r/BarOwners

Hey all - I’m losing my mind here and am hoping for some kind advice.

We have a fairly small service bar attached to another business. There’s only about 8 bar stools. But we’ve replaced them all at least 3 times now in 3 years.

What are you all buying that’s durable or can be repaired/tightened easily? I want something with a back rest. Bar height.

Hi everyone. I'm 24 years old, and I've owned a draft beer shop in Kyiv for almost a year.

The first few months were pretty good, and the business was profitable. But then sales started to decline. For the past few months, I've been losing money instead of making a profit. Right now, I'm losing around 20,000–30,000 UAH per month, and I honestly can't figure out why.

I do have competitors, and one of them is literally about 20 meters away from my shop. However, they were already there when I opened, and at first they didn't seem to affect my sales at all.

Nothing significant has changed. I still sell quality products, keep the shop clean, treat customers well, and even expanded the assortment. Despite that, fewer and fewer people are coming in.

I'm sure there are things I don't know or don't see yet as a first-time business owner. Has anyone experienced something similar? What would you look at first? Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

While I don't know if tonight will be exactly the same, the busiest day I ever had here was 2014 QF vs Belgium. The "closest" and it was still not even that close was Mayweather/McGregor

Go USA!

What is your experience with Industry night discounts? In my town the whole city closes (lol) on Mondays. I am going to be open and I’m mulling over what specials for hospitality day/night. 30% off your tab?

Need a custom LED neon sign for the outside of my bar. Amazon is tempting (mainly cheap lol), but I really don't want it shorting out after our first heavy rainstorm.

Anyone have real-world experience with these holding up outside? Btw, what brand or vendor do you actually recommend for an outdoor LED sign?

Kind of like an AMA, here's a weekly post where customers can ask questions. This is for anyone including market research, app developers, people who watch too much "reality" TV about bars, and general industry bullshit. Maybe a bar owner will have an answer for you, maybe not.

If you are already in the industry your question may get better responses if you post your own thread instead of commenting here.

update after viewing!

Tomorrow I’m going to view a bar.
I already own a bar 100m round the corner. Slightly more footfall on this street.
The bar was seized by the landlord around Christmas due to not payment of rent. The bar went bankrupt it seems due to disagreements between the owners.
It states in the notice that the belongings inside could be collected before February. They didn’t collect anything so the bar is as it was left when the bar was closed the night before it was seized. Everything is included in the lease, which has a similar size to my current bar, for a rent that is less than the lease I am paying.
I’m considering running this bar alongside what I already have.
The place is decorated beautifully, how much would I need to change in order to reopen the place - in the context of ethics to clarify! Would it be wrong to clean up, and reopen the doors with a new name slapped on?

TL:DR - what should I be looking out for during the viewing? I don’t actually have much hospitality experience before owning my current venue so I wanted to check what the seasoned veterans would be looking out for in this situation?

I posted a couple of days ago asking for advice with what to look out for when viewing a closed bar, you guys gave fantastic advice so I wanted to update how it went!

I viewed the bar yesterday, here are the overall findings!
The public seating areas are great, very minimal work required, some cleaning, removal of the Christmas decorations still on display, remove the large branded sign and replace, all seating is in great condition! The bathrooms need a deep clean but otherwise fine! Probably just add some branded light up POS to inject a bit of life but not much else! There is no AC, but we’re in the UK so not a big issue, hottest day of the year yesterday and the temperature was perfect inside. While I was there a gentleman turned up who checked the premises regularly for leaks and damage on the landlords behalf for insurance purposes - great timing for me as I got the opportunity to have a conversation and he informed me they were happy with the condition of the structure and that there were no leaks etc.

The bar - a VERY deep clean, lots of old and out of date stock to remove - not ideal as the area is heavily pedestrianised but obviously possible with some planning. The equipment is all very old, but assuming that it was working when closed I think the fridges, glass washer, cocktail stations and ice machine will be useable, at least enough to get the place opened but will likely need replacing soon.

Kitchen - the kitchen was fitted by the previous tenants without landlords consent, they don’t want fried food served, which is fine for me, I much prefer to work wet sales led with perhaps some bar snacks. The kitchen will require the most work but again, mostly removal of food left in fridges (respirator will be used for that job!) some old equipment that could be sold off once cleaned etc. this space will mostly be cleared and used for stock storage.

Beer cellar - A smart dispense system installed, I’m not sure wether this could be utilised or if whichever brewery I sign a deal with will prefer to rip out and start fresh, same with the post mix system. Lots of the room is taken up with shelving so once that is moved to the current kitchen area that will free up a lot of space to add more draught lines. Not ideal cellar access as it’s down a set of metal stairs but still preferable to the glass staircase I have to carry kegs down at my current venue!

Other -
There is still an alcohol license which could be transferred with or without the permission of the previous license holder.
Space in the bar to install a coffee machine
Plenty of people on that street, even at 10.30am when I viewed the venue so I believe the plan to run as a cafe bar during the day, serving draught pints and cocktails in the evening would certainly do well!

Here’s where it gets rather unique!
The landlord has had to seize 2 of his properties in the past few months so is more interested in tenants that can prove they have the skills and business plan to see out the lease term, rather than someone with a dream and a pocket full of cash.
They have had 10 offers so far but only 2 of them have been deemed viable enough to even send to the landlord but the agent did give the impression that he believed I would be a good fit.
I have submitted my offer of the advertised rent with minimal deposit alongside a very detailed, almost autobiographical cover letter explaining all my plans, skills and experience.

Keep your fingers crossed for me please folks!
Thank you again for all the wisdom and advice shared

I am in the process of building the bar program for a full service NY style pizzeria. The neighborhood we are in has a high end bar with big bourbon selection, neighborhood bar with a ton of beers, mexican with a bunch of tequila. We will have a higher end feel compared to most full-service pizza places, but I don't anticipate a huge drinking crowd. Weekday lunches are the draw here, with pretty slow nights and weekends according to the managers of the other restaurants.

Anyhoo, let me know if I need to add to my liquor list:

Category	Brand
Bitters	Angostura Bitters
Bitters	Orange Bitters
Bourbon / American	Old Forester 100
Bourbon / American	Woodford Reserve
Bourbon / American	Buffalo Trace
Bourbon / American	Knob Creek 9yr
Bourbon / American	Blanton's Single Barrel
Bourbon / American	Four Roses Yellow
Bourbon / American	Maker's Mark
Bourbon / American	Bulleit Bourbon
Bourbon / American	Jack Daniel's Old No. 7
Cordials	Fireball
Cordials	Aperol
Cordials	Midori Melon
Cordials	Averna Amaro Siciliano
Cordials	DeKuyper Peach Schnapps
Cordials	DeKuyper Triple Sec
Cordials	Kahlúa
Cordials	Baileys Irish Cream
Cordials	Disaronno Amaretto
Cordials	Cointreau
Cordials	Grand Marnier
Cordials	Blue Curaçao
Cordials	Green Crème de Menthe
Cordials	Sour Apple (Pucker)
Cordials	White Crème de Cacao
Cordials	St Germain Elderflower
Cordials	Campari
Cordials	Espresso Liqueur
Cordials	Amaro Nonino Quintessentia
Fortified Wine	Sweet Vermouth
Fortified Wine	Dry Vermouth
Gin	Corsair
Gin	Tanqueray
Gin	Hendrick's
Gin	The Botanist
Rum	Gosling's Black Seal
Rum	Appleton Estate 12
Rum	Bacardi Superior
Rum	Malibu Coconut
Rum	Mount Gay Eclipse
Rye	Bulleit Rye
Scotch	Johnnie Walker Black
Scotch	Dewar's White Label
Scotch	Glenlivet 12
Tequila	Herradura Reposado
Tequila	Casamigos Blanco
Tequila	Espolòn Blanco
Tequila	Don Fulano Blanco
Tequila	Patron Silver
Tequila	Don Julio Reposado
Tequila	Lunazul Blanco
Vodka	Ketel One
Vodka	Belvedere
Vodka	Deep Eddy Original
Vodka	Tito's Handmade
Vodka	Grey Goose
Vodka	Absolut

So I have just launched my bar at the beginning of this month and i am on the hunt for recs and rough pricing for insurance. I personally think my bar is pretty cool as we decided to run a combined barcade, so its a bar with a bunch of arcade machines, all under one roof. The bar is a big part of revenue for us, so liquor liability is non-negotiable, but bundling it with the entertainment side is where it gets messy.

For anyone in similar spots: who do you use for liquor liability, and what does it run when its packaged with general liability for the games? I am trying to get this structured right without overpaying for three overlapping policies. Any brokers who handle the full entertainment-plus-alcohol combo would be appreciated.

So basically I decided to pull the trigger on buying a bar that was closed i know the owner well , and i frequented the place.

The main reason the bar ended was due to the owners age and health problems.

I have worked in a bar, and ran another business in a differnet industry but have not so expericenced when it comes to bars.

So so what of a nobby, the bar will be a dive bar.

Area for drinks is not huge but my main aim is to capture audiences on the weekdays and then work up to weekends.

any help is much appreciated!!!

Listen to this one…. So I bought my bar two years ago and have been operating under a conditional liquor license. My second one because of some communication errors. We went to transfer ownership three weeks ago and now there is a state lien from the previous owner so they won’t transfer it. The lien was placed after I checked but before I closed the deal it took a few months. So the lien has always been there since purchase. Yet the liquor control still issued me a conditional license after a lien was placed. I only have a few days left before I expire. My
Lawyer applied for a 3rd conditional license which unheard of with hopes the old owner uses my money to get a payment plan in place so they release the lien. Anyone been through this ???? I want to call liquor control myself but my lawyer says don’t piss them off you asking for a 3rd. Ugh !!!!!

I learned that July 1st, Quickbooks is changing it payroll program so that payroll taxes automatically get taken out the day after payroll is put out. This is not going to work for my biz model financially. We have always had our payroll taxes taken out on the 15th of the month and I would like to continue something like this. What are other people going to do? What programs are people switching to? I run my own payroll through Quickbooks and print our checks myself and then our book keeper gets the info and files taxes etc. I want to keep this process as cheap as possible while also avoiding taxes being taken out immediately after payroll. Any suggestions would be helpful and appreciated. Curious what other bar owners will be doing once this happens?