New Club Question

[Bwade73]

Can a Night club be opened for 70,000.00? I am about to sign a lease on a place that is about 3000 sf. I have about 70,000.00 to spend. Right now the place is just an open building that has only a little demo that needs to be done before I can start. I have a list of the cost of everything that I need and hope it works out with what I have money wise so I dont have to take out any loans. The kitchen eq. is going to cost me the most the rest doesnt seem to be to bad. Any info on this?
Thanks

[Cheek]

not enough. If your thinking of doing remodel then your 70,000 MIGHT cover the remodel if you keep it simple. However, you wont have any working capitol ofterwards, or even enough to purchase basic supplies and inventory. It all depends on what your planning on doing, but our going to need some more capitol. (this is where advancemellc jumps in) :rolleyes:

I think before you do anything you are going to need a busines plan or at least sit down and put all your costs down on paper and be realistic about it. Think of the worst case scenarios when you are budgeting. Think "Murphy's law"

[mix]

got me :D w/ :rolleyes:

[ministry]

it all depends what kind of club you are doing, and the amount offixtures that you will be puting in. doing alot yourself and you might be ok or sub-contract out everything and then no way. what are you doing for food ? high end stuff means more $, fried means less $. you need to give us more info to get a more accurate answer. i can tell you that you will need about 20% as a buffer for the unexpected. mike

[Bwade73]

I am doing about 80% of the work myself. I also have a contractor that I have known for about ten years that is going to do most of the leg work for me and also help. So there shouldnt be a whole lot of cost for labor. I am going to have Stone pizza. That is something that no one in my area is doing. There is not much to demo and Im going to do that my self also. From my business plan it looks like it will cost about 50 to 60 grand. Im getting all of the kitchen eq. used so that cuts down on alot of the cost. the rest is tables,stools, the bar , lighting and tile floors. thats the biggest part that has to be done.

[ministry]

you should also look into the city things you might need like fire equip (sprinklers ) handicap stuff, egress stuff, panic bars on doors ect. this stuff will ad up quick ( trust me on this one, ive been thru it more than once) talk to the inspectors and they will give you a pretty good inea of what they want so there are no suprises when final inspection time comes around. mike

[Kansas City]

Doing most of the work yourself on a 3,000 sq ft space will be time consuming. Will you be making lease payments during this down time/ Would your time be better spent doing something else? Would the end product be better if you leave remodeling up to remodelers?
However the first bar/grill i bought was a 3,000 sq foot joint that i and a friend or two did the cleanup, painting and decorating. It turned out good. However it closed down after 3 years, (damn college kids are so fickel). But I wouldnt trade that experence for anything . I am using that experence to open up a 10,000 sq foot club.

[ca. club owner]

Sounds like you are going in the right direction, But what someone said is very true. Doing the work yourself will be time consuming.. An you will be cutting into cost with makeing lease payments while you are working on it. If your numbers are right an you have EXP. in the biz. You should seek out a club designer or two. Get a few quotes on what it will cost for them to do what it is you want. In a timely fashion, An then go get a small business loan for about half of the cost an foot the other cost.

That way while they are fixing the place up. You can start to work on the marketing aspect of the place. I am all for trying to save money an try not to owe anyone. But the bottom line is, what kind of time frame are you working with. An is saving a few dollars in the build as important to getting that door open an getting the business started.. Remember you cant do it all yourself. You will run yourself in the ground. I am building a place from scratch now, an trust me its a lot easier to tell someone what you want to do, an let them know the budget you are working with. An let then do it, while you do other things ie. Marketing, hireing employees, getting with all the vendors you are going to be useing etc. Just something to think about.. Good luck to you...

[Bwade73]

When I said I am doing 80% of the work myself I meant to say I have a contractor that is my best friend he is doing most of the work and Im going to help out with what ever I can. I signed the lease the other day and was able to get 10 months free rent out of the guy. That’s saves me tons. It is also written that if I can not open in 10 months the rent for the 11 month on will be added to the end of the lease. The owner doesn’t want me to pay until I open. The only thing I do have to pay is taxes and insurance which is only 140.00 a months.
I am looking into used Kitchen Equipment. That is going to save me about have of what new stuff cost and the vendor I am getting it from has a 2 year guaranty on it. The only thing that is going to hold me up is permits from the city. As long as they go though in a timely manner I can be open in about 5 months and will not have to pay for the next 5 months. The Hood in the kitchen is going to cost me the most. Im all in now so it has to work. Thank you all for the info.

[ca. club owner]

Hey sounds like you have things in motion. Yea thanks for clearing that up a lil for me. Yea you seem to be in motion, I know most places give about 90 days grace on the lease an just add it to the tail end. But to get 10 months was good work.. The permits are all ways a real task, the major one is the one that makes the most. The LIQ. lic. I dont know how it works there but in CA. They really send you though some major hoops. They tell us here dont plan any opening day events till you get the paper, because they cant give you a set date on when you are going to get it.. haha talk about a headache.. haha good luck let me know when you open. Be glad to come an spend a lil money....

[YounGun]

Try to avoid using all of your money for the start up.

Try to find some financing, and keep your money or as much as you can as working capital... in case your guesstimates aren't quite right.

I don't know a lot about the night club business... but I know it's usually better to seek financing.

Use other people's money. ;)


Good luck!

Josh