I honestly believe right now I am part of managing one of the highest earning and nicest places with more than a dozen tables in it that is in the country. It was quite the process these past 5 plus years fine tuning it to what it is today and we continue to learn stuff and make changes. I believe that is the thing to do is make the changes as needed to reach the numbers you would like. It started out as Freezer's which was more a poolroom and we later become more of a sports bar which worked a bit better. Now I would consider us an adult entertainment center where grown folks can come and have lots of fun, kid friendly early on and date friendly too.
I think a traditional poolroom with chips and soda isn't going to cut it in this day and age. Remember cheap air sucker water drinking complaining pool players are not customers but problems taking up space. I would go the sports bar route and have some pool tables along with darts. You need a full liquor license, lots of TVs, music, great staff and one of the most important things is great food. You can have a hole in the wall and if the food is good you will have people beating down the doors. Location is certainly important along with parking. We have nearly 200 parking spots and many times we use them all up but thankfully we have some extra parking from the bank across the street which we got permission for.
The place is 16,000 square feet, seating for over 400 people and have around 80 TVs, full bar and full menu, arcades and darts. We also have some free gaming like ping pong, foosball, shuffleboard and cornhole. For pool there are 12 seven foot Diamonds and 10 nine foot Diamonds, when we started we had over 30. League 4 nights out of the week but never on Friday and Saturday night and no tournaments on those nights. There is a waiting list most Friday and Saturday nights and its drinkers and fun players with no serious players there which we like because these people spend money.
The real money is from parties and events since we have so much to do there and alot of space. We do multiples on each night from birthday parties to corporate parties. Since we are near ASU we also do college nights and it can be quite interesting with 400-500 kids showing up to party so we will have a good amount of security to handle that. I think one big key thing is if you can own the building or get a very good price per square foot renting. I think for many that is the biggest nut to crack. Make it a place that ladies like to come and the men will follow with their wallets. Staffing and turnover is high especially when near a college but you put your aces in their places and it makes running things much smoother.
Here are some images of our place now. Our owner Jason Chance is no longer with us as he passed away not long ago. I learned a good deal from him as he was a great businessman with a heart of gold which you don't see that combination very often. He certainly is missed.
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