The Truth about Bars and Clubs

Do you own or manage a bar or club, or are you planning to do so? Would you like to maximise competitive advantage, revenues, profits, cash flow, longevity, and return-on-investment? All bars and clubs go through the same operational life cycle: (1) honeymoon period, (2) optional plateau, (3) long slow decline, followed by (4) death. Some venues go through their entire life cycle (1)-(4) in less than a year, others operate profitably for decades, but ALL venues ultimately fail (via 3 and 4) sooner or later. From a pure investment perspective, the only differences between venues are (a) longevity (total timescale from 1 to 4), and (b) return-on-investment (net profit or loss over the entire life cycle divided by the total amount invested). Most first-time bar and club owners will fail to recoup their investments over the course of their venue's life cycle, simply because the honeymoon period (1) was too short, the plateau phase (2) was non-existent, the onset of the decline-to-death phase (3) was too insidious, and its jaws were too powerful. Even those who beat the odds and hit upon an initially successful formula will most likely find their success ultimately frustrated by the same symptoms. This book examines HOW VENUES FAIL, in particular what causes them to slowly decline to death via (3) and (4). This information is then developed into an overall strategy designed to DELAY the inevitable decline-to-death phase (3) for as long as possible, maximising competitive advantage, revenues, profits, and cash flow (during phases 1, 2, and even 3) in the process, in the hope that venue owners will at least break-even over the course of their venue's lifetime, and ideally make a satisfactory net profit.