Little Guidance Here

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Bigdaddi44

Registered
So I opened a pool room here in Northern California. Awesome staff, well maintained equipment, in a community of just over 25,000, we have pub style food, 10 beers on tap and great reviews. The problem that I'm having is that our food sales are behind and our early to mid-day traffic is low. We have 2 leagues APA and USAPool. Our weekend numbers are usually higher then the weekdays (as you would expect). I've toyed with closing the kitchen entirely but can't for licensing. I've thought about cutting our menu to Hotdogs and fries only. I,ve also thought about closing the doors and moving to Mexico, but I have too many bills.
I guess what I looking for is a little direction or someone to point me in a direction. Any ideas???
 
Well the first place to start is asking you regular customers a very blunt question, what would you like to see on "our"food menu", we do not in the future?

Maybe you have the a menu you like, but customers do not. Maybe your food prices are too high. The only way to know is asking your target audience.
 
Bigdaddi44 said:
So I opened a pool room here in Northern California. Awesome staff, well maintained equipment, in a community of just over 25,000, we have pub style food, 10 beers on tap and great reviews. The problem that I'm having is that our food sales are behind and our early to mid-day traffic is low. We have 2 leagues APA and USAPool. Our weekend numbers are usually higher then the weekdays (as you would expect). I've toyed with closing the kitchen entirely but can't for licensing. I've thought about cutting our menu to Hotdogs and fries only. I,ve also thought about closing the doors and moving to Mexico, but I have too many bills.
I guess what I looking for is a little direction or someone to point me in a direction. Any ideas???
Click to expand...
Our room gives free table time with a food purchase during "lunch".

Not only drives food sales, but also helps with food sales as a percentage of revenue if that matters to you...
 
One of the hardest things for a new business is getting people thru the door.
Without seeing your setup inside/out it's difficult to understand/help.
I've opened three, one of my own and two others with business men, each one was completely different than the next.
Only mistake I made with my room was not hiring the right aged/looking employees, I was a pool room for 3 high schools.
But since I got robbed (they tried) I decided to not hire HS girls/Huge mi$cue, that sunk the ship.
Sounds like you've got 4 bar tables and maybe one 9'. But??? whatdoyahgot?
I had 7 9' Gold Crowns/ 1 8' Valley/Juke box/foosball/TV's/ice cream/bottled sodas/candy and lots of parking on a major street.
 
Here's a large CA pool rooms pricing structure, kinda neat.

​

HOURLY RATES

The Big Tables

From Open to 5:00 PM
1 Player 5.00
2 Players 8.00
3+ Players 10.00



The Big Tables

From 5:00 PM to Close

1 Player 8.50

2 Players 16.00

3+ Players 18.00



The Bar Tables

From Open to 5:00 PM
1 Player 5.00
2+ Players 8.00



The Bar Tables

From 5:00 PM to Close

1 Player 7.50

2 Players 14.00

3+ Players 16.00



POOL MEMBERSHIP RATES



Day Member

*Unlimited play until 5:00 pm

1 month : $120

3 month : $300

6 month : $540

12 month : $1,080


Full Member

*Unlimited play all day/night

1 month : $180

3 month : $450

6 month : $810

12 month : $1,620
 
Thanks for your comments. Lets see if I can answer most of them for you.

I have (8) 9ft's , (3) 8ft's , (2) Bar Box's (coin op) , Shuffle Board , Air Hockey , (2) Dart Boards , (2) Pinball Machines and a sit down video game. I've got (5) TV's and a TouchTunes Juke Box. Our Member rates are comparable to those you added. In fact I used that same plan. I really had'nt thought about the free from opening to close with food but I may look into it.
Whe we first opened we open to all ages, then the ABC did a sting and they 1 person out of about that was underage and fined us. (NOT CHEAP!) So, we decided to go to 21 and over after 9:30p. Did that cost us some revenue, yes. Is worth getting caught again, no. The fine will be doubled next time and the doors get closed.
We're located in a shopping center with 2 anchor tenants and right next to a major gym/workout business. We have great parking. We are just off the freeway exit but we're not on the main drag. We're the next light down.

I just thinking that I'm missing something.

I will do a email out to all of our members and followers about the menu, I like that idea.
 
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