My dream to start my own bar.

Slinky

Dan03 wrote: »

I am 30 years old and love to party

Running your own business will be nothing like being at a party.

Opinion

Slinky wrote: »

Running your own business will be nothing like being at a party.

Spot on. In this industry perhaps even more so. Seen plenty of places fail because the owners--and more often than not their friends too--think the whole thing is one big, free beer tap.

nomoneytoday

IMHO loving to party is the worst idea to open a bar.

You'll drink the profits

Mistral001

nomoneytoday wrote: »

IMHO loving to party is the worst idea to open a bar.

You'll drink the profits

I agree. Many bar owners do not even drink. I suppose drinking dulls the beautiful sound of till drawers opening and closing!

Running_On_Empty

Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Dan03

Wow, so many replies, and some very useful information.

It definitely sounds more and more complicated the more I look into it... Legal costs especially... And yes 20k is not going to be much so I will need to look into getting more money either via loan of investment. On the other hand the type of place which does really well in Berlin are dive bars, so no fancy renovations needed, just a simple place and add a bit of character.

I originally had the idea that I could maybe get a job reasonably high up in a bar and agree to work for extremely low money as I wanted to learn the position, but thinking harder I just can't see a bar hiring an inexperienced manager even if they offered to work for free And that still wouldn't help much with all the start up stuff.

Anyway thanks for the advice so far, and thanks in advance for any more that may be given Oh and btw I know owning a bar is not like being at a party, the one thing I enjoy more than being at a party is being the organizer of it, even though I barely get to drink or enjoy the night myself sometimes!

Dan03

Does anyone has any suggestions on how to take over an already setup bar and what kind of funds would be needed if it was a very small low end place?

Opinion

Dan03 wrote: »

Does anyone has any suggestions on how to take over an already setup bar and what kind of funds would be needed if it was a very small low end place?

Yes- don't do it. There is always a reason someone is selling up and I should think 95% of the time the reason is they're not making money, they have issues with licencing, they've had a major incident that's massively tarnished their reputation and so on.

Even then, it's unlikely to be cheap. You've got your legal costs, usually 50% of their legal costs, negotiations with the landlord (they'll often want a deposit or guarantee), you'll probably be pushed in to buying any Stock at Value, if the business does have a good reputation and you want to keep the name/brand recognition going then expect the seller to want a goodwill paying from you to continue using that. You'll still need to spend money to do touch up/remedial work, you'll find skeletons in every cupboard and corner.

I'm sure others can advise better here but if you're taking out a business/going concern then you're taking over any liabilities ie. debt.

Working "reasonably high up in a bar" is going to be a fair bit different from running your own bar.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions that would be a bit private to post on a public forum and I'm more than happy to offer honest answers.

Dan03

Opinion wrote: »

Yes- don't do it. There is always a reason someone is selling up and I should think 95% of the time the reason is they're not making money, they have issues with licencing, they've had a major incident that's massively tarnished their reputation and so on.

Thanks Opinion, yeah I also did consider that, and still am considering that point. Not just the only ones selling are usually selling for a reason, but the only ones that I could afford to take over would be the failed ones... But then running a bar in my opinion is not as straight forward as a normal business, there are 100 ways to do it and maybe the last guy didn't do it the right way. In fact when organizing parties I specifically look for failing bars, with a little bit of potential. And I've had several of these bars turn into thriving businesses because one or two parties I threw there made them famous. I got my money from the party but I never made any money from the future business they got, and that's why it's time to do it to my own bar I thought Of course I know it is not as simple as that.

But does anyone have any alternative suggestion on how to get into this? I've looked at starting my own place, taking over another place, finding a partner, trying to get a job as manager without any experience... Nothing is looking so easy so far The only important thing is that I have the power to make decisions and that I can learn what needs to be learnt to move up. Then I can start thinking about making big money and so on.

Opinion

Dan03 wrote: »

Thanks Opinion, yeah I also did consider that, and still am considering that point. Not just the only ones selling are usually selling for a reason, but the only ones that I could afford to take over would be the failed ones... But then running a bar in my opinion is not as straight forward as a normal business, there are 100 ways to do it and maybe the last guy didn't do it the right way. In fact when organizing parties I specifically look for failing bars, with a little bit of potential. And I've had several of these bars turn into thriving businesses because one or two parties I threw there made them famous. I got my money from the party but I never made any money from the future business they got, and that's why it's time to do it to my own bar I thought Of course I know it is not as simple as that.

But does anyone have any alternative suggestion on how to get into this? I've looked at starting my own place, taking over another place, finding a partner, trying to get a job as manager without any experience... Nothing is looking so easy so far The only important thing is that I have the power to make decisions and that I can learn what needs to be learnt to move up. Then I can start thinking about making big money and so on.

Turning around a failing business isn't as easy as you would think. I would imagine times wherein it is impossible. You'll end up using good money chasing bad money. There may be 100 ways to run any business properly, and yes, the guy before may not have been running it well. But that doesn't for a minute that mean you could/would do any better.

Being an owner and being a promoter are two different different animals. I've seen plenty of promoters that have had the mindset "Wow, I've put on two big events this year, I'm the man! I'm going to open my own bar/club/venue." and they've failed. They don't realize that being able to pull a few thousand bodies to a one off/monthly/quarterly event is completely different to pulling enough bodies every night of the week to pay your bills. Likewise, I see plenty of owners that have this inane belief that because they own something they know the best way to promote it.

You already know how you get in to the business--or any business--so I'll just be repeating what you have said. You need your own money or you need someone else's money, be it a bank loan, a partner or an investor. Only one of those, perhaps, would give you complete power to do what you want. But being able to do what you want without question isn't always a good thing.

If you're honestly as confident as you think, you've thrown parties that have made people famous and you're seriously looking for alternative suggestions, and assuming you've got some sort of proposal, brief or business plan, then PM me and we can have a proper conversation either there or via email.