Pretend this bar opens up in your city. Would you go to it?

[PhillyB]

Or maybe micro distilling or liqour infusing. 

Or just do beer and grilled cheeses

part of the rationale behind not doing liquor is not having to worry about stupid ALE laws about having to make food account for 50% of revenue, which then eliminates the purely functional need to have food sold on the premises (i don't wanna have to deal with a membership system, which is the alternative to a liquor-serving bar with no alcohol.) it also vastly cuts down the upfront costs, staffing, storage, etc.

Simple, consistent and friendly. That's all you need. Well besides being able to handle carrying costs and liability insurance.

liability insurance costs are pretty low (should be 1-2k per year) and profit margins shouldn't be too bad on beer and wine. shrinkage should be much lower than it would be with liquor and food.

[pstall]

So rent/lease and overhead is what needs to be controlled.

[Panthro]

World of Beer had a similar model (bet abs local food) but due to all the breweries opening they went out of business (my guess)

[pstall]

Which is why you have to be slightly contrarian.

[PhillyB]

So rent/lease and overhead is what needs to be controlled.

yep, rent should be under $2k a month, plus utilities, insurance, and obviously product.

[pstall]

If you can keep the outflow under 4-5 k i don't see why you can't have a good monthly net. Talk to some bean counters and look at your cash flow and the human capital part at home and employees and you can do very well.

[SmokinwithWilly]

I like tap beers because some of the microbrews don't have the ability to bottle. It also gives you a little more flexibility for the local guy  who can do some advertising for you if you carry his brew. 

Ive always preferred tap over bottle. I've noticed that bottled beer tends to be warmer than tap because every time you open the cooler you lose cold air. I like my beer  as cold as possible.

[PandaPancake]

curious how many other people this is specifically a problem for. does a frosted glass make a difference at all, or is it simply that fact it's not a draft?

It's the fact that it's not draft. Cold glasses are great for beers with little flavor but craft beers are about the taste. I can't think of the name but there's a glass rinse that's used before beers are poured

[Inimicus]

curious how many other people this is specifically a problem for. does a frosted glass make a difference at all, or is it simply that fact it's not a draft?

Its the combination of no draft and no food.  Add either one back in and you get my attention again.

Hell, I generally make a special effort to find the beer bar in most cities I visit and rarely pass up the chance to visit places with nitro draft systems.

[toldozer]

I agree that a bar with no draft system is a bad idea. Doing only bottles screams half assed cheap way out imo. No offense but is not wanting to do a draft system purely for monetary reasons? I know if you are putting say 50 beers on tap it would be expensive initially but profit margin would be much better than bottled beers.

[Doyle]

I rarely go to bars but when I do its to get a good draft beer.  I know nothing about the bar business though so it's possible the model you have here might still be very successful.

[PanthersFanNY]

I'd probably go, seems like service would be quicker without a draft system when all they're doing is grabbing a bottle, but that's just me and I'm not fancy and don't care if my beer has a head on it from perfectly poured tap. I know you said you'd have wine too, but this seems more like a guy bar than anything else and if I've learned one thing from my own experience and from bar rescue, if you don't attract women then your bar will fail. Men go where women want to go. It's why I've found myself at a wine and dessert bar more than one time, because my wife and her friends wanted to go there.

 

Also, it might just be me, but I hate live music in bars. I could just be acting like an old man, but it's always too loud and kind of shitty. Makes it hard to carry on a conversation and hard for bartenders to hear you. That's especially true in a small bar.

[Mvp2014]

not having good pub food and liquor might be the deal breaker for most groups

[Panthro]

The thing is....I can have an extensive bottled beer collection in my own home. I want you to be successful but I would have a hard time saying "let's go here" if you were to open something like this in Charlotte and I didn't know you.