I'm opening my dream pool room
- Thread starter mikepage
- Start date
Go Mike, go!
I don't know the liquor laws in Fargo, but if you could segregate the bar somehow in a way that would allow families to enjoy the restaurant and the some of the tables, you could attract a larger clientelle and cultivate future customers.
Like a few others, I am worried that, while this may be a fantastic room for a large city, it may be a lot of pool hall for a small city. (I am not trying to tell you your business, I just hope you succeed!)
I wish I lived in Fargo.
I don't know the liquor laws in Fargo, but if you could segregate the bar somehow in a way that would allow families to enjoy the restaurant and the some of the tables, you could attract a larger clientelle and cultivate future customers.
Like a few others, I am worried that, while this may be a fantastic room for a large city, it may be a lot of pool hall for a small city. (I am not trying to tell you your business, I just hope you succeed!)
I wish I lived in Fargo.
The place looks brilliant Mike.
Very interesting concept of sticking at what you're best at and developing a culture that appreciates pool. It takes someone like you to do it.
Most everyone likes to play pool. There's no reason why they won't learn to enjoy it more the more they learn about the game.
I'll be wishing you luck and following your progress with great interest.
Colin
btw: Your plan resized and attached below for the convenience of readers.
Very interesting concept of sticking at what you're best at and developing a culture that appreciates pool. It takes someone like you to do it.
Most everyone likes to play pool. There's no reason why they won't learn to enjoy it more the more they learn about the game.
I'll be wishing you luck and following your progress with great interest.
Colin
btw: Your plan resized and attached below for the convenience of readers.
Attachments
Shaft said:
In this particular case, I helped write the liquor law ;-).
The way I've got it set up is the raised bar area and everything behind it is 21 and over only --- That's about two thirds of the place. That area will have alcohol service, i.e., servers bringing alcohol to the table.
Alcohol is allowed in the front area as well, but an adult patron must get it at the bar and bring it to the table. There is no service or sale of alcohol in this front area. Minors are allowed in the front area.
I will have youth leagues and will encourage parent/child stuff as well.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this.
I think it's a mistake to look at the billiards market like you might look at the fast food market or the fine dining market or the movie theater market.
There are, for instance, a certain number of restaurant dollars spent in a certain population area. The goal of a new restaurant is to attract as big a fraction of those dollars as possible. The restaurant market is kind of like a water balloon that has a fixed volume. If you expand/contract it a bit on one side, it contracts/expands somewhere else to compensate.
A lot of people look at billiards markets the same way. They conceive there are a certain number of "pool players" or league players or casual bangers in an area, and they imagine their job is to provide an environment that attracts those players/customers.
I think this is completely the wrong way to look at billiards. The Billiards market is much more like an AIR balloon rather than a water balloon: it can change shape but also can significantly expand and contract.
You could say Billiards is part of a recreation market or an entertainment market. But I look at it as part of something broader still, social activity or social engagement. If you think broadly about the future of the need for social engagement in a community--something that's really taken a hit in the last decade or two--billiards is poised to play a central role.
Most markets CAN actually support three or four times the number of billiard parlors they now have, imo. I believe we have had a static and limiting view of the market dynamics. The market is what it is because we've let it become what it is. It can be so much more. But we need a paradigm shift to make it so. Nothing wrong with starting that one community at a time.
Look at the maritime provinces of Canada for an eye opening example. While we're looking at markets of a million people and wondering whether they can support a fourth pool hall or lamenting another one biting the dust, those provinces are quietly doing something else. There's a chain of billiard parlors called Doolys. The smallest maritime province is Prince Edward Island (think Anne of Green Gables). PEI has 139,000 people spread over the island. PEI has THREE Doolys pool halls, one with 21 tables and the other two each with 14 or so. Nova Scotia with a population of less than a million has 18 Doolys locations. New Brunswick, with a population of 750,000 has TWENTY TWO Doolys pool halls.
If the state of Florida had pool halls at the same density, it would have 530 pool halls.
My point is the market is something to create, not something that exists outside of us to be responded to.
Congratulations
Mike, congratulations that is quite the accomplishment. I hope I can come visit your room soon.
Mike, congratulations that is quite the accomplishment. I hope I can come visit your room soon.
mikepage said:
I really hope you are right. This country definitely needs more rooms like the one you are planning.
I still think you should reconsider the Golden Tee and Touch screen Trivia games. Pool players need something to do while they wait for their matches.
mikepage said:
I wouldn't discard Darts. There is money to be made with Darts.
I've even seen money games in Foosball.
I would digitize everything.
Have you ever went to a restaurant, and as the waitress/waitor is taking your order, they are inputing it into a hand held device?
Imagine walking up to a pool table and inserting a credit card and having a running tab on all your purchases (including table time, drinks/food, pro-shop product orders).
Having a touch screen monitor near each table, where you can make your food/drink or product orders.
That would be pretty cool.
We are planning a road trip. When do you think it will be completed?
I mapquested it and from Phoenix it's only 1728.46 miles. And we're serious.
Have you had a chance to visit Romine's in Milwaukee Wisconsin? They have a similar layout room. www.romineshighpockets.com
They have a Mexican Restaurant in the middle of the bar. And a pit with bleachers that they put 2 tables in. They have 51 tables. I know they have 1 or 2, 3C tables, not sure about snooker. It's been a long time since I've been there.
Might be worth checking out, or speaking with the owners????
I mapquested it and from Phoenix it's only 1728.46 miles. And we're serious.
Have you had a chance to visit Romine's in Milwaukee Wisconsin? They have a similar layout room. www.romineshighpockets.com
They have a Mexican Restaurant in the middle of the bar. And a pit with bleachers that they put 2 tables in. They have 51 tables. I know they have 1 or 2, 3C tables, not sure about snooker. It's been a long time since I've been there.
Might be worth checking out, or speaking with the owners????
watchez said:
Here is where I'm at regarding franchising.
On one hand I have no plans in that direction. But on the other hand I believe the best way to develop any small business is to do it with the mindset that you are creating a prototype for a business that will have hundreds more just like it. And that is what I intend to do.
Besides, Fargo Billiards is a great name for a pool hall ANYWHERE ;-)
In The Words Of Jimmy Durante
Everybody wants to get into da act.
Doug
JoeyA said:You could call the franchise FOREGO BILLIARDS.
JoeyA
Everybody wants to get into da act.
Doug
Dougie,
Only a very few of us remember this great comic and singer.
Only a very few of us remember this great comic and singer.
Smorgass Bored said:Jimmy Durante (aka 'da Schnoz') said, "Everybody wants to get into da act."
Doug