Opening a new lounge/bar

[JDS]

Hello All:

I’m in the planning phase of opening a lounge around January 2010. Right now I do not have a location but still researching. Like they say location is a key thing. Below are some of my ideas of things that I would like to do and wanted to see if I could get some comments or suggestions on what I’m planning to do.



I’m in the process of wanting to open up a lounge in my area. I am a business professional myself and my fiancé and I will be the manager at night. Eventually I will hire someone to help run the venue but at the beginning it will be my fiancé and I running the show. I want the lounge to cater to the working professionals. Right now there is not one place to go throughout the week that working professionals can go to once they get off work. The only places to go are restaurants that have drink specials throughout the week.

I want to create a lounge were working professionals can come to whenever they want. They will know that this lounge will always have something that caters to them instead of having to remember which locations have what going on a particular day. It will be a 25 and up crowd with a dress code at all times (business casual). The business hours I’m thinking of will be from Sun-Wed 5pm-11pm or 12am, and Thur-Sat 5pm-2am.

My concept is to have a live band playing some days after people get off work (especially on Friday and Saturday). The other days just have music playing or a DJ. Different days of the week have drink specials or Special music nights such as (these are examples not set in stone, just ideas):

Jazz band on Sunday’s
Martini Monday’s (2 for 1)
$2 Longnecks on Tuesday
Wine Down Wednesday (Half off bottles or $5 glasses)
2 for 1 Well Drinks on Thurs.
2 for 1 Well Drinks on Fri (with free buffet serving light appetizers)
Old School Music on Saturday’s

I would like to have if possible professional well known musical singers/artists come and perform about once a month or whenever possible.

I’m trying to decide if I should charge a cover to enter. The reason why I’m having a hard time is because as I stated earlier patrons have places to go that don’t charge cover. One reason to charge is because I plan on having a band at the beginning of each day. If not I still think it’s not a bad idea. Do you all think that it would be a good idea to charge cover or should I start charging at a certain time of the night?

I have created spreadsheets that show the cost for startup décor expenses, monthly recurring bills, liquor/beer/wine startup expenses, and staff weekly expenses.

I wanted to serve dinner but at the same time the cost for kitchen equipment is swaying me away from that idea.

I’m now thinking of serving only appetizer types of food. Doing so, I would not need a full kitchen setup. I was thinking of buy one piece of equipment that will cook all my appetizers. Would that be a good idea? If that’s a good idea what kind of equipment should I buy?

By the type of patrons that I’m trying to attract would it be a good idea to serve only appetizers? Do you think that the working professionals will be O.K. with this being that they are coming to my venue after work were they might want to go to a place that they can get dinner instead.

I am stuck on a few things and wanted to know if you all can help me.

I’ve read on this forum that some people rent/lease equipment such as: ice machines, refrigerators, freezers, kitchen supplies, and etc. I’ve looked around and cannot find a vendor that does this. Would you all please help me with on how some people are doing this.

I will also need help on how to setup a sound system, and how to get someone to build a bar. I’ve read the posts on here on how to build a bar, but would rather pay for someone to build one for me.


JD

[Daryl]

You have a lot of ideas and a lot of directions you are heading into. There are some very smart people on this board who can drill down on this for you and put it in perspective.

My first questions are:

1) How many patrons do you expect to seat or serve?

(The anwser to this will help determine some of the other issues, like square footage, fire systems,parking staff, and more.)

2)What foods are you going to serve?

(this will dictate what the equipment requirements/expense are and how much space you will need.


These two questions will lead to many more.

[rootsreality]

Creating a venue from scratch is very costly. Your best bet would be to find someplace that is already set up as a bar or restaurant and modify it to suit your needs. Be sure to check with the local building, zoning and health dept authorities before committing to a location.

[The Comedy Zone]

I agree with roots...find a place that already has a kitchen in place...the savings from already having a grease trap and hood will save you a ton!

[Michael Black]

You are targeting a professional after work crowd 25+. Do you expect most of them to come in early right after work? If so, will they also support the late night and usually more lucrative time period during the week and not just the weekends? You probably shouldn't offer typical bar food, but upscale appetizers. There have been threads the past year on simple kitchen set ups and options including outside companies preparing and bringing some of the food to you. A cover charge on live acts and djs is usually needed for income and to offset those expenses and keep the riff raff out unless you can absorb it through higher than market drink pricing.

A bunch of questions, but the thing that bothers me the most is that you plan to go in with price discounting promotions to a target market that has the money to spend. It doesn't make sense. Deliver an environment and offer something different to differentiate yourself that they will gladly pay for. You also need to do this to have a dominant professional crowd to get the word out and brand your place as such. With the price discounts and some music and djs, you will be like so many bars and could have the common blue collar crowd and some confusion of who you are. This could spell trouble.

[JDS]

Creating a venue from scratch is very costly. Your best bet would be to find someplace that is already set up as a bar or restaurant and modify it to suit your needs. Be sure to check with the local building, zoning and health dept authorities before committing to a location.

Yes, I have been looking around and have found a building that use to be a restaurant and it is located by the mall which would be good location.


You have a lot of ideas and a lot of directions you are heading into. There are some very smart people on this board who can drill down on this for you and put it in perspective.

My first questions are:

1) How many patrons do you expect to seat or serve?

(The anwser to this will help determine some of the other issues, like square footage, fire systems,parking staff, and more.)

2)What foods are you going to serve?

(this will dictate what the equipment requirements/expense are and how much space you will need.

These two questions will lead to many more.

1. I was thinking of being able to seat around 200 or so patrons.
2. I was thinking wings, cheese sticks, and etc.


You are targeting a professional after work crowd 25+. Do you expect most of them to come in early right after work? If so, will they also support the late night and usually more lucrative time period during the week and not just the weekends? You probably shouldn't offer typical bar food, but upscale appetizers. There have been threads the past year on simple kitchen set ups and options including outside companies preparing and bringing some of the food to you. A cover charge on live acts and djs is usually needed for income and to offset those expenses and keep the riff raff out unless you can absorb it through higher than market drink pricing.

A bunch of questions, but the thing that bothers me the most is that you plan to go in with price discounting promotions to a target market that has the money to spend. It doesn't make sense. Deliver an environment and offer something different to differentiate yourself that they will gladly pay for. You also need to do this to have a dominant professional crowd to get the word out and brand your place as such. With the price discounts and some music and djs, you will be like so many bars and could have the common blue collar crowd and some confusion of who you are. This could spell trouble.


Yes, my plan is for them to come in after getting off work. I believe that they will support the late weekday nights. But, how could I market or what could I do to also get them to come in late on a weeknight?

I like the idea of offering upscale appetizers but would that be possible without a lot of equipment. What are some examples of upscale appetizers? I have read some of the threads and if possible I wanted to keep everything in house so that when someone places a order I can make it and not have to be ordering all the time from another location. My fiancé and I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in kitchen but at the same time that’s why I’m on here. Trying to make sure we are making the right decisions from the get go.

I figured I needed to do the cover charge but just wanted to know how everyone else felt about it. I’ve done some spreadsheets and based on the cover charge that helps the bottom line out a lot.

Wow, I never thought about it like that. The reason for doing the discount promotions was because all the restaurants in the area offer them everyday on drinks. So I was thinking if I don’t offer a discount people would choose to go to the places that do instead of my venue. I understand what you are saying and I need to stay on target with my branding.