Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 18:10:09 GMT -5
Hmmmm. Will you be hosting some sort of even where food is sold? Event hosting is a piece of the business model, but will probably account for 10% or less of the total revenue.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 18:10:44 GMT -5
Would your facility be fancy or industrial?
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 18:13:35 GMT -5
Would your facility be fancy or industrial? Undecided. A recent trend in the industry is opening upscale boutique style establishments. They're usually located in more dense urban areas and cater to young professionals. We're picturing a more family friendly atmosphere, so we'd want a clean friendly vibe that's neither fancy or industrial.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 18:26:07 GMT -5
Do the customers participate or watch?
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 18:37:16 GMT -5
Participate.
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lynnerself
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Post by lynnerself on Jun 13, 2011 18:41:49 GMT -5
Does it involve alcohol or alcoholic beverages?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 18:43:31 GMT -5
Would people spend the night, or just come for a couple of hours?
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 18:47:41 GMT -5
Does it involve alcohol or alcoholic beverages? We would probably sell beer/wine with the food, possibly a full bar, but it's an add on not the core business. Would people spend the night, or just come for a couple of hours? Just a few hours.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 18:56:43 GMT -5
Would it be a place you would go often (weekly or monthly or more) or a place you would only go to only special occasions (birthdays, weddings, Christmas parties)?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 18:57:45 GMT -5
Oh - would it be somewhere that you might have to wear special shoes to participate?
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 19:07:35 GMT -5
Would it be a place you would go often (weekly or monthly or more) or a place you would only go to only special occasions (birthdays, weddings, Christmas parties)? If it's going to be successful we'd need both. Oh - would it be somewhere that you might have to wear special shoes to participate? Indeed it would. Special, and also usually ugly shoes. Well, I personally think they're kind of cool looking, most people don't care much for 'em though.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 19:10:51 GMT -5
My husband would like to steal a pair - so if the dream comes alive, I'll send you a check and you can send me the shoes.
I can't believe I was so stumped there for a while - because we did this activity YESTERDAY!
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 19:12:10 GMT -5
I hope you don't host a lot of weddings. But, I guess, to each his own.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 19:13:39 GMT -5
So did we, checking out our nearest competition. Half hour drive and the place is a tiny outdated .
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 19:14:46 GMT -5
Well, probably not many weddings, but birthday parties, corporate mandatory fun events, that type of thing.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 19:18:19 GMT -5
If you are in a family area, you might be on to something. I wonder if you can find someone who owns a patch of land that would be willing to build and you could work out a lease agreement. That would bring in a partner, but they would be limited to the ownership of the facility if it fails. It isn't unusual in retail to sign 30 year leases with step-up payments that include no rent for 2 years and then increasing rent over the lifetime of the lease. If you can work a deal like that - you might be in good shape.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 19:20:01 GMT -5
Also, old retail big-box can be retrofitted, and so could some warehouse type of facilities. You might not have to build from scratch.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 19:33:59 GMT -5
I will say that we have gone a couple times to the new "upscale" one that is geared towards the young party crowd. The kids go during the day, but I wouldn't take them at night. The food and service there is great. But this weekend we went to the far cheaper, far older one and it was pretty gross.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 13, 2011 19:37:14 GMT -5
We might not have to build, but we'd need to find the right kind and size of building to lease. We spent some time this weekend looking at what's available for sale and lease right now and didn't see much that looked all that promising. All the buildings that looked good are outside of town in the industrial area near the airport which is needless to say not the greatest location for this type of business. The stuff near the strip malls and housing areas was either too big (old Walmart style buildings) or way too small. I couldn't believe how many 1-3k sq ft commercial spaces there are for lease right now. Half of an old Walmart (the regular ones, not a super center), would be just about perfect though... I think.
Commercial space was leasing for $12-14/sq ft on heavier traffic streets. We're looking at roughly a 20,000 sq ft building, which gives a yearly rent that quite frankly makes me want to vomit a little. Most of the stuff listed was smaller though, so it might cost more on a per square foot basis and be driving up the average.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2011 19:51:07 GMT -5
I was going to suggest bowling alley and rock gym... but alcohol and rock gym might not mix... We have a really cool rock gym an hour away... i just found it... but it is awesome for the kids... not sure what their liability is like... but it is fun, fun, fun...
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jun 13, 2011 20:08:32 GMT -5
We go to the restaurant at the local bowling alley 2 towns away for wing night most every week during the winter. The food in the bar is excellent quality and affordable and they have pool tables also. The bar/restaurant has a family area and a separate adult area where older kids can come in with their parents but they have to be supervised. Every summer, they close the place for a month for renovations and we come back and everything is sparkling clean and maybe new carpet or wallpaper or something. There are 3 others that are closer, but they're grungy or the food is crappy. There's another one a little farther away that does glow bowling and live entertainment. That one is really cool and the food is good. We visited some friends in north Carolina and went bowling there. 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 games and 1 drink each $75 - and we had a coupon - I couldn't believe how expensive it was. There was one in the town where I grew up. The big draw was live entertainment in the bar on the weekends.
If you're designing one from scratch, I would go with a retro 50's type theme. And sparkling clean and comfortable makes a difference. We had a family open up a small town family movie theater with cheap tickets and cheap food, but they cheaped out and bought used seats. They were so uncomfortable nobody wanted to sit in them. They could have bought 1/4 of the seats for 4x the price and filled up the place every night.
And make sure the food is a draw, not an afterthought.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jun 13, 2011 20:15:21 GMT -5
Don't those get cheesy fast - or is it just me? I have no nostaglia for the 50's.
I agree about the food. Give that a quality POV and you could draw people in, or at least not turn them away.
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jun 13, 2011 20:25:12 GMT -5
Don't those get cheesy fast - or is it just me? I have no nostaglia for the 50's.
Hmmm.... We have lots of retro 50's hamburger joints and diners around here and they do very well, but maybe it's a northeast thing? The bowling alleys that look retro 50's always seem to look nicer to me than the ones that are original 70's, but that could just be a personal preference. The one in North Carolina was new and didn't have any theme at all and it seemed odd and industrial.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 14, 2011 0:35:49 GMT -5
God damn it. Some punks might have beaten me to the punch. Well maybe. They started a FB group called "Future Hollister bowling alley/sports bar" about a year ago. No activity on it in the last six months though, and there wasn't much in the six months before that except people from the community commenting on how much the town needs something for families to do.
I did a bit of cyber stalking on both of the guys who started the group. They're both younger than I am, and work in low paid retail jobs. The one guy's myspace page is covered in wallpaper from video games and that's about the only thing he talks about on the page. Not that I have anything against retail jobs, just that they don't exactly seem like the type to be able to come up with the cash or credit to get something like that off the ground. Then again, I don't have much either.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jun 14, 2011 0:40:47 GMT -5
If you're designing one from scratch, I would go with a retro 50's type theme. Uh... yeah. I was thinking something more like: Or maybe:
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qofcc
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Post by qofcc on Jun 14, 2011 7:37:43 GMT -5
Uh... yeah. I was thinking something more like:
very cool.
I had no idea they had ones that nice. Every one I've ever seen was either retro 50's nicely done or original 70's and not aging well except for that one in NC that looked like they plopped bowling lanes in an empty warehouse and forgot to decorate.
Lounge couches... wow... I would definitely go there... much better than the hard plastic doctor's office waiting room chairs you usually see.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 7:45:06 GMT -5
Do your own market research. Start doing surveys and polls. See if there is interest in the community.
Financing is going to be tough. Do you have a relationship with a commercial lender? Do you have rich family members?
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Colleenz
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Post by Colleenz on Jun 14, 2011 8:00:41 GMT -5
Have you thought about a franchise (like Lucky Striike Lanes)?
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jun 14, 2011 8:02:16 GMT -5
I was going to suggest bowling alley and rock gym... but alcohol and rock gym might not mix... We have a really cool rock gym an hour away... i just found it... but it is awesome for the kids... not sure what their liability is like... but it is fun, fun, fun... That's what I was thinking oped. And don't forget to put a bunch of arcade style games in there ala Chuck E Cheese. And foosball type stuff.
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stats45
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Post by stats45 on Jun 14, 2011 8:30:12 GMT -5
You can't really beat the Census. I'd look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics website to get a more detailed profile of the wages and employment of the people in the general area. You might even be able to find more focused consumption information in the Consumer Expenditure Survey that gives an explanation of how much money your target demographic(s) spend on leisure/food service which could help you make your case.
County Business Patterns (also a Census publication) is used by many to get an idea of other establishment groupings in the area and total employment, wages, etc.
Good luck!
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