rip this idea apart - bubbles burgers and board games

[simonjstone]

I’d like to open a 2 pronged approach bar a day time and night time bar with a large selection of board games. The opposite of a sports bar and hotel bar.

The basic philosophy is a place to go with an activity. We as a society are needing more things for people to do. “How many times do you read on posts how to make friends in your 30’s, Nothing to do and no where to go”. “I’m a man and I don't like sports where do I go” We sit in bars and restaurants and chat or go to the bar to watch sports.

We have casino, comedy, clubs, escape rooms, sports bars and things of the sort but nothing where a family can go and play games or a group of students/colleagues can have something to do and chat. Just bars and drinking. Is there space for something else.

I have no experience in hospitality, but I do have a business already which now runs itself. I have a competent hospo manager friend and will be looking to get this place managed on an immediate basis with the idea being expanded into other area’s and cities.

Day time

Boba tea burgers and board games and a couple of arcade games.

Young family with kids to play snap etc and somewhere to get out to and meet others.
Aim at the student market and deliveroo.

Night time
Bubble tea cocktails, soft drinks wine and beer etc
burgers with a subway style toppings
board games and events to keep people coming in (especially singles)
Locations
3 university capital city with high demographic of wealthy people. Main business are finance and retail. Large tourist location.

Problems I can see so far
people stay too long with low ticket sales (entry fee maybe)
Lack of experience (but it in)
people don't like board games
people don't like bubble teaA
low numbers in the day time
ability to get location and alcohol licence
People can copy the idea quite easily (brand needed)

Health conscious people going against us, sugar in bubble tea and booze.

switching and cleaning between the day and night
Hours will be hard and late.
Staff costs and rent are the killer.

Positives.

Making money on high margin items
base to start expansion from.

Not many activity bars here and most are casino’s etc or comedy club.
Easy to make bubble tea and burgers with wide verity of combinations.

The thing that stands out to me is the arcade games don't seem to fit. While it would be extra income, I'd not take my DS because he'd be wanting to play the arcade games all the time. Also, they tend to be noisy with flashing lights, which is the opposite of playing a board game.

You'd also need to take into account the cost of constantly replacing pieces in games and checking that all the pieces are there. People would get frustrated if every game they picked up had missing pieces.

Would you consider something like tapas for the evening? If you did lots of small things people are more likely to order another snack if they stay longer

I can see the evening working if you make it a place to chat and socialise, which is harder in noisy busy bars. You'd probably want to avoid music and make it clear what time it becomes an adult venue.

I’ve seen a number of board games cafes- some better than others. None look very packed. Have you researched these? There’s a big one in Oxford.

In some family pubs I’ve had access to board games for families, adults and kids. What will you offer that makes it more than this? A bigger range?

I’d be attracted to the idea as my teenagers like bubble tea, and I’d like them to play games rather than be on their phones. But I wouldn’t pay extra for the games. Bubble tea cocktails sound like they’d be popular with students.

Oh that's funny... I was looking for things to do near Harry Potter studios and this came up
www.d20cafe.co.uk/
It's a board game cafe

There’s a board game pub/cafe in both the city and largest town where I live.

My local "naice" cafe / deli does this one or 2 evenings a month, seems popular enough but if there was more demand I'm sure they'd do it more. Not something folks would attend weekly I guess, so you'd need lots of participants. More of a bolt on than a business I'd suggest

Draughts in London is a great example of what you've described. Board games are still very trendy I think, but you need a massive selection. Very tricky to launch in covid times too - quarantining games etc.

What you need to make a profit is people buying lots of drinks. The trouble with board games is will it encourage people to sit playing for hours taking up space but nursing one drink all night?

I think it’s a good idea but similar things do already exist as others have said.

There’s a coffee shop in NewQuay I’ve been to that has arcade games, my local city has something called Geek Retreat which is a place to hang out, play board games and they serve drinks I believe (have just walked past) there’s also a few pottery painting places I’ve been to where you can bring in your own takeaways and drinks and paint pottery and a few pubs that have board games you have help yourself to.

I agree that board game cafes/bars already exist. The one near me is www.theludoquist.com/

@brokenbiscuitsx

I think it’s a good idea but similar things do already exist as others have said.

There’s a coffee shop in NewQuay I’ve been to that has arcade games, my local city has something called Geek Retreat which is a place to hang out, play board games and they serve drinks I believe (have just walked past) there’s also a few pottery painting places I’ve been to where you can bring in your own takeaways and drinks and paint pottery and a few pubs that have board games you have help yourself to.

Just looked up Geek Retreat and it’s nationwide it seems and expanding stores (so must be doing well!)

geek-retreat.com/

Sorry but communal board games do not sound very hygienic at all after a pandemic. Unless every piece gets disinfected after each play which isn't realistic or cost effective for staff. The combination of burgers and board games don't mix well either. The idea of touching anything that other guests may have touched with greasy food fingers is a bit ick (even without the issue of covid).

And lastly, boba tea and burgers is a strange combo that most adults will find difficult. Boba tea is designed to be filling and usually seen as a drink & snack on the go. I can't imagine ordering a dense boba tea with a filling burger. If the selling point of a cafe is a "food + beverage" then those two need to be able to be paired together.

I think this sounds like a business that's trying to combine a ton of trends in order to maximise clientele. You'll effectively be attempting to run a bubble tea shop, a burger shop, a board game cafe and a bar at the same time and that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. (I know people who have bubble tea shops and others who attempted and failed at a burger restaurant & night club). Both involve easily perishable items and extremely time consuming prep since everything needs to be made to order.

If you had table tops of the game boards set in resin, you won't damage the boards. Resin is quick to repair, and make.
If you do bags of games pieces, with a refund on return of all items. Late night gaming for uni students. If you do cheap foods, they will drink more alcohol. The subway style in the place and no waitress service , means quick turnover of food. Use disposable everything, meaning no washing up. Have you seen the frog thing for ice cream. You could do a breakfast section. With milk on tap.
I am thinking Instant food round the outside and game play in the centre.

Is there a speed friending thing you could run? Instead of speed dating?

I wonder if some of the natural "board game" crowd might be the slightly more geeky reticent sort (I mean no insult here, as I'm thinking of me and all my friends).

In which case you might find it harder to get them to physically come into a building for hours on end with strangers during a pandemic. We're all still a bit more anxious than most people seem to be.

Agree with pps that board games aren't a USP. I can think of several pubs that have a pile of them.

Back in the 1990s it was fashionable to have giant Jengas and Connect 4s in pubs and people did use them, but the novelty wore off quite quickly.

The popular pub perennials are pool and darts - if you could think of something along those lines, you might have a winner.

I'll be honest and say I've never heard of bubble tea. I've googled it and it doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy.

Burgers are so very common that I think you'd struggle to attract people with a burger proposition. I've often thought more places should do hot dogs - you hardly ever see them in sit-down environments, yet there's just as much potential for variety with different toppings, vegetarian and different types of meat for the sausages, speciality bread.

I've no interest in arcade games and to be honest, I would discourage young people from spending too much time on them because they can be a route to gambling addiction.

We have a few pubs round here that have old fashioned pub games, not just dominoes and darts but things like pub skittles, quoits, shove ha'penny. Might be worth considering.

I have also been to a bar with table tennis that was very popular. Table football is good too.

Also consider your demographic, depending upon your area it might be worth not having an alcohol licence and going for the same market as the dessert bars. You would need a great range of soft drinks, no gambling, lots of snacks and veggie/vegan options.

Could you just focus on the games and allow people to bring their own food and drink? Or perhaps focus on milkshakes/smoothies or as a PP has said just desserts?

@bananananadakrie

Draughts in London is a great example of what you've described. Board games are still very trendy I think, but you need a massive selection. Very tricky to launch in covid times too - quarantining games etc.

Why would you need to quarantine games?!

Board games cafes exist.

They are great for families who like that thing but it's a very specific clientele.

I think opening something different is a great idea and certainly people are looking for different things as lives have changed so much this past 18 months.

I'd expand it. Have board games etc but also have family quiz nights, bingo evenings, perhaps some chess comps etc

And definitely ditch the idea of arcade games.

I used to enjoy going to geek retreat as an older teen with my boyfriend to play monopoly this was the original one and I think very early on (I'm talking about 8 years ago). The reason I stopped going was it got taken over by the magic the gathering crowd and more hard core gamers and I don't want to be mean but it started to stink of BO.

So I think a nice airy large room (like draughts in London) would do better. Personally I wouldn't get a burger from a board game place as I wouldn't be able to eat it whilst playing. I would prefer more nibbly things, like charcuterie boards that you can use a little fork for. Also is bubble tea still popular? It feels a bit dated but I'm a bit older now.

There's a number of board game cafes - the most famous of which is Thirsty Meeples which have stores in both Bath and Oxford and Draughts in Waterloo. They are usually busy at a weekend but many have struggled a bit with Covid closures.

You need to make sure your cafe is stocked with some more gamer type games than monopoly and snap e.g. D&D, pandemic etc which can be exceptionally expensive to buy. You also need to hire staff who know their stuff and can help people pick out the games they will love and teach them how to play it.

My DH and I loved board games cafes and can spend hours there ourselves and with friends. we usually ask for recommendations from staff with examples of what we love and we rarely walk out without spending a small fortune on new games for ourselves too.

Quarantining games wouldn't be needed at the moment, but if the rules get stricter again to leave two days downtime in between different people touching them. Same as book/ toy libraries have been doing. Just a potential risk if we go into stricter measures (although in that case the cafe would likely close anyway to be fair.

I’m afraid I have quite a few more “cons” to add to your list.

Think about how it would actually work. You want day and night time; you need to open at, maybe 10.30am at the latest. So you or your staff might need to be onsite at 10.00. And you want people to make a nighttime evening of it. So you close, being conservative at 11.00 and clean everything and last person locks the door at 11.30.

That’s at least two full shifts of staff.

You’re in the type of business where you’d probably be expected to be open weekdays and weekends. There’s another set of staffing to manage.

That’s before you even think how many staff you need. You will have at least one taking orders and maybe serving them, one prepping the orders. You might need another for clearing tables, managing the board games (tidying them up, giving them out, checking the pieces). What happens if a customer tells you they’re a blocked sink in the bathroom, who looks after that? What if someone wants the rules of the game explained to them, or to complain about a missing piece? None of this is making you money yet requires staff time. I reckon you couldn’t get away with fewer than 3 people on duty at any one time, so that’s 6 wage packets per day - 5 if one of them is you or even 4 if you work all day. Pricey either way.

Counter-service won’t work well I think for this sort of venture, you will want a server approaching people to ask if they want another drink, would like to order desert etc since the board game will be tying them to the table unlike in a normal bar or cafe.

And now it’s time to think about your turnover of tables. In hospitality, you don’t want anyone sitting there beyond the time it takes them to consume. Some board games take hours, even a Scrabble or something with four players could be an hour, and then it will be even longer as players pause to eat their meal. What actual games are you thinking?

The whole thing just seems really impossible to turn a profit. You seem to have chosen a model that has high staffing needs with activities that dis-incentivise the customers from spending. Your menu is also incredibly niche - one person from a group doesn’t Iike your limited offering so the entire group goes somewhere else…

I know all that probably sounds harsh but I think there’s good practical reason it hasn’t been done. You should work out a really detailed business plan, look at what you’d need for a given week or month in terms of capital, staffing, costs, estimated customer turnover, and realise it’s a steep hill …

The one local to us is too expensive to attract repeat custom. DS and his friends would absolutely be the target market but they went once

Bubbles and board games aren't words/deas that hang together at all.
I think you need a broader range of activities/ideas. There's a gap in the market for over 45s speed dating / in person meetups for dating. Loads of people locally are in social meetup groups but a targeted facilitated dating evening would be well attended amongst people I know because dating apps ...just no.

I don't understand the sector but when I worked in a city centre, I was interested about all the cafe premises that closed by 5pm rather than having a second night life, equally the number of restaurants that didn't open during the day. Presumably there were good reasons.

and I suspect @sycamore54321 understands things better than me.