How to Start a Bar/Club

The FBI has a department called the Behavioral Sciences Unit that creates profiles of criminals to help track them down. As a bar owner, you need to embark on the same kind of relentless detective work to profile your customers before you start investing large sums of money in your business. The majority of the research material you need is probably already available to you. You simply have to compile it. You can go about developing your customer profile in several different ways, then compare the results to determine your direction.

• General demographics. Contact your local chamber of commerce or SBA to find out about the age, gender, income level, marital status, and political and religious affiliations of your target market. Your bar's concept may go in a totally different direction if you're in a college town with a high percentage of young, single students than if you're in a quiet, conservative suburb populated with families.
• Alcohol trends. National and regional alcohol suppliers keep records of how their product fits into the market. Your potential suppliers can provide valuable information about your customers and what they like to drink. Generally, they are glad to help. If you do your research and have a successful bar, your suppliers will profit, too.
• Other important statistics. Visit your local public or university library. Many libraries have business departments that have a wealth of information about demographics, income levels and spending trends.
• Lifestyle trends. Call the lifestyle and entertainment editors at your local newspaper and regional magazines, as well as the advertising and marketing departments of local radio stations. They can give you information about your competitors and tell you more about the establishments that have been successful in the area.
• Your customers and the competition. You can discover a ton of information about your customers using internet resources. Besides general demographics, you can surf the web for information about other bars in the area. Pop into chat areas and newsgroups to find out where the action is and which bars are the hot spots. (This is especially important for clubs!)

Using Your Research Effectively

Once you've compiled all your research, you can devise a concrete profile of your clientele. For example, you may decide your target customers are professionals between the ages of 30 and 50 who have incomes of more than $40,000 and like jazz music. Whatever you set as your target market will affect all the decisions you make from here on, so make sure you get it right!

Once you have your profile, you can develop your menu and bar inventory based on what your customers like. Look for trade magazines and industry associations that provide data on food and beverage spending patterns. The National Restaurant Association publishes the annual Restaurant Industry Operations Report, which details the performance of many eating and drinking establishments. It's also available for select states. You can get a large chunk of this information from your suppliers as well.

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Keep in mind that you may have more than one profile to work with. You may have a conservative professional clientele during the daytime and a rowdy college crowd at night. If you use your research wisely, you can develop a bar that caters to both profiles for even more business.

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