There are thousands of “How To” books that guide readers through the perilous journey of opening a bar. This is not one of them. This is a “Why You Don’t Want to Open a Bar” book. Most entrepreneurial, nonfiction books give the readers a sense of enthusiasm and confidence to achieve their financial goal. My goal is simple: Don’t open a bar. Don’t do it.
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Each chapter is structured to offer personal, pessimistic and yet humorous insight from the beginning phases of acquiring a bar to the final daily operations. Although some of my anecdotal wit can lighten the mood of the discouraging topics, I do give first-hand experience of the hidden costs associated with each phase of owning and operating a bar. This book gives valuable information that I certainly did not have when I opened my first bar.
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After graduating from business school, I have personally owned a successful bar, restaurant, and venue for almost a decade. I have moved to a bigger and better location, and even eventually bought the building. My restaurant won multiple awards and the venue has brought in Grammy Award winning bands. I was however, smart enough to sell the business off when times were good, and just stuck to being the landlord. I have been sued twice and audited more times than I can count. Although, I shouldn’t be completely negative. My restaurant experience did give me a great return. I created a mobile app…that rates terrible customers.
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I have always been different, and gone against the statuesque. This book definitely reflects that. At the end of each chapter, I even include some bonus excerpts from my bar’s “incident report” book, just to give the reader a feel for the actual madness of owning a bar.