Topic: why don't i move to colorado and open a video game bar/hooka lounge
squeegee started this discussion 11 years ago #45,622
and sell legal pot? doesn't that sound like a dream job?Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 7 minutes later[^] [v] #602,116
do it faggot
Methlyfe !KansasxqvM joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 37 minutes later, 44 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #602,122
It does, and you should.
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 10 minutes later, 54 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #602,123
No, that would be a terrible job because you'd have to deal with Coloradans and the sorts of people whom would visit your shop. Those are two terrible demographics.
Anonymous B replied with this 11 years ago, 2 minutes later, 57 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #602,126
what kind of games would you have at your bar? would you host stuff or just let people come and play whatever?
Anonymous D replied with this 11 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #602,128
@OP the HVAC and filtering to make that place not stink like an obese and sweaty nerd dungeon would likely take your whole profit margin
squeegee (OP) replied with this 11 years ago, 1 hour later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,141
@602,122 (Methlyfe !KansasxqvM)
i've actually got a couple of business on my radar, one is in portland and it's a video game bar, the owner is in an org i belong to and so i'm watching what he's doing to see if he's got a good business model. he's actually charging for equipment usage, so like a few bucks an hour or so. plus he sells computer parts, and some food/drinks. he's very arrogant, though, so if there were any troubles or obstacles he doesn't talk about them, of course. everything is "perfect" and going "awesome," so i take it with a grain of salt. We'll see if he makes it 1 year. he claims to "have a lot of money" from his amazon stores and his original plan was for a private gaming lounge for him and his buddies and he went so far as to rent an office space and pilfered his inventory for enough equipment to build out something like 15 lan gaming rigs. it's possible his video game lounge is a "hobby space" that he doesn't profit from, who knows. if it's a money sink then he makes bank somewhere else. odd dude, tbh, but nice enough. can't be sure his "business" is actually taking off or not. the space he's got is actually not terribly large, and it's not central to portland, it's probably not expensive as far as rent goes. i bet his electricity is through the roof, though. i'll be interested in seeing if i can look at his electric records over the last year or something, i think you can get that info. i actually don't know what kinds of info you can get from public records.
@602,123 (D)
if i sold liquor or pot then it would probably have to be 21 and up or something, at least i wouldn't be having kids in there all the time. although i guess not, it wouldn't primarily be a bar. in texas it's "primarily a bar" only if alcohol is more then 50% of your sales. otherwise you're a restaurant and have different rules. idk, that's something to consider though, what would be my target demographic. would it be under 18? 18-25? i mean who exactly am i targeting with a "video game lounge" first of all. "they" say that the average age for gamers is the mid 30s now, so is that who i should be targeting? adults? and whatever the demographic, would any of them be drawn into a "gamer lounge."
i'm thinking that a number of services would need to be offered, otherwise the novelty of a "public place to game" may not be enough to repeat business. maybe offering a "maker space" where people can come and learn to build gaming PCs and have supervision/advice or something. sure, selling equipment is a no brainer (what would a bowling alley be without selling bowling balls) but there's so much competition there the margins would be super thin. Dude in portland sells refurbished gear and makes a song. but, he's already got his whole amazon store and connections to get that kit so that might be hard to emulate.
@602,126 (B)
in my head i've always wanted to go to a sports bar where people played games instead of watched sports. So lots of TVs everywhere, lots of booze, consoles all over the place and lots of places to sit and watch. there's a great bar around here that has a lot of booths and you can see all the big TVs everywhere but also every booth had it's own smaller display so you can turn it to whatever you like. so i guess i kind of envision a bunch of 2-4 person seating, each with a screen and each with probably a steam machine that's got a fuck load of games on it, and people just kick back and play whatever they want. probably set up a giant LAN and invite people to bring their own shit if they want and do a BYOC area. i could probably set up a few play station consoles and xbones as well, or let people bring their own. then put a proper bar in the middle of it and televise twitch streams and MLG tournaments and probably do local LAN tournaments as well.
so i would necessarily need to offer everything from top-tier gaming all the way down to table-top. and a place like that might be able to offer unique experiences you can't easily get in home, like VR stuff. early on it's all going to end up being pretty expensive. it'll still be years before it's all widely adopted, if ever. people may love the idea of going to a game lounge and "renting a rift" for an hour and seeing what all the fuss is about before dropping 2 grand on a rig and headset.
@previous (D)
actually my big fear would be electricity. and you're not wrong about HVAC, it would cost a boatload to keep it cool with a lot of bodies and hot equipment everywhere. maybe not really but regular electric use PLUS what it will cost to pull all the wattage to run a few dozen gaming rigs all the time could end up being enormous.
i've actually got a couple of business on my radar, one is in portland and it's a video game bar, the owner is in an org i belong to and so i'm watching what he's doing to see if he's got a good business model. he's actually charging for equipment usage, so like a few bucks an hour or so. plus he sells computer parts, and some food/drinks. he's very arrogant, though, so if there were any troubles or obstacles he doesn't talk about them, of course. everything is "perfect" and going "awesome," so i take it with a grain of salt. We'll see if he makes it 1 year. he claims to "have a lot of money" from his amazon stores and his original plan was for a private gaming lounge for him and his buddies and he went so far as to rent an office space and pilfered his inventory for enough equipment to build out something like 15 lan gaming rigs. it's possible his video game lounge is a "hobby space" that he doesn't profit from, who knows. if it's a money sink then he makes bank somewhere else. odd dude, tbh, but nice enough. can't be sure his "business" is actually taking off or not. the space he's got is actually not terribly large, and it's not central to portland, it's probably not expensive as far as rent goes. i bet his electricity is through the roof, though. i'll be interested in seeing if i can look at his electric records over the last year or something, i think you can get that info. i actually don't know what kinds of info you can get from public records.
@602,123 (D)
if i sold liquor or pot then it would probably have to be 21 and up or something, at least i wouldn't be having kids in there all the time. although i guess not, it wouldn't primarily be a bar. in texas it's "primarily a bar" only if alcohol is more then 50% of your sales. otherwise you're a restaurant and have different rules. idk, that's something to consider though, what would be my target demographic. would it be under 18? 18-25? i mean who exactly am i targeting with a "video game lounge" first of all. "they" say that the average age for gamers is the mid 30s now, so is that who i should be targeting? adults? and whatever the demographic, would any of them be drawn into a "gamer lounge."
i'm thinking that a number of services would need to be offered, otherwise the novelty of a "public place to game" may not be enough to repeat business. maybe offering a "maker space" where people can come and learn to build gaming PCs and have supervision/advice or something. sure, selling equipment is a no brainer (what would a bowling alley be without selling bowling balls) but there's so much competition there the margins would be super thin. Dude in portland sells refurbished gear and makes a song. but, he's already got his whole amazon store and connections to get that kit so that might be hard to emulate.
@602,126 (B)
in my head i've always wanted to go to a sports bar where people played games instead of watched sports. So lots of TVs everywhere, lots of booze, consoles all over the place and lots of places to sit and watch. there's a great bar around here that has a lot of booths and you can see all the big TVs everywhere but also every booth had it's own smaller display so you can turn it to whatever you like. so i guess i kind of envision a bunch of 2-4 person seating, each with a screen and each with probably a steam machine that's got a fuck load of games on it, and people just kick back and play whatever they want. probably set up a giant LAN and invite people to bring their own shit if they want and do a BYOC area. i could probably set up a few play station consoles and xbones as well, or let people bring their own. then put a proper bar in the middle of it and televise twitch streams and MLG tournaments and probably do local LAN tournaments as well.
so i would necessarily need to offer everything from top-tier gaming all the way down to table-top. and a place like that might be able to offer unique experiences you can't easily get in home, like VR stuff. early on it's all going to end up being pretty expensive. it'll still be years before it's all widely adopted, if ever. people may love the idea of going to a game lounge and "renting a rift" for an hour and seeing what all the fuss is about before dropping 2 grand on a rig and headset.
@previous (D)
actually my big fear would be electricity. and you're not wrong about HVAC, it would cost a boatload to keep it cool with a lot of bodies and hot equipment everywhere. maybe not really but regular electric use PLUS what it will cost to pull all the wattage to run a few dozen gaming rigs all the time could end up being enormous.
Lemon Drop !CITRUS3QCY joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 4 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,142
I can open my Cajun restaurant right next door! We can call it the Squeegindy Ganga and Gumbo Palace!
squeegee (OP) replied with this 11 years ago, 54 seconds later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,143
also there might not be enough interesting competitive multiplayer games to really support a whole lounge. because i doubt people are going to come in and play long ass solo rpg games or even mmos and stuff. probably stuff like smash brothers would be popular. idk. since there's no place like that here in dallas, i have no idea what kinds of people would go or what people would even like. Dave and Busters is popular with its arcade games, but fuck an arcade.
Syntax joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 1 minute later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,144
@602,141 (squeegee)
Both Oregon and Colorado have great places to live in. Texas is so damn politically conservative.
Oregon/Colorado from my snapshot view of new and different business's - I think you have a better chance of success.
> i guess not, it wouldn't primarily be a bar. in texas it's "primarily a bar" only if alcohol is more then 50% of your sales. otherwise you're a restaurant and have different rules.
California is that way. All kinds of restrictive regulations for liquor license - Add entertainment and the rules are mean as fuck. You wood have to compare each state and find a a good forum in each area to ask about business issues.
Both Oregon and Colorado have great places to live in. Texas is so damn politically conservative.
Oregon/Colorado from my snapshot view of new and different business's - I think you have a better chance of success.
> i guess not, it wouldn't primarily be a bar. in texas it's "primarily a bar" only if alcohol is more then 50% of your sales. otherwise you're a restaurant and have different rules.
California is that way. All kinds of restrictive regulations for liquor license - Add entertainment and the rules are mean as fuck. You wood have to compare each state and find a a good forum in each area to ask about business issues.
squeegee (OP) replied with this 11 years ago, 6 seconds later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,145
Lemon Drop !CITRUS3QCY replied with this 11 years ago, 49 seconds later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,146
squeegee (OP) replied with this 11 years ago, 16 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,148
@previous (Lemon Drop !CITRUS3QCY)
money will go fast up front, and without doing any kind of actual research or having a formal plan i would estimate a startup cost of probably 40-80 grand. i could be way off, but there would need to be some kind of cash reserve initially to float the first couple of months, but it would need to get profitable quickly. probably looking at 2 grand a month rent, easy, if not more. plus (again without doing any kind of research) maybe a grand or two a month in operating overhead. maybe 4 grand a month overhead all told. plus the initial build costs. all the hardware and equipment (some of which we can literally get given to us by MSI if we ask them to support us as a business, but we can't count on that for everything) probably something like 20 grand. i'd say 30 to be safe, but that's not including whatever buildout would be done for a bar. even if it already HAS a bar, we'd need to stock it with at least kegs of beer. probably that would be the best to start with is just fountain brews. maybe do well drinks on down the road.
first months expense, probably something like 35-40 grand, tbh. of course the goal is to startup as cheaply as possible, and selecting the right space save oodles on build costs, but i'd be surprised if it could be done for less than that kind of expenditure. kind of. i mean scale matters too, start with 20 booths and seating for 80 people, or start much smaller with a max capacity of 20 or something. you could probably get the first month down to 12-15k and still be able to service up to probably 20 people. but furnishings would be spartan.
that's really where, uh, the research and plan come into play. figuring out startup costs and initial overhead and all of that.
money will go fast up front, and without doing any kind of actual research or having a formal plan i would estimate a startup cost of probably 40-80 grand. i could be way off, but there would need to be some kind of cash reserve initially to float the first couple of months, but it would need to get profitable quickly. probably looking at 2 grand a month rent, easy, if not more. plus (again without doing any kind of research) maybe a grand or two a month in operating overhead. maybe 4 grand a month overhead all told. plus the initial build costs. all the hardware and equipment (some of which we can literally get given to us by MSI if we ask them to support us as a business, but we can't count on that for everything) probably something like 20 grand. i'd say 30 to be safe, but that's not including whatever buildout would be done for a bar. even if it already HAS a bar, we'd need to stock it with at least kegs of beer. probably that would be the best to start with is just fountain brews. maybe do well drinks on down the road.
first months expense, probably something like 35-40 grand, tbh. of course the goal is to startup as cheaply as possible, and selecting the right space save oodles on build costs, but i'd be surprised if it could be done for less than that kind of expenditure. kind of. i mean scale matters too, start with 20 booths and seating for 80 people, or start much smaller with a max capacity of 20 or something. you could probably get the first month down to 12-15k and still be able to service up to probably 20 people. but furnishings would be spartan.
that's really where, uh, the research and plan come into play. figuring out startup costs and initial overhead and all of that.
(Edited 3 minutes later.)
Lemon Drop !CITRUS3QCY replied with this 11 years ago, 47 seconds later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,149
@previous (squeegee)
Ok, you do all the research and write a great business plan, and I will get investors!
Ok, you do all the research and write a great business plan, and I will get investors!
squeegee (OP) replied with this 11 years ago, 10 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,150
@previous (Lemon Drop !CITRUS3QCY)
oh, i doubt anyone would be interested in investing in a small mom & pop in some random american town.
if you're talking outside investors then we need to talk franchising. we get the money to build flagship locations and float equipment costs to franchisees. we obtain a few million bucks and start rolling out locations in major cities, advertise the fuck out of it, and look to start selling businesses instead of running one little bar.
and i mean that sounds fun too, and it's always cool to spend other people's money. So yeah, if you can get me some chinese investors then i can get you a proposal that'll knock their socks off. but i'm serious, we'd need them on the line for millions of dollars. US dollars, too.
oh, i doubt anyone would be interested in investing in a small mom & pop in some random american town.
if you're talking outside investors then we need to talk franchising. we get the money to build flagship locations and float equipment costs to franchisees. we obtain a few million bucks and start rolling out locations in major cities, advertise the fuck out of it, and look to start selling businesses instead of running one little bar.
and i mean that sounds fun too, and it's always cool to spend other people's money. So yeah, if you can get me some chinese investors then i can get you a proposal that'll knock their socks off. but i'm serious, we'd need them on the line for millions of dollars. US dollars, too.
Lemon Drop !CITRUS3QCY replied with this 11 years ago, 2 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,151
@previous (squeegee)
If you write a super duper, convincing business plan, I think I actually could get Chinese investors.
If you write a super duper, convincing business plan, I think I actually could get Chinese investors.
Killer Lettuce?? !!iNo3FkiZx joined in and replied with this 11 years ago, 4 hours later, 6 hours after the original post[^] [v] #602,180
@602,143 (squeegee)
Mario Kart would probably be popular as well. CoD, Halo, stuff like that could entertain people too.
Mario Kart would probably be popular as well. CoD, Halo, stuff like that could entertain people too.