How to open your own bar or a restaurant (and make a profit)

5 tips for opening your own bar or a restaurant

We understand that the competition in this industry is massive, and applying these tips will increase your chances of success once you decide to open your own bar or a restaurant.

Keep your bar stocked

One of the best things about starting your bar or restaurant is that you get to manage the inventory. For this reason, it’s critical to keep your inventory sufficient to support your business—and the customers who come to your bar or restaurant. 

You can easily do this with some inventory tracking and management software. With a few simple tools, you can keep tabs on everything from the number of products on hand to the costs associated with running your bar or restaurant.

If you don’t have the cash flow to buy the items you need in volume, you’ll need to figure out a way to source them in smaller quantities.

Create signature cocktails

This is the stuff that people line up to order at the bar, and you can make it for them. If you want to be successful, you need to choose signature cocktails carefully. To begin, you want to ensure that the drink isn’t too difficult for the average person to make. 

A signature cocktail should be doable by someone with minimal experience in addition to being an essential part of a bar or restaurant. For example, a classic margarita can be made using only three ingredients: tequila, ice, and salt.

However, most people wouldn’t be able to make a tequila Sunrise without being able to pick the right type of Mexican drops from the bottle. 

Still, even with the perfect margarita, you need to consider the type of crowd you want to attract. If you focus more on attracting a younger, tech-savvy crowd, you may want to avoid standard drinks and go with creative cocktails, such as the rev-up shot, the spike cocktail, or the potato anteater.

Hire the right bartenders

Bartenders are like any other profession: You need to find the right ones for the job. The trick is to find people who are passionate about what they do and willing to learn.

Bartenders still learning the ins and outs of certain brands, styles, or cocktails may not know the proper way to order specific products or make certain drinks.

Take liability seriously

Taking liability means being prepared to back up your product with credible information and a valid reason for each decision. If you make a mistake, or if something goes wrong, you need to be able to explain how it happened and what you were doing when it happened.

It’s one thing to talk about learning from your mistakes, and it’s another to talk about accepting responsibility for them.

Have a selection of games available

When you’re starting out, you will have customers who won’t stick around for long periods. Others, however, will appreciate the challenge and will stick around for a while. The best way to get the latter group of customers is to have a selection of games available to encourage them to stick around. 

This can be as simple as offering free games to new customers or letting customers keep tokens.

Once they’ve had a chance to play a few games, they’ll remember the experience and be more likely to continue spending. There are many appealing bar game ideas that you can take advantage of and keep your customers happy.

Conclusion

If you’re willing to put in the effort to run a successful bar or restaurant, many resources are available to help you get started. What’s important is that you keep reading and use the resources available to help you succeed.