I'm opening up a private pool club with six 9' Diamond tables and a 7' Diamond bar table. Not open to the public. 24/7 key access, etc.
How many members do you think this club would support before table availability becomes a concern?
Also, what do you think a reasonable monthly fee would be? I'm in the Minneapolis, MN area. I'll also be running some guided training out of the club (it is going to be designed for people looking to train and improve). Not nightly classes like a dojo, but not just an anytime fitness. I have my plan and ultimately the market will decide, just curious on thoughts of others.
TIN MAN - Hopefully, some of this information may be of help to you.
I am currently working on this same concept with the help of someone, now retired, with 25+ years experience running a big room. From our brain-storming, we have also been looking at a 6 Table, Equity-Member (vs Non-Equity), key club billiard room concept as you have described.
Much of the work on my end has been gathering operational policies from local private Golf Clubs, to then scale-down for the purpose of a private-member Billiard Club. This has saved tons of time in trying to figure out how best to do a thing.
Why re-invent the wheel, right?
The largest OBVIOUS factors we worked with are: Operational Costs - with Rent being number one. Therefore, the number of minimum members required is informed by what your total estimated operation costs are, and, the lower your rent (being the big one) is your best rule-of-thumb, regarding how many people you must be able to rely on to keep the lights on.
Other factors when determining Member Dues, is also creating a Treasury, so that when it comes time to re-cloth six tables (ouch!) the money is already sitting in the club coffers; and therefore, once you know your minimum needed income based on rent and other fixed monthly operational costs, you need to figure out how your club will generate the extra needed funds for things like cloth and other maintenance/replacement costs. "Assessments" are common, but never rejoiced; and, "Higher Monthly Dues", or, charging additional "greens fees" when one is already paying a monthly, is also irksome to some.
Then we get to the issue of daily cleaning, keeping the club pristine, and who is the guy who unclogs the toilets? Who is responsible for this? Is "maid-service" factored into your operational budget, or, does the Houseman do it, or it is a case of "if you killed the roll of TP, you go to the supply closet and replace it for the next guy"? And, how do you handle those members who do not, and they become
"that guy" who leaves a mess for others, and what about the guy who complains about that member?
And, if you decide to hire 4 minum-wage guys to be the on-site Houseman and Maintenance man ( one day man, one night man, and two part-time weekeneders) now, your club is an employer - and that raises operational costs and opens up a whole other bag of issues.
Have to have answers up-front for all these things.
Another thing we discovered during our brain-storming is the concept of each member being required to pull one shift a month as "Houseman", so that someone is always on-site as the go-to-guy, keeping an eye on everything for the rest of the member body, and there to make sure no illegal or destructive shenanigans occur, etc.
If we assume 30 days to the month, open 24/7, with only 50 members, each member would need to pull a couple of shifts, totaling 14.5 hours as Houseman - something to consider if you are looking at higher, versus lower Dues rates. In other words, a guy who is only paying $75 per month is likely much more open to pulling 2 seven-hour shifts per month in addition to a lower dues rates rate, versus a guy paying $200 per month.
Other things we are working with:
Members posting a Cash Bond: Again, if you are dealing with a bunch of well-heeled lawyers and doctors this presents little issue; however, if you are going to be looking at a member-body with much less disposable income, then this creates an issue as to who has the means to join your club - even if they are great guys who can meet their monthly with no issues.
One-man IN, One-man Out: Most private golf clubs in my area have this policy to protect and ensure the on-going operation of the club, once the founding membership body has been installed. The problem becomes when a member signs in agreement to this, then, after they decide the wish to split from the club, either want out immediately and want their bond immediately returned because they have incurred some other financial crisis in their life. HOWEVER, if you have a Waiting List (which is invaluable) of qualified prospective members, then you can rotate old-for-new, and everyone is happy. Real problems I have come to learn by talking with Golf Club managers is when you don't have a guy "waiting in the wings" to get the leaving member out.
All in all, I have come to learn that the majority of creating, organizing, and sustaining a private-member Billiard Club -
Which I believe is the wave of the future - is more about running the club than which brand of equipment the club installs, etc.
Thankfully, most of the questions have been answered and problems to overcome, have been answered by the private-member Golf Club model; albeit on a much larger scale.
In the final analysis, once you have all these - and many more - questions answered, the big question becomes:
"Where will you get your initial member body from?".
Consider this: If you live in area with a 50,000 population of people who live within a "reasonable" draw radius, a percent of those will be "suspect" members (those who have a potential interest in such a club); which then, would distill down to "prospect" members (those with the interest AND ability to join the club); when then, distills down to "qualified prospect members" (guy who you would want to be members of your club, and have the interest, time, and money); which then, distills down to those remaining who actually join as a bonafide "installed member".
If you begin with an assumption of 1% capture at each level of recruitment, the math looks like this: 50,000 total population reduces to 500 suspects, which reduces to 5 prospects, and... you're already out of gas before you identify your first qualified prospect, let alone a single installed member.
So, that % capture assumption is critical, and there is no way that I know of, to accurately know if your assumed % is good, under estimated or a pipe dream number. After all, it's an assumption.
If you'd like to talk and compare the deeper details of what I have come to learn, as I am sure in turn there is much I can learn from you, PM me and I will shoot you my cell.
If not, I hope something I've posted here will be of help and/or save you some time or head scratching. - GJ
