be great if you could have arcade games, pinball, and beer. People could then move back and forth between the more low key bottom area to the top two areas which would be nicer/trendier/more upbeat (the dance area).

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, this was my initial idea, but I now firmly stand for trying to keep the two different areas separate. The ability to serve beer on the first floor could work out really well, though. I will look into that, and see if it would be a problem letting in <18 on the first floor.

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
btw, i think handicap accessibility is a [censored] joke. If there is a demand for handicap accessibility, then it will be met by some entrepreneur. Isn't that capitalism? Why does the government have the right to tell you that you have to spend $60K so three handicapped guys can show up all year long?

[/ QUOTE ]

Even more ironic is how many people in a wheelchair really want to go to a danceclub, anyway?

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
Chaos,

This thread is great, but I would be scared to invest in this type of business. You have to put a lot of money into it just to open the doors. What if people don't come? I think I heard that bars and restaurants are the hardest businesses to break into.

[/ QUOTE ]

The stats aren't great, but they're also not nearly as bad as the general rule of thumb seems to indicate.

From what I've read 30% will fail in the first year, and 70% by the fifth.

[TheRedRocket]

Aren't you worried that by limiting your food choice to paninis you are limiting potential customers only people in the mood for paninis. I think this is potentially fatal decision

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
Could you summarize your new start up costs. I'm confused with the new over projections. Additionally could you provide your estimated operating cost (fixed costs, payroll, inventory. etc)

[/ QUOTE ]

I will get into this once I know how much construction will end up being, and if I can even do what I want to do. That one number changes about a dozen other smaller, yet still significant, numbers.

[Chaostracize]

[ QUOTE ]
Even 21 year olds dont want to hang out with 18 year olds. Especially anyone that is over 21.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm going to strongly disagree with this.