A Little Advice

May 12, 2016

Patrick,

I read through the business proposal checklist you filled out.  It needs some work.  Your lack of relevant experience owning or operating any bar should give your potential partners pause.  You need to come up with a way to fill out more of the seasoning section of your proposal.  Have you thought through what the concept of the bar will be based around?  A commitment to service and solid drinks is great, but Savannah already has plenty of spots offering all of the above.  What makes your bar different?  Is it a cocktail club serving drinks in bespoke glassware?  I’m pretty sure Savannah already has several of those.  Or would it be more of a Jimmy-Buffet-Margaritaville themed beach bar with a menu built around tequila and rum drinks?  The drink trade is a tough business.  Did I tell you about the Sazerac I had while sitting inside of an airport in Chicago?  It was so good it blew my ears off!  Everyone in business is putting out solid drinks.  What that business proposal checklist showed clearly enough is that you haven’t any idea of the type of bar you want to open.  Try filling out this checklist first:

Concept:  What is the focus of the bar?  Is the menu built around a particular spirit like at a gin house?  Does it offer up barrel-aged tequilas?  Or is the focus atmospheric as found at any Irish pub or speakeasy?  After settling on an area of focus some other questions to answer now would be: what type of space would it occupy?  How big?  Will there be music playing?  If so, what kind and how loud?  Will staff wear branded uniforms or their own clothing?  What type of clothing would be allowed?  How extensive a food menu?  Will there be tables for eating?  If so will there be table service?  Cloth or paper napkins?  

(Think through as much of these details as you can.  It will solidify the concept in your mind and provide answers to decisions you have yet to make.)

Market:  What is within walking distance of your potential location(s)?  Are other bars operating nearby that would draw a drinking crowd?  Are you near a local attraction drawing concert goers or tourists?  Can Savannah support another bar of your kind, or are you offering up something strange and new?  If you have a few stretches of real estate already in mind, walk around them and observe the locals.  Then look into buying statistics on those neighborhoods.  You can get Census Bureau reports online concerning average median income, household size, etc, by zip code for free. The Sourcebook of Zip Code Demographics by CACI Inc. should be available as a reference book at your local library.  There are paid services that offer more detailed reports such as those from Esri, esri.com, or Donnelley Marketing Information Services.

Customer Base: Use the market information you’ve gathered to fill out a target customer demographic report.  Will they be young, hip, and broke?  Or are they young working professionals just starting out with some disposable income?  Are there any retirees or older empty nesters nearby?  As best as you can, try to draw up what your customer base will look like, and what they will expect or want from a bar. 

Location: Choose one approach or the other here.  Draw up a highly detailed concept of what sort of bar you want to open and find the right location for it.  Or pick your favorite piece of real estate and assess the area’s needs and what the neighborhood can support financially.   

Put as much detail into answering these questions as you can, but be flexible enough to scrap any of what you come up with.  You should be considering why any concept or location wouldn’t work as opposed to hoping for the best.  These investors of yours will be jumpy about going into business with a first-time entrepreneur like you.  A big step to instilling them with confidence is having a detailed plan and sounding as if you’ve considered all the possibilities of what might happen to their money.  Also, you will need to draw up an Operating Agreement with any partner you take on. 

Fill out this checklist and send it back to me.  Then we’ll revisit the business proposal checklist and putting together a business plan.  I suggest you pick up two books to help guide you through this process.  Raise the Bar by Jon Taffer, which you can find here.  And The Cocktail Bar by Chall Gray, which you can find here.  You’ve got a lot of work to do.

Good luck.

Anthony