Considering a bar business but afraid to start?
This informal bar business plan is a confidence
builder, aproven way to bar profitability!
Forget all the bull.
Writing a successful informal bar business plan requires only 5 elements:
1. Through research of your competitors
2. Determine your bar concept
3. Market your bar in the marketplace
4. Write a 3-year budget and have operating capital in reserve
5. Set uo bar operating systems and controls
Keshawn and Jim met in a neighborhood bar in an urban core neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. They bought the bar four years ago when it was failing. It had great bones but nothing distinguished it from any other bar.
After lightening the walls inside and out with a fresh coat of paint, new tables and chairs and a large graphic sign (painted by a friend) on the front of the building, they did something the normal bar owner wouldn’t do.
They put together an informal bar business plan by themselves after they got professional help (see below). They wanted a proven guide to follow to ensure they had an opportunity to be successful.
When I interviewed them about a year after their purchase, they both felt that they did not want to be among the 74% of all bars that fail during the first years of operation.
They knew they had to work hard, but, at the same time, they wanted to be pointed in the right direction. Keshawn confided to me that this was the smartest money they ever spent.
Actually, it was mostly Keshawn (but Jim joined in too) who did the bar business plan research that enabled both of them today to earn significant income from their bar.
The Bar Business Plan
All bars within one mile of their location were visited three times.
A different non-beer drink and food (if available) was purchased in each visit.
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I have helped entrepreneurs start and grow bars, taverns and restaurants. I do this for Free. I suggest a "Process" that has worked time and time again.
I then assist you, as you go through it to help you achieve success.
This is not a trick or something else to suck you in to buying something.
Nope, I help folks start any online or offline business as part of my mission to Pay It Forward to thank all the folks that have helped me in my businesses.
If I may assist you, please just click on my photo above.
Now that Keshawn and Jim had gathered competitor info, they were ready to set their bar business plan concept.
They realized choosing a concept would make or break their hope for success.
The specific concept they would choose had all to do with positioning their bar among their competitors.
That is, what will make their bar more attractive to potential patrons? Or said another way, Keshawn and Jim had to decide what they would do to differentiate their bar and grill from their competitors.
One ingredient they both agreed on from the start was their bar had to be such that women felt comfortable as customers.
Why?
Nationally, bars without women as regular customers, fail over 92% of the time.
In the end, they decided against being a specialty bar, i.e., focusing on one drink specialty like scotch, vodka, bourbon, martinis, etc.
No, their research led them to believe that being a neighborhood bar incorporating fresh (not frozen) food quality and a small variety of food choices (8) was going to be their marketing strength.
Their signature dish was a BBQ mixed grill and fries tzatziki.
A couple of months ago I chatted with Jim (over a drink) at the bar. In looking back at he and Keshawns' first few months, he thought a bit and emphasized the following as “must-do” advice to potential bar owners.
I hope that relaying their bar business plan will be helpful to you.
Thank you for visiting my Bar Business Plan website.
If I may help you in any
way, please just click on my picture above. I never charge for my services and will NEVER sell you anything.
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
U.S. Small Business Administration