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.

double shift cafe / wine bar is a good idea

board games are not unique but could be useful. Quiz nights could also be good?

think if you want your daytime market to be families (mostly under 5s) or students - you probably won't get both.

I know someone famous did a soup and bread cafe during the day. I really do think if you could bring your meal prices in as cheap, but tasty, you could draw crowds in uni towns, the games would just be extra, students like cheap and filling.

I lived near a cafe type place that was very popular ,
the did not serve alcohol but had teas . coffee hot chocolate, squash and per packed cakes biscuits olives , dinky pork pies and the likes .

T^hey got a couple of all the big news papers and local ones , magazines , 100.s of books and board games .

The odd thing about the place is you did not pay for the consumables , you helped yourself to them but you paid for your time there Each person was given a old fashion type alarm clock ( the ones with the two bells on top ) the time would be set at what ever time you arrived then it was put in a clear plastic box with a lock on ( so you could not change the time ) .
When you were ready to leave you took the clock back to the counter and paid for the time that you had been there . The last time I went around 3 years ago it was 7p per minuet , so you could spend a hour there for £4.20 with all the coffee cake you wanted . BARGIN !

This obviously wouldn't work for alcohol, people would abuse it but it could work for your games particularly during the day .
It would also stop people hogging the games by stopping playing and nattering or disappearing on phone calls for ages .

@sycamore54321
thanks, a bit to think about. I was thinking about the two sets of staff but depends of the amount of covers. I think a two hour table limit for £5 will sort it out (taken off the bill at the end if its big enough)
The menu idea is set however the concept is, quick turnaround quick toppings and with the chef staffing problems in industry it just has to be simple.
There are a few examples in the thread of it working. just need to execute it well.
@doesanyonewantthis

love the speed friending idea. had a similar thought and needs to be marketed well. but yea i would go, we do it for tennis as a single person so why not.
@bananananadakrie
Drafts was the thing that struck in my head, I spoke to the manager and had a good chat. I think the next level up is to add the bubble tea cocktails to take it to that next profit level.

@User4248035893 The boba tea will work as more of a take away plus marketing ploy. Taking a few ideas on and the burgers would need to be switched to sliders and tapa of bar food. maybe.
slowly coming together

One near me called ready steady roll. Tables are booked for 2 hour slots and they do sarnies and (AMAZING) cake. They have aide hustles selling the cake, selling board games and inventing their own. They have adult nights where its byob and pizza from a local Italian place, the rest of the time it's cafe hours. I believe they do quite well, but it's a passion project and the staff know all the games and do a whistle-stop 'how to' when you choose a game.

Oh yes. There's a table fee for the 2 hrs. 4 quid per adult, 2 quid per child i think

We go here every so often, which seems to have a very similar business model to yours. You might be interested to see their charging model.

www.theludoquist.com/

There is one just like that in Birmingham, not sure what it's called sorry.

Would it be more profitable to aim an idea at a large group, rather than a small one? Board games are only liked by board-game enthusiasts. You'd need a lot of them to sit and turn a profit, whilst turning off people who dislike board games or have no desire to try and combine a night out with one.

I can't imagine trying to play in a busy, noisy place. A city-centre cafe near me has a quiet room that a board game group rents weekly. That's 5-6 people in a quiet space. There hasn't been any clamour to expand it.

I should also have said I’d be really interested to know what’s your aim in this? You don’t focus much on your post on profitability so I presume it isn’t to get rich. Is it to give yourself a job? Is it to meet the social need you talk about, people wanting to meet and be social?

I would really focus on what your objective is before focusing on the project. Do you really want to work in the hospitality sector? Why? Have you tried it before? If not, I’d strongly suggest seeking a job in a cafe yourself for at least six months to experience the grind that it can be. Or do you envisage just providing the capital and someone else running the place? If so, that cuts right down on your profits and is unlikely to be the most useful way to deploy your capital. Could your sims be better met by, eg seeking out paid steady employment yourself and doing some voluntary work in some sort of club that fulfills the “people socialising” thing?

And only after thinking v seriously about your objective and alternative ways of achieving it, if you still have a burning desire to do this idea, then start serious market research and business planning

Good luck

It sounds like the sort of place I might want to go to because I like playing chess and foosball - although no tea for me (no alcohol for me either).

My favourite bar in London used to be have a focus on foosball. It had 6 foosball tables upstairs and a further 6 downstairs. However, it is now under new management and they have only kept 2. It has become a generic sports bar with people sitting down watching the sport on big screens.

One thing that would deter me would be if I had to pay a set amount per hour. Take foosball for example, if I want to play with a group of friends then that might be ok. However the fun is mixing things up and playing with people you don't know, or people dropping in and out of the game with something like "winner stays on" - then how do you work out who pays what?

Find a property and work out how much fixed costs are, utilities and including your wages.
Say your fixed costs are £150k.
Call it £3000 A week.
If your open 6 days a week for that is £500 A day you need to take, if your cost are 1/3 mark up on sales that is £750 you need to take each day.

Now go sit in one of these premises and see if you think it takes this much money.

These are just tweaks...

The arcade games would only work if they were if the retro variety.
You could incorporate quiz nights and focus on maki g them the best in the area
You could incorporate leagues fir the board games. Not compulsory. But people could opt to play in that way.

A 'board game cafe' opened in my town just before lockdown. They are licensed, sell bar snacks/light bites and were fully booked before lockdown and are fully again now. Fantastic place, shelves on all walls with every game you could want to play and more. When you've finished with a game, they clean it with sanitiser before making it available again.

@Bollindger

Find a property and work out how much fixed costs are, utilities and including your wages. Say your fixed costs are £150k. Call it £3000 A week. If your open 6 days a week for that is £500 A day you need to take, if your cost are 1/3 mark up on sales that is £750 you need to take each day. Now go sit in one of these premises and see if you think it takes this much money.

Great advice - just to flag the margins for this sort of business would be closer to 20%, so factor in costs of 80% (including staffing etc)

The city sounds like Edinburgh, is that right?

You're targeting families, but also students, but also singles?

I'll be honest I like the idea but I think you need a bit more focus. And also some research - from the people I know who like board games they will just have people over to play and drink. Drunk people (students, young people) have fun regardless of where they do really.

Families with kids - I suspect you could have a better market here. If you focused on kids games it could be more of a dining in peace scenario for parents if kids are occupied by a game.

@Zilla1

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.

You get a certain amount of hours where it's absolutely dead. And it's hard to market yourself as both. But you still have to pay for staff time etc.