[bmr]

This is a little rosy. Some issues with bars include: (1) 90% of your revenue comes from two nights a week; (2) Given all the cash, employee theft is a real problem; (3) Lose-it-all liability. Think about all the ways drunks can die/seriously injure themselves... and about how you'll get blamed every time. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good investment, but it's hardly a license to print money.

[waterlesscloud]

1- Our revenue was a little more spread out than that. We did certain promotions that boosted us on otherwise off night- Wednesday was about 80% of Friday, and Sunday was our biggest night of the week. It just took a little planning. 2- Yes, which is why I made a good manager, being blood related to the owners. And the employees were watched carefully. 3- I can't recall hearing of a bar losing it all in liability unless they were extremely irresponsible.

[chopsueyar]

Can you provide details of what type of promotions you implemented, specifically Sunday?

[waterlesscloud]

Wednesday and Sunday we had live acts, essentially house bands who built a following just by being a routine as much as anything else. Common tactic, and it works. Wed. night we paid them about $100 each and Sun. about $150 each. We made many times that in additional revenue.

Friday and Saturday nights we had a live DJ for a few hours a night for atmosphere, but I honestly don't think it mattered much one way or the other. People would have showed up anyway.

We tried boosting Mon/Tues night, but nothing made any difference at all on Monday, and the difference on Tuesday didn't cover the costs. We pretty much considered Monday the paying-your-dues night, and had fun amongst ourselves and the handful of regulars and closed at midnight (vs about 2 am on other nights).

One thing about the non-fri/sat nights, there's a definite trend of "them that's gots, gets" in the bar scenes on those nights. People go where people are, so it's not a linear function on those nights, it's discontinuous. Once you have a crowd, you get a crowd. Weekends are different, there's crowds everywhere.

[michaelw13]

We hold user group sessions (Java and Siebel) at a local bar/restaurant on Monday evenings. It's great for us as it's nice and quiet. It may not be a huge boost to their revenue, but it is consistent. It may be worth looking into encouraging that type of activity on your dead Mondays.

[chopsueyar]

No ASCAP shakedowns?

[waterlesscloud]

Yeah, there was. I remember acting outraged and complaining loudly to them about it, then paying what was really a tiny fee anyway.