People want quality, refinement, lower cost and light hearted places to go relax, hang out with friends and grab a drink. By offering beer and wine, we lower our initial cost ($300 for beer and wine, $12,000 for full liquor license) and make it easier to secure our license. Also, the margins are ridiculous.
My goal is to have the actual launch by March 2012. Launching in the Spring would give time to build a customer base for the summer. It's could take up to 90 days to secure the liquor license and you need to have a 2 year lease signed prior to the actual application being sent in. Once we get the license, we would open for the soft launch. This would give us time to renovate. I don't foresee this being incredibly high cost, nor is it something I think should be high cost, but the level of finish should be high.
brian: sounds good! I agree with the itness, but I also believe that can be a hindrance. i have an idea for it to be continually refreshed, but the main goal is to use cheap and cheerful techniques to keep the place looking well kept and maintained.
First idea: use the bartop as a canvas. if it's vinyl with a protective coating, it can be changed regularly at a low cost with local art that we can showcase. To start we could do some of cam's photo's. intro sketches of the plan of the building, etc. also, we never have to worry about scratching the bar or refinishing since no one will even see it.
Second: create moschino-esque patterns with colorfully painted wine bottles as wall adornments. I don't see this a a dark place, i see it as a light place where people come for conversation and a good time. Also get green credits for reusing the glass.
Cam's Ideas:
I want to create a private label screw cap wine called 5050 blend that is 50% one vareital 50% another - and 50% of the profits go to charity - it will be cheap - it will be the house wine and give us a good story - thoughts?
Brian's comments: I like the idea - private label is a great way to elevate the brand. Let's sell this wholesale as well and bank the revenues from it to a vineyard fund. That would be sweet. I have a habit of getting ahead of myself. Ehsan says Sam's has a private label, they get it for $4 a bottle, sell it for $8 a glass as their house wine - love it!
Brian's Meeting with Jay J. - Partner from Bronxalehouse.com (cam to brian - great notes!)
Startup Cost: Whatever you're expecting, double it. There were delays in getting building permits, so they paid rent for an extra 3 months before they could open. It pays here to hire contractors who have done bar/restaurants before. Any money you may save doing something yourself you'll make up for since these guys already know the right people to go to for permits, which permits are necessary and how to get around needing them (apparently there are self contained fryers that don't necessitate a kitchen permit). Even though he bought a pre-existing bar and then gutted it, the building was still zoned for a laundromat - so he had to getting the space re-zoned prior to getting his license.
Overall, the place looked really good and was professionally done - 1200 sq ft of service space (50 seat bar + 10 or so tables) It cost about $500,000 to start.
Financing: First thing to do, incorporate! In case you don't get your license, it sucks to eat the rent, deposit etc. but it would suck doubly if you're (we're) personally held responsible. Worst case scenario you lose money but it doesn't impact or put you in personal bankruptcy. On that note, this is his partner's 5th bar in the Greater NYC, so he already had established relationships with local banks for financing. In his words, get creative with the financing and explore all options - the equipment he has is on lease with the option to buy. I should've asked but i'd guess that the lease would also include a service contract which proves to be useful.
Vendors: Regardless of past relationships, he said getting vendors will never be a problem. Once they hear you're opening a place they'll be on you night and day until you buy something from them. One thing he cautioned - never sell anything you can find in a store, or is readily available in a store. Especially wine, since most won't know the price regardless. If we were to go with the screwcap model, obviously not a superior problem since we'd be price sensitive.
Sales: His name says it all, Bronx Ale House. They do 40 kegs a week, 75% of their sales are tap beer. On that note, some people will only ask what's on tap and not care about bottles (he recommends keeping a few beers on tap but having 2 that you always carry). Only about 5-10% of his sales are beer in the bottle and the rest are cocktails. He says an average week is $35,000 between booze and food, with food being a small percentage. About the food: he says that they pretty much break even with the food, but they make it back on people drinking more because of it.
I asked the bar manager/GM. Our cost for Private Label is $6 a bottle. we sell it for $8 a glass(4 glasses per bottle) thats $26 profit a bottle.Thats 433% profit. Its not screw-cap tho. I will find out if it would be less or more for screw-cap.
I like the idea of 5050, but the numbers don't match up!?!?! 50% one grape + 50% another grape + 50% profit to charity = 150 % ?? I don't get it??!! Just joking
http://www.baragricole.com/
check out the map under Location and also the full wine list, with the little map of the region of each wine. very cool.
Holy shit - those private label numbers are amazing.
And yes - figure out what screw cap is - I bet its the same or less (I hope).