Interested in opening a bar / live music venue

[AaronF]

 

But don't you think it's up to OP as to when he feels it's necessary to edit and revise his mission statement. We're going off the facts that he's giving us, anything else is embellishment on our behalf.

 

 

I don't think it is up to the bar owner necessarily. The bar owner is at the mercy of the people. Staying afloat is always the first goal of business; and if that isn't the bar owner's goal, well then, he won't be around very long. If he can get by doing only original local acts, that would be freaking awesome, I would go to wherever that place was and watch shows all the time. Unfortunately, all of those types of places (around here at least; and we have quite a few) have to book larger regional acts to pay the bills - and then get the smaller acts to fill in as much as possible on the other dates.

[slight-return]

hmmm

 

maybe we should consider "to showcase local music"

more of a vision statement than a mission statement.

As a mission statement it doesn't seem all that fleshed out

 

One kinda classic approach to the mission statment is a 3 point approach where the statement addresses.

1)purpose

2)the business or responsibilities

3)the values

 

I think all we have defined (and it could maybe use a little more def) is the purpose part - which would put it more in "vision statment" territory (which is a fancy term for "we were workin on our mission statement at the retreat, but then we got drunk on the company dime!! :D" )

 

 

the "values" section could help define things like IF cover or tribute acts ARE part of the live local music scene in terms of the mission statement.

 

"Keep the lights on" type concessions can be looked at in terms of point 2 (the biz/responsibilities)

[Virgman]

If you have to ask the questions you are asking forget about it. You are too dumb.

 

You should work in someone else's bar/nightclub for a year or two to learn the business before you blow your money.

 

It's a tough and rough business.

 

Odds are you'll lose all your money within 2-3 years or sooner.

[AaronF]

 

If you have to ask the questions you are asking forget about it. You are too dumb.

 

 

Dude, no need to be an a-hole. That is seriously a bit harsh. If you have an opinion to give, at least try and be constructive.

 

The rest of your post was quite informative. I would second the part about working in a bar and learning the ins and outs. At one bar I worked at, the problem was that the owners didn't fully understand what problems we were having, so they couldn't fix them. They had never owned or worked in a bar before, so a lot of rookie mistakes were made. Also, the decisions on how to do things and how things were run weren't made prior to opening, so the employees ended up making the decisions for the owners, because they had no choice. A lot of decisions were made weren't what the owners would have wanted, but it is their fault for not having the foresight to address such issues.

 

A few months as a bar back would give you quite a bit of insight into the bar business. Bartending is great and all, but the bar backs tend to have to deal with a lot more of the duties of the bar. Bartenders focus only on making drinks, while a bar back has to do everything to make it possible for the bartenders to make drinks as quickly and easily as possible - anticipation is key. Yes, it is a bitch job, but you learn a ton.

 

Most of my advice in this thread has come off as "Debbie Downer," but I would really like you to have an idea of the negatives, as everyone knows the positives of having your own venue are. It would be a great venture if you decided to do it and I wish you the best of luck!