People wonder why pool isn't making money and rooms are shutting down.

[bdorman]

It's an old --- but true --- saying:

Good help is hard to find.

With what a pool room can afford to pay, they're lucky if they can get a warm body to open the door at noon and remember to lock the door when they leave.

It's a double-whammy if the "help" is a friend or relative who "needs the job" (probably because no one else will hire him).

_________

I really don't understand this attitude that it's okay to be rude to someone because you suspect they won't be a good customer. In my business I "fire" 3-4 customers each year because they're not worth the time and trouble. But, I make them prove that to me first; I'd never assume that someone was going to be a non-profitable customer.

 

[Cory in DC]

So he had you pegged for someone who was shopping around to all the halls to find the cheapest hall to play at that day.

Maybe he didn't figure you to be a potential regular customer and told you of his policy.

He doesn't discuss prices on the phone. If you want to know, walk thru the door and ask.

Who designated him to be your personal entertainment committee that day anyway.

Go look in the mirror. You're one of the main reasons why halls are closing weekly.

I don't get this. A pool hall shouldn't offer a special on which it loses money, unless it's a loss leader to draw in new business. If the pool hall makes money on the special, it should want people to make that purchase. If the pool hall loses money on the special but uses it as a loss leader, then shunning inquiries from current non-customers is counterproductive.

Either way, if a pool hall has a special, it makes sense to tell people. As a business manager, if your special is one you don't want to tell anyone about, you should probably come up with a new special.

 

[efirkey]

Since when does someone not have the right to call up a business and ask them what their rates are before doing business with them? Pool table rates range from $3 an hour to $15 an hour...maybe he has a budget he needs to keep.

Would you go to a movie theater and buy two tickets without knowing the cost?

In a new town I would rather call up the pool hall and find out what their rates are before trying to locate them in person only to find out they are an upscale pool hall that charges $20 hour and has a dress code...and doesn't have any real pool players that play there.

And pool players are cheaper in general. I know a pool player who wouldn't hesitate to play a round of golf for $100+, but *****es when the table time and gambing expenses are about $20 for the afternoon playing cheap sets.

And I can be cheap. I have to be. I have a wife and 3 children, so I do budget x amount of money towards pool playing time.

 

[Pete]

So he had you pegged for someone who was shopping around to all the halls to find the cheapest hall to play at that day.

Maybe he didn't figure you to be a potential regular customer and told you of his policy.

He doesn't discuss prices on the phone. If you want to know, walk thru the door and ask.

Who designated him to be your personal entertainment committee that day anyway.

Go look in the mirror. You're one of the main reasons why halls are closing weekly.

Oh I just saw your D Bag Club sig.

I was moresoe refferring to agressive atitude and straight up rudeness.

I believe in the free market. If you have something I want, and I like the price we can deal. But if you're an A--Hole and I can go somewhere else for a comparative deal but with a better quality person, guess who gets my money.

Rooms close down because they don't keep their clients happy period. Either you charge too much, or your staff is less than favorable, or the food is bad etc. Bottom line, if you want to keep custormers, make them happy and check the atitude at the door.

I am not the reason rooms close, but you're welcome to your opinion, as am I...

 

[Agent 99]

There is a lot of truth here...

then there are the times that you try to support your local pool hall by ordering food, yet, it is always wrong or tastes badly, you ask for your check and it takes 45 minutes, the table cloth is so worn that you are basically playing on slate, the cloth is so dirty that after 1 hour's play your palm is not green, it is black! etc.....and we wonder why the pool hall is barely hanging on...

I lost track of how many pool halls I've walked into and walked right out of in the last several years. Seems to be a national epidemic.

Tables that you would have to pay me to play on, not only completely worn out cloth, but filthy as all get out.

The whole place smells like it hasn't had a good cleaning in years and bathrooms that should be declared a national disaster area.

And of course, behind the counter, there is always some goofball owner who will tell you that tight pool players are the problem.

I do not speak for all rooms here, obviously, but the ones who can not keep their doors open need to take a long look in the mirror as far as I'm concerned.

If you do not realize that the Players are the Solution and not the Problem, you have no place in the Pool Business. Or any business for that matter.

 

[alphadog]

in my experiences...pool players are some of the cheapest spenders/tightwads i have ever seen in my life.


That said...it never ceases to amaze me that pool players on this forum are always complaining about/reporting on another pool hall closing down...when in fact, many of them piss and moan about the cost of a drink, table time, food, etc.


If you want a place to play pool in your neighborhood, then patronize the room that you have...rent a table (don't ask to play for free unless the proprietor offers), buy a drink for whatever price they ask (specials are up to the owner), and grab a bite to eat if you get hungry.


These people do not set up a business for the purpose of furnishing you a place to play free pool and get cheap booze. They have bills to pay...and if you're not spending money there...they ain't gettin' the bills paid...soon to be open no longer.


Get it???


One of my regular pool halls let me come in several hours before league started and have a table for free. I always bought at least 2 drinks (and they never ran drink specials), ate there often, tipped the waitresses well, and on the way out, put 6 or 7 dollars in the bar tip jar for being nice enough for letting me play free pool. This place has been around awhile and appears to be doing a very good amount of business. Obviously, i'm not the only pool player that supports this place (we texans can certainly consume a fair share of booze ).


Bottom line is: You don't spend no money...you don't have no pool hall.


Maniac

amen!!! Tru dat!!!

 

[PhoenixVA]

In my experiences...pool players are some of the cheapest spenders/tightwads I have ever seen in my life.


That said...it never ceases to amaze me that pool players on this forum are always complaining about/reporting on another pool hall closing down...when in fact, many of them piss and moan about the cost of a drink, table time, food, etc.


If you want a place to play pool in your neighborhood, then patronize the room that you have...rent a table (don't ask to play for free unless the proprietor offers), buy a drink for whatever price they ask (specials are up to the owner), and grab a bite to eat if you get hungry.


These people do not set up a business for the purpose of furnishing you a place to play free pool and get cheap booze. They have bills to pay...and if you're not spending money there...they ain't gettin' the bills paid...soon to be open no longer.


Get it???


One of my regular pool halls let me come in several hours before league started and have a table for free. I always bought at least 2 drinks (and they never ran drink specials), ate there often, tipped the waitresses well, and on the way out, put 6 or 7 dollars in the bar tip jar for being nice enough for letting me play free pool. This place has been around awhile and appears to be doing a very good amount of business. Obviously, I'm not the only pool player that supports this place (we Texans can certainly consume a fair share of booze ).


Bottom line is: You don't spend no money...you don't have no pool hall.


Maniac

I could not have said this any better. I, too, have been guilty of trying to get off as cheap as possible while at the pool room - hinting for free or reduced pool, bringing in my own food/drinks, et cetera. No more. I am more than happy to pay the man at the ONE AND ONLY pool room in my town for my table time, and have even been know to let them keep the change or tip them. If I, and everyone else that plays there, did that, it wouldn't be too long before there were no pool rooms in this town, AGAIN.

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

I fully understand your point Pete, wasn't trying to be overly argumentative with you.

All of our halls closed down. The last one charged a straight 10 and hr and half that if you were practicing. No one gave out special rates.

Now that the only venue to play in is bars, I bet, no, I know that there are many players who miss the hall and probably wish that they spent a bit more time there. After all, I talked to the owner and money, or lack there of was the main issue.

When a person doesn't even have one decent place to play, they may evaluate their previous needing of special rates.

Maybe the guy was tired of people coming in and only taking advantage of the reduced rates, drinking water and asking for free lemons to add to it. Only to pack up and leave when the afternoon rates were over.

Maybe you caught him on a less than sunny day. Maybe just got off the phone with the bank, wondering why the payment was late, again.

He gave you an explanation. Maybe he didn't feel that he has to justify anything with phone customers.
On the other hand, I have always felt the Customer Service is Key.


Some people are photogenic and others not. Some people sound gruff on the phone even if they aren't.

I just got off the phone with the tackle shop. Any of these guys sound like uninterested dicks when you call them.

Walk thru the door and they will talk your ear off.

Who knows for sure. The world is a funny place at times.

Did you know that there are actually people that live on other planets and they visit Earth to study us.

They think we are pretty weird at times as well. Can't say that I blame them. I'm pretty weird most days myself.

 

[Scott Lee]

Sounds about right to me. One of my favorite moves by a room owner is to charge certain individuals more or less as the mood strikes them. Another all time fave is charging a person that is drunk for things they never bought. Seen lots of poor business practice at pool halls over the years and it seems like none of them have any qualms about doing it.. I went to meet a friend recently at a pool hall in Chicago, he was already there and playing with another guy when I arrived. There was a table open next to them so I went to the guy at the register and asked for a set of balls, it then dawned on me to ask about the rates. He looks at me and says, " it's $12.00 an hour." I then said, "you know I can just drive to Chris's and play for $4.00 an hour." He could have cared less so I gave him the balls back and went to hang out with them. They were stunned when I told them what had happened at the register and said we aren't being charged anything close to that so I played on their table at their rate.
Never have gone back to that place...

Dan...Those other two guys sometimes do work for the owner, which is why they get a break on table time. Not saying their rates might not be a bit high, but they are good people!

Scott Lee
http://pool knowledge.com

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

Oh I just saw your D Bag Club sig.

BTW, thats a joke Pete. It stemmed from a goofy thread many moons ago.

Someone called someone else a D Bag and a few of us started a fictitious D Bag Club in honor of that thread and added that to our Sig Lines.

It don't mean nothin.

 

[cluelesscuer]

Some of the places seem to charge the same price no matter how many are on a table, while others charge based on the number of players...

 

[Kim Bye]

I have worked in bars and restaurants for close to 20 years of my life and the way i see it poolrooms falls within that category of business.
I have seen so many places go belly up. The most common reason seems to be bad market research from the owner, being under financed and simply having the wrong concept at the wrong place.
Setting that aside, I have seen plenty of places that has the concept, location, prices etc. nailed and if the owners would just stay on top of the situation, the place would be a money maker.
Being a bar owner, restauranteur, coffeeshop owner or pool room owner requires you to wear many hats, but another important quality you must have is pride.
I`m not talking the type of pride you see in Kitchen Nightmares, where you see moron owners that treat staff like crap and take on the role as dictator of their own little business...
I`m talking about pride in your workplace, making sure the place is clean, treating staff with respect, making sure you pay attention to what`s happening in your establishment and in your neigborhood. Under or over pricing is equally bad for business, you need to be competitive.
You need to be objective about the quality of the food and drinks you serve, the music and all aspects of the pool tables.
For a poolroom to survive you need those tables occupied as much of the time as possible.

In Pete`s case i think just about everything was wrong with the answers he got!
Had that been my place i would take the complete opposite approach.
I would tell Pete my rates, ask if he was new in town and if he was looking for a new place to play pool and maybe ask him how much he played, what game he enjoyed and so fourth.
If Pete sounded like a nice guy i would invite him down for an hour or two of free play just to get him in my place.
I`m pretty sure if my establishment was a quality place and if Pete really was looking for a new place to play (and consequently; spend his money) those few hours of free table time would land me a new loyal customer.

 

[FairladyZ]

You need to be objective about the quality of the food and drinks you serve, the music and all aspects of the pool tables.
For a poolroom to survive you need those tables occupied as much of the time as possible.

In Pete`s case i think just about everything was wrong with the answers he got!
Had that been my place i would take the complete opposite approach.
I would tell Pete my rates, ask if he was new in town and if he was looking for a new place to play pool and maybe ask him how much he played, what game he enjoyed and so fourth.
If Pete sounded like a nice guy i would invite him down for an hour or two of free play just to get him in my place.
I`m pretty sure if my establishment was a quality place and if Pete really was looking for a new place to play (and consequently; spend his money) those few hours of free table time would land me a new loyal customer.

100% correct.

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

And yer right Kim. as I said, Customer Service is a Key Ingredient for any business.

One thing that I thought of, Pete mentioned that he thought that the person on the other end of the phone sounded like a jerk.

Just maybe the person on the phone thought that Pete sounded like a jerk as well.

Never know. Depends if Pete came across as asking his question/s politely or came across differently to the owner or who ever was working.

First impressions can be hard for people when they meet face to face. Maybe even harder over the phone, just like sometimes things get misconstrued with a key board.

 

[Jeff Rosen]

In my experiences...pool players are some of the cheapest spenders/tightwads I have ever seen in my life.


That said...it never ceases to amaze me that pool players on this forum are always complaining about/reporting on another pool hall closing down...when in fact, many of them piss and moan about the cost of a drink, table time, food, etc.


If you want a place to play pool in your neighborhood, then patronize the room that you have...rent a table (don't ask to play for free unless the proprietor offers), buy a drink for whatever price they ask (specials are up to the owner), and grab a bite to eat if you get hungry.


These people do not set up a business for the purpose of furnishing you a place to play free pool and get cheap booze. They have bills to pay...and if you're not spending money there...they ain't gettin' the bills paid...soon to be open no longer.


Get it???


One of my regular pool halls let me come in several hours before league started and have a table for free. I always bought at least 2 drinks (and they never ran drink specials), ate there often, tipped the waitresses well, and on the way out, put 6 or 7 dollars in the bar tip jar for being nice enough for letting me play free pool. This place has been around awhile and appears to be doing a very good amount of business. Obviously, I'm not the only pool player that supports this place (we Texans can certainly consume a fair share of booze ).


Bottom line is: You don't spend no money...you don't have no pool hall.


Maniac

Interesting that you posted this. I frequent 5 different poolrooms in the Long Island/NYC area, one for my APA league, one for my megabucks league, one for local handicap tournaments, and 2 for just practice or to take my kids to. When I go to the local tournaments I never eat or drink except maybe for coffee. I thought they were making money. Well, talking to the owner I found 90% of the entry fees go back as prize money. So if there are 20 entries at $20 each the hall only makes 10% of $400 or only $40 dollars. The owner said his money is made on food & drinks and the tournaments make the place look busy. So feeling guilty I now go there for practice or with my kids or friends.

 

[Quesports]

Wehavawinna!

I have worked in bars and restaurants for close to 20 years of my life and the way i see it poolrooms falls within that category of business.
I have seen so many places go belly up. The most common reason seems to be bad market research from the owner, being under financed and simply having the wrong concept at the wrong place.
Setting that aside, I have seen plenty of places that has the concept, location, prices etc. nailed and if the owners would just stay on top of the situation, the place would be a money maker.
Being a bar owner, restauranteur, coffeeshop owner or pool room owner requires you to wear many hats, but another important quality you must have is pride.
I`m not talking the type of pride you see in Kitchen Nightmares, where you see moron owners that treat staff like crap and take on the role as dictator of their own little business...
I`m talking about pride in your workplace, making sure the place is clean, treating staff with respect, making sure you pay attention to what`s happening in your establishment and in your neigborhood. Under or over pricing is equally bad for business, you need to be competitive.
You need to be objective about the quality of the food and drinks you serve, the music and all aspects of the pool tables.
For a poolroom to survive you need those tables occupied as much of the time as possible.

In Pete`s case i think just about everything was wrong with the answers he got!
Had that been my place i would take the complete opposite approach.
I would tell Pete my rates, ask if he was new in town and if he was looking for a new place to play pool and maybe ask him how much he played, what game he enjoyed and so fourth.
If Pete sounded like a nice guy i would invite him down for an hour or two of free play just to get him in my place.
I`m pretty sure if my establishment was a quality place and if Pete really was looking for a new place to play (and consequently; spend his money) those few hours of free table time would land me a new loyal customer.

It's far more difficult and expensive to attract new customers so they are the ones that should be treated with the utmost respect, not screwed for a quick buck. Case in point. Red Shoes was being remodeled recently and was closed. I had no idea and drove the 30 miles down to play pool. The door had some note stuck to it which I did not read and walked right on in. John the owner was there and looked at me funny and said were closed till Friday for renovations. Instead of shooing me on out he said, what you drinking the beers on me. That is how a smart business owner treats customers. The quote above is spot on!!

 

[Medalist]

Since when does someone not have the right to call up a business and ask them what their rates are before doing business with them? Pool table rates range from $3 an hour to $15 an hour...maybe he has a budget he needs to keep.

Would you go to a movie theater and buy two tickets without knowing the cost?

In a new town I would rather call up the pool hall and find out what their rates are before trying to locate them in person only to find out they are an upscale pool hall that charges $20 hour and has a dress code...and doesn't have any real pool players that play there.

And pool players are cheaper in general. I know a pool player who wouldn't hesitate to play a round of golf for $100+, but *****es when the table time and gambing expenses are about $20 for the afternoon playing cheap sets.

And I can be cheap. I have to be. I have a wife and 3 children, so I do budget x amount of money towards pool playing time.

I totally agree with this post. If you want to play pool several hours several days a week its going to take some searching for the best deal unless you have unlimited funds. Sure a banger can pay anything one day every couple weeks but a regular needs to find the best value.

 

[greyhounds88]

The reason for real

The reason rooms are not making it are many but i think the main reason for this is pool and things like it, firstly are a social event like sitting on the local parking lot and talking to friends todays youth dont get together socially because they dont have to be in the same place to socialize times have changed they facebook, tweet,text, they know what allot of people are doing when they do it no need to get together and do anything and i dont think there is no changing where its going pool is doomed

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

Pete, the room that you called, what city was it in?

 

[FairladyZ]

The reason rooms are not making it are many but i think the main reason for this is pool and things like it, firstly are a social event like sitting on the local parking lot and talking to friends todays youth dont get together socially because they dont have to be in the same place to socialize times have changed they facebook, tweet,text, they know what allot of people are doing when they do it no need to get together and do anything and i dont think there is no changing where its going pool is doomed

Yup, I already mentioned that...... Pool take a little skill, unlike some stupid video game.....so yea, what's the easier path? Sit at home and blow things up on a TV while failbooking/texting/doodling with your phone or going out and meeting real people and doing real activities?! I've always maintained that failbook friends are your 'imaginary friends'.....and I will always maintain this position....