owning recently owned pool hall.

The8reader

The8reader

does this help! haha
Silver Member
skoop- pool hall in Minot ND has closed its doors on the first of oct. hass 9 tables 9 foot and 2 snooker tables, that can be a normal table if desired. and 7 bar box. beer bar and kitchen.. only pool hall in minot. pop. is roughly 35k. it failed for a number of reasons.. I would like to run it. maby. if i can get it all streghtend out.. and come up with a good plan. that is were you guys come in..

Problem- how do you go about getting business loan. do i go to bank or the city councle to get the loan approved? since he closed the doors do i have to buy it from him? there is no for sale sign on it.. i have the business side down. just need help with makeing it mine. What kind of information should i get and were to get it? would it be worth the money to get new equipment? or stay with the old stuff and slowly build to new stuff. oh and befor i forget how do you fight the smokeing laws? Can you do the smokeing thing on a time basis like from 9 to close and have only 18yrs and up in there. and during the day no smokeing with all age group?

solution- that is were you guys and gals come in. any information woul be great. evein y not to own one and waht troubles you had ect.. thank you for your time.
 
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The8reader said:
skoop- pool hall in Minot ND has closed its doors on the first of oct. hass 9 tables 9 foot and 2 snooker tables, that can be a normal table if desired. and 7 bar box. beer bar and kitchen.. only pool hall in minot. pop. is roughly 35k. it failed for a number of reasons.. I would like to run it. maby. if i can get it all streghtend out.. and come up with a good plan. that is were you guys come in..

Problem- how do you go about getting business loan. do i go to bank or the city councle to get the loan approved? since he closed the doors do i have to buy it from him? there is no for sale sign on it.. i have the business side down. just need help with makeing it mine. What kind of information should i get and were to get it? would it be worth the money to get new equipment? or stay with the old stuff and slowly build to new stuff. oh and befor i forget how do you fight the smokeing laws? Can you do the smokeing thing on a time basis like from 9 to close and have only 18yrs and up in there. and during the day no smokeing with all age group?

solution- that is were you guys and gals come in. any information woul be great. evein y not to own one and waht troubles you had ect.. thank you for your time.
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ummm you need to find out who owns the building and what happened. Could be that he will have to liquidate the tables etc if he went bankrupt. If he owns the property and went bankrupt then you may be able to buy everything free and clear from the bank.....

you wouldn't have to get city council approval if you didn't change anything with the building and kept it as the previous business ...don't really know about the beer/wine license etc...

to get a business loan you need a business PLAN....you have to give some projected numbers etc....

you say you have the "business side down" but what you have posted really shows the exact opposite ....
 
Dude, you are nowhere near ready to own a business. Keep the dream alive and learn the answers to all those questions you asked. Go to the library, read accounting books, study the internet. Then when you have all that knowledge, you will know that opening a pool room is not the right thing to do.

Bob
 
The8reader said:
skoop- pool hall in Minot ND has closed its doors on the first of oct. hass 9 tables 9 foot and 2 snooker tables, that can be a normal table if desired. and 7 bar box. beer bar and kitchen.. only pool hall in minot. pop. is roughly 35k. it failed for a number of reasons.. I would like to run it. maby. if i can get it all streghtend out.. and come up with a good plan. that is were you guys come in..

Problem- how do you go about getting business loan. do i go to bank or the city councle to get the loan approved? since he closed the doors do i have to buy it from him? there is no for sale sign on it.. i have the business side down. just need help with makeing it mine. What kind of information should i get and were to get it? would it be worth the money to get new equipment? or stay with the old stuff and slowly build to new stuff. oh and befor i forget how do you fight the smokeing laws? Can you do the smokeing thing on a time basis like from 9 to close and have only 18yrs and up in there. and during the day no smokeing with all age group?

solution- that is were you guys and gals come in. any information woul be great. evein y not to own one and waht troubles you had ect.. thank you for your time.
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The first thing you want to do is contact the property owner, and see what the rent + Triple Net will cost you per month or per year depending upon how they lease property there.

If the owner agrees to rent to you, after your Credit Check, Back Ground Investigation, and whatever else they require your next trip will be to city hall to see if they are going to allow another pool hall to be opened there and what it will require to open. In most cases depending upon the age of the building and such they may want things brought up to current code, and they normal require this before a new business license will be issued, or they may Grandfather the location since the business is not being changed only the owner.

If all that go's well you will have to States Department of Revenue and get a Tax Id Number and Master Business license, actually this will be required before the city can issue their business license, but I would still recommending doing things in the order I have outlined.

Business loan, if you have enough Collateral any bank in most cases will give you a business loan, if you have none or not enough especially today to bad so sad they will not help you.

Good Luck
 
ya when i ment business side i ment like my numbers, kitchen, food ect. par stock, advertisement.. the stuff i am unsure about it how to go about gettting loan and talking the the person or the bank about the building. thank you for the information.
 
manwon said:
The first thing you want to do is contact the property owner, and see what the rent + Triple Net will cost you per month or per year depending upon how they lease property there.

If the owner agrees to rent to you, after your Credit Check, Back Ground Investigation, and whatever else they require your next trip will be to city hall to see if they are going to allow another pool hall to be opened there and what it will require to open. In most cases depending upon the age of the building and such they may want things brought up to current code, and they normal require this before a new business license will be issued, or they may Grandfather the location since the business is not being changed only the owner.

If all that go's well you will have to States Department of Revenue and get a Tax Id Number and Master Business license, actually this will be required before the city can issue their business license, but I would still recommending doing things in the order I have outlined.

Business loan, if you have enough Collateral any bank in most cases will give you a business loan, if you have none or not enough especially today to bad so sad they will not help you.

Good Luck
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thanks for the information it was helpfull i will look into this..
 
The8reader said:
skoop- pool hall in Minot ND has closed its doors on the first of oct. hass 9 tables 9 foot and 2 snooker tables, that can be a normal table if desired. and 7 bar box. beer bar and kitchen.. only pool hall in minot. pop. is roughly 35k. it failed for a number of reasons.. I would like to run it. maby. if i can get it all streghtend out.. and come up with a good plan. that is were you guys come in..

Problem- how do you go about getting business loan. do i go to bank or the city councle to get the loan approved? since he closed the doors do i have to buy it from him? there is no for sale sign on it.. i have the business side down. just need help with makeing it mine. What kind of information should i get and were to get it? would it be worth the money to get new equipment? or stay with the old stuff and slowly build to new stuff. oh and befor i forget how do you fight the smokeing laws? Can you do the smokeing thing on a time basis like from 9 to close and have only 18yrs and up in there. and during the day no smokeing with all age group?

solution- that is were you guys and gals come in. any information woul be great. evein y not to own one and waht troubles you had ect.. thank you for your time.
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Just wondering, how far did you make it in school?
 
finding out why the doors closed is crucial.

Hope the current owner is a coke-sniffin fiend...but smart money says that room went under coz there wasn't enough business to support it.

What that means for you? Run. Maybe buy you a table.

Then thank God you didn't get the skoop.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for ambition. However........

I've been fairly good friends with the local room owner since the place opened over 15 years ago and he had been preparing all his life to own a pool hall.

I'll share his story if you would like to PM me and ask for it.

You seem to be in a hell of a rush. I've run businesses for people and am developing mine slowly. Do you really know the numbers? One example I can come up with immediately are non profit making consumables. You would be surprised how fast toilet paper, hand towels, and Windex add up.

That is no joke and only ONE example.
 
pescadoman said:
One example I can come up with immediately are non profit making consumables. You would be surprised how fast toilet paper, hand towels, and Windex add up.

That is no joke and only ONE example.
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Understatement. Pool players choose a room based on LOW PRICE first. And will devour every freebie they can get their hands on. Whether that's hanging out all day at the room because you have free air conditioning and cable TV (not ever playing pool or drinking), or outright stealing chalk for league (at another room) or taking home toilet paper, air fresheners and bottles of pine sol to the wife. It adds up....to a huge chunk of your profits.
 
The8reader said:
ya when i ment business side i ment like my numbers, kitchen, food ect. par stock, advertisement.. the stuff i am unsure about it how to go about gettting loan and talking the the person or the bank about the building. thank you for the information.
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You will not get a loan without sufficient collateral or a very, very strong balance sheet to support your personal guaranty. I mean real strong, and you have sizable cash flow from other sources. Understand from the bank's perspective they would be looking at financing a start-up operation. Banks lend on historical cash flow and there is none here. So unless you have enough income to support the debt service there is little chance. And they will still want collateral.

How much equity do you have in your house, and are you prepared to put it at risk?
 
cueandcushion said:
Understatement. Pool players choose a room based on LOW PRICE first. And will devour every freebie they can get their hands on. Whether that's hanging out all day at the room because you have free air conditioning and cable TV (not ever playing pool or drinking), or outright stealing chalk for league (at another room) or taking home toilet paper, air fresheners and bottles of pine sol to the wife. It adds up....to a huge chunk of your profits.
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Another overlooked expenditure if you have never operated all aspects of a business are how much the EMPLOYEES can consume. It is IMO impossible to pay an employee at a pool hall very much over minimum wage. This stresses the need for owner involvement. However, one of the "perks" can be including food and beverage.

A light drinker can consume a couple of beers a day times 362 days a year easy. If you get someone who is a bit more serious....again do the math. If you want to fire a guy for having a beer on shift and still expect them to do twelves...good luck. Then add in food. Even three bucks a day adds up to over a grand. Anyone who has owned a business begins to think in terms of 365 and up. If I can save 2 dollars a day somehow, that adds up to 700.00. Everything adds up. If you aren't all set with good money coming in from retirement, expect to spend ALOT of time at your pool hall.
 
pescadoman said:
Another overlooked expenditure if you have never operated all aspects of a business are how much the EMPLOYEES can consume. It is IMO impossible to pay an employee at a pool hall very much over minimum wage. This stresses the need for owner involvement. However, one of the "perks" can be including food and beverage.

A light drinker can consume a couple of beers a day times 362 days a year easy. If you get someone who is a bit more serious....again do the math. If you want to fire a guy for having a beer on shift and still expect them to do twelves...good luck. Then add in food. Even three bucks a day adds up to over a grand. Anyone who has owned a business begins to think in terms of 365 and up. If I can save 2 dollars a day somehow, that adds up to 700.00. Everything adds up. If you aren't all set with good money coming in from retirement, expect to spend ALOT of time at your pool hall.
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And the list goes on. Good points, pescadoman. Pool rooms are closing left and right for lots of reasons. This is not a good time to open one unless you have enormous amounts of cash you are willing to write off for a few years.
 
cueandcushion said:
Understatement. Pool players ...outright stealing chalk for league (at another room) or taking home toilet paper, air fresheners and bottles of pine sol to the wife. It adds up....to a huge chunk of your profits.
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GawDAMMM! What kind of woman accepts gifts of, "...toilet paper, air fresheners and bottles of pine sol to the wife."? My wif is about the hottest thing i see around, ever, But I might ask her if can go Mormon. Day-um!
 
minot

i think it might be wise to scope out your area a little more before you finish up your business plan. there is one other hall there for sure. "the rack". that is unless it closed in the last few months. clean 9' gold crowns, bar boxes, and the even had a billiard table last time i was in Minot. that was in August. best of luck to you!
 
well

It seems like the best way to make a small fortune with a pool hall is to start with a large one.
Or to have started 30 years ago and built it into something special, and that may not even work.
I had the dream, too. Thanks for the reality check, guys.
Karl
 
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