Room Owner Question

[tallcincy]

What are your biggest money makers? Liquor, Food, Leagues? It's fascinating to me that you open a pool room and the room itself does not generate the bulk of your income, it's all these side items.
How do you guys stay in business????????!!!!!

 

[manwon]

What are your biggest money makers? Liquor, Food, Leagues? It's fascinating to me that you open a pool room and the room itself does not generate the bulk of your income, it's all these side items.
How do you guys stay in business????????!!!!!

Hello Partner, the Billiard Hall business is like any other business with respect to being multi-functional. The biggest mistake when attempting to open a Pool Room is thinking that all you have do is buy some pool tables place them in a building open the doors and the money will come.

Partner, I sell retail cues, Cases, accessories, build conversion cues, complete any cue repair, have pool leagues both BCA and APA, serve Beer and my room is all ages, which I would never change, and oh by the way my room is also non-smoking.

Now with all of that said, I have no complaints. I love what I do, I give the community a service they can receive no else in this state, and by being multi-functional I make very good money and that is how I stay in business is their another way ?????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!if so please enlighten me

By the way, it is not rocket science.

Have a great day!!

 

[tallcincy]

Thanks for the info......I understand it's not a bunch of tables in a room and *poof* I'm successful, and I realize it's not rocket science either.... but for the beginner business owner and being a female, it sometimes is daunting to think of all the expenses going out and then the worry of will the revenue be there even with the things you mentioned.
I suppose though that if one loves what they do, one will find a way and that's the point I am at.
May I ask how the non smoking thing has been going? Has it hampered or helped your business? Have you seen a drastic difference?
Thanks again.

 

[manwon]

Thanks for the info......I understand it's not a bunch of tables in a room and *poof* I'm successful, and I realize it's not rocket science either.... but for the beginner business owner and being a female, it sometimes is daunting to think of all the expenses going out and then the worry of will the revenue be there even with the things you mentioned.
I suppose though that if one loves what they do, one will find a way and that's the point I am at.
May I ask how the non smoking thing has been going? Has it hampered or helped your business? Have you seen a drastic difference?
Thanks again.

The State of Washington has been Non-smoking for about one year. My business however, has been non-smoking since I opened in September 2004. When I started my business I had the under age crowd in mind. The promotion of Pool to the next generation is a major goal of mine. I do not think that there is enough industry wide done to teach and promote the sport that we all love to the next generation.

I also think that each location, each State and each city has it's own secret that must be learned to be successful. Along with this though I think that it is necessary to be different in a unique way from your completion, and by this I mean Bar's, Retail stores and other Pool Halls.

Last of all, it is also very important to cultivate good customer relations and to have excellent customer service. I have promoted my business by ensuring that the customer was always satisfied and always treated fairly even at my own expense. I would rather correct a problem at my own expense than to have a customer leave unsatisfied. By doing business this way that customer will always come back, and they will tell others how they were treated, and you will more than recoup any loss from the transaction.

Have a nice night!!!!!

 

[cueandcushion]

Welcome to the Survivor Pool Room Challenge

I don't know many pool rooms that actual pool time is the major source of income. It is usually retail products like cues and accessories, or food and drink (alcohol or otherwise) or something completely different like poker machines etc. I have grown up in the business and it still baffles me to this day. One day you can make $37 all day; and the next day you cant collect the money fast enough. You hear from pool players all day about how you need to do this and that to make a pool table play right. And when its fixed, it stays empty for days on end. You get requests every day about putting in cappaccino and when you do...no one buys any. Pool players that cannot make two balls in a row...they will be your #1 income. Hard to believe in a pool hall. Best advice is diversify. Dont let any group of customers TELL you what to put in or sell. Let the cash register decide. Pool players will want all Schon cues in the case...but won't buy them. Whether it is candy selection or cues keep a huge variety and keep changing the selection to reflect what the sales are. Cheap cues (under $200) will outsell the name brands day after day. Pink cues, ones with Harley-Davidson Stickers, cues that light up, cues with X-men or naked ladies on them. If you get lots of comments about how so-and-so used to do it in the old days....just ignore them. The old pool rooms with no alcohol and rack girls and no music,no video games, the rooms that everyone misses...the rooms that everyone wants to hang out in and just loiter all day...??

....THEY ALL CLOSED FOR A REASON>>>>THEY DONT MAKE MONEY. lol

Be prepared to work long hours, hear lots of unsolicited "suggestions" and be prepared to have fun, meet lots of new interesting people, make new friends, and be challenged like never before. Good luck.

 

[tallcincy]

The State of Washington has been Non-smoking for about one year. My business however, has been non-smoking since I opened in September 2004. When I started my business I had the under age crowd in mind. The promotion of Pool to the next generation is a major goal of mine. I do not think that there is enough industry wide done to teach and promote the sport that we all love to the next generation.

I also think that each location, each State and each city has it's own secret that must be learned to be successful. Along with this though I think that it is necessary to be different in a unique way from your completion, and by this I mean Bar's, Retail stores and other Pool Halls.

Last of all, it is also very important to cultivate good customer relations and to have excellent customer service. I have promoted my business by ensuring that the customer was always satisfied and always treated fairly even at my own expense. I would rather correct a problem at my own expense than to have a customer leave unsatisfied. By doing business this way that customer will always come back, and they will tell others how they were treated, and you will more than recoup any loss from the transaction.

Have a nice night!!!!!

Great advice to, I'm big on customer relations and I believe it goes a long way with people when you give them your attention and make them feel like they're someone special. I'm trying to identify what my "edge" will be. There is virtually no competition where I live, two places to play, one is a bowling alley and the other is quite dumpy. So.....trying to get my courage up to take the plunge and go for it! I'm sick of the rat race and my passion is this! Thanks again. Take care.

 

[tallcincy]

I don't know many pool rooms that actual pool time is the major source of income. It is usually retail products like cues and accessories, or food and drink (alcohol or otherwise) or something completely different like poker machines etc. I have grown up in the business and it still baffles me to this day. One day you can make $37 all day; and the next day you cant collect the money fast enough. You hear from pool players all day about how you need to do this and that to make a pool table play right. And when its fixed, it stays empty for days on end. You get requests every day about putting in cappaccino and when you do...no one buys any. Pool players that cannot make two balls in a row...they will be your #1 income. Hard to believe in a pool hall. Best advice is diversify. Dont let any group of customers TELL you what to put in or sell. Let the cash register decide. Pool players will want all Schon cues in the case...but won't buy them. Whether it is candy selection or cues keep a huge variety and keep changing the selection to reflect what the sales are. Cheap cues (under $200) will outsell the name brands day after day. Pink cues, ones with Harley-Davidson Stickers, cues that light up, cues with X-men or naked ladies on them. If you get lots of comments about how so-and-so used to do it in the old days....just ignore them. The old pool rooms with no alcohol and rack girls and no music,no video games, the rooms that everyone misses...the rooms that everyone wants to hang out in and just loiter all day...??

....THEY ALL CLOSED FOR A REASON>>>>THEY DONT MAKE MONEY. lol

Be prepared to work long hours, hear lots of unsolicited "suggestions" and be prepared to have fun, meet lots of new interesting people, make new friends, and be challenged like never before. Good luck.

Excellent advice! Thank you! You're so right, I already have 100 know-it-alls who know what I need to do already and I'm only 1/2 considering the idea to open a place! I'd love to take the plunge, but it's a scary step!
Does your place offer darts or cornhole? Just thinking in terms of more income.
If there are any other MUST KNOWS you'd like to throw my way, I would be forever grateful.
Take care.

 

[nineballpaul]

I concur

I concur with Cueandcushions 100%. With todays high real eatate costs, and taxes, any new poolroom must create revenue streams to support the business. Here is my breakdown by percentage it may help.

Alcohol, Beer, Wine, Liquor 54%
Pool Table time only 16 tables all 9' gc4 17%
Food all the standard fare made fresh 17%
Misc Proshop, Lottery, League Fees, etc. 12%

The best margins are of course in pool time. Alcohol margins are also out of site. Food has very tight margins and you must watch portion control. Pro Shop and the other areas are profitable but margins cannot match pool or alcohol.

Keep a nice clean place, listen to your customers, beware freebies and you will do just fine with a whole work ahead of you.

 

[tallcincy]

I like the break down you sent, very interesting. It makes me sick that over half of my business will be alcohol. Not exactly the image I'm interested in creating, but what other way is there?

It's so sad, anyone you ask, what comes to their mind when someone says the word "pool", except the AZer's of course, get a sour look on their face and say "POOOOOL!!!!" - Drinking, smoking, gambling, losers, low-lifes.....I'm about ready to bag this idea and start over, society is against me/us already and I haven't even got started!
Thanks for your thoughts everyone.
Take care

 

[cueandcushion]

Alcohol, Beer, Wine, Liquor 54%
Pool Table time only 16 tables all 9' gc4 17%
Food all the standard fare made fresh 17%
Misc Proshop, Lottery, League Fees, etc. 12%

.

Without breaking up the percentages I can tell you my billiard parlor is 9% of our income.

90% of our headaches....lol.

 

[tallcincy]

Without breaking up the percentages I can tell you my billiard parlor is 9% of our income.

90% of our headaches....lol.

hahaha....Ok...I'm bagging the parlor....onto Plan B.
The point is to eventually create less headaches for myself and a hell of alot less than 90% of them! haha
Proceeding with this sounded wonderful in the beginning, it's completely turned to mush since.
Thanks again.

 

[manwon]

I concur with Cueandcushions 100%. With todays high real eatate costs, and taxes, any new poolroom must create revenue streams to support the business. Here is my breakdown by percentage it may help.

Alcohol, Beer, Wine, Liquor 54%
Pool Table time only 16 tables all 9' gc4 17%
Food all the standard fare made fresh 17%
Misc Proshop, Lottery, League Fees, etc. 12%

The best margins are of course in pool time. Alcohol margins are also out of site. Food has very tight margins and you must watch portion control. Pro Shop and the other areas are profitable but margins cannot match pool or alcohol.

Keep a nice clean place, listen to your customers, beware freebies and you will do just fine with a whole work ahead of you.

Where do you get your margins from ? Your percentages are definately not in line with mine, and I sell, beer, food, I have 7ea 9ft table and 2ea 8ft tables and a large pro-shop. I also do professional cue repair and restoration, along with building custom cues. My room is approximately 3500 sq ft.

Alcohol / soft drinks sales - 25%
Pro-shop / repairs -40%
Tables - 25%
Food / Snack sales - 10%

These percenatges also change at times during year except the repair section which is very steady and growing quickly.

 

[Dartman]

It makes me sick that over half of my business will be alcohol. Not exactly the image I'm interested in creating, but what other way is there?

The major profit comes from sales and services other then table time and this fact has been well said in this thread. Face it, pool players drink, eat, smoke, etc. plus many enjoy other diversions such as darts, music, watching sports, foosball, golden t, real time trivia and so on. I think you need to survey your market and competition and decide if you can do it better. What can you offer that others can't or won't. When taking these factors into account when opening a business you can pretty much create whatever "image" you want.

 

[buffalo bill]

9ball summer league

anyone have any ideas about a singles 9 ball league with a handi-cap system that would agree with both average and above average players

 

[nineballpaul]

Not all pool halls the same

Just ran my numbers Month To Date

Alcohol 51%
Pool Time 18%
Food 26%
Misc. 5%

8100 sq. ft. 16 4.5 x9 Brunswick CGIV full kitchen, darts, lottery, poker, 90 pool teams and we cater to the recreational players more than the sharks and shooters. We have our share of high skill players but they probably represent less than 5% of members.

Don't be discouraged about opening a pool hall. If you provide a clean safe environment, with plenty of staff you can succeed. If you cannot buy the building and have to pay rent keep a close eye on that number. Rent can be a killer.

I have learned that having the owner in the store makes a huge difference. I spend about 73 hrs. per week in my room. That may seem like a lot but most of the time is spent spreading good will talking to my patrons and promoting the business in general.

League growth is critical to establishing a reliable cash flow stream. They play 50 weeks a year and will be your most loyal customers. Go after the female element. Safe and clean is what they are looking for. Run tournaments every weekend, and change the format. Singles, doubles, team events, along with some higher level tourneys for the stronger players. Beware the high level tournaments where you have to add high dollars. If you are adding a $1000 to the tournament you must have at least 64 players. High level players often do not drink or eat. Most don't tip very well which definitely will turn off your staff. Higher level players tend to complain more about distractions which will always occur in a busy successful pool room. I have never had a league player complain about someone eating chips too loudly and then leave the room.

I'm rambling but I've leaened a lot over the past 8 years. I wish I had made the decision to open a room when I was 30 instead of 50 but I wouldn't change anything. Owning a pool room is a tough business but can be very rewarding both personally and SOMEWHAT financially.

 

[mikepage]

Just ran my numbers Month To Date

Alcohol 51%
Pool Time 18%
Food 26%
Misc. 5%[...]

I don't know what the right terminology is, but are these numbers net (i.e. profit) or are they the raw cash register receipts?

 

[nineballpaul]

Percentage of sales

These numbers are % of sales and do not reflect anything else. Alcohol is by far my biggest revenue generator and provides a healthy margin of profit.

 

[nfty9er]

Your right, not the same

Just ran my numbers Month To Date

Alcohol 51%
Pool Time 18%
Food 26%
Misc. 5%

8100 sq. ft. 16 4.5 x9 Brunswick CGIV full kitchen, darts, lottery, poker, 90 pool teams and we cater to the recreational players more than the sharks and shooters. We have our share of high skill players but they probably represent less than 5% of members.

Don't be discouraged about opening a pool hall. If you provide a clean safe environment, with plenty of staff you can succeed. If you cannot buy the building and have to pay rent keep a close eye on that number. Rent can be a killer.

I have learned that having the owner in the store makes a huge difference. I spend about 73 hrs. per week in my room. That may seem like a lot but most of the time is spent spreading good will talking to my patrons and promoting the business in general.

League growth is critical to establishing a reliable cash flow stream. They play 50 weeks a year and will be your most loyal customers. Go after the female element. Safe and clean is what they are looking for. Run tournaments every weekend, and change the format. Singles, doubles, team events, along with some higher level tourneys for the stronger players. Beware the high level tournaments where you have to add high dollars. If you are adding a $1000 to the tournament you must have at least 64 players. High level players often do not drink or eat. Most don't tip very well which definitely will turn off your staff. Higher level players tend to complain more about distractions which will always occur in a busy successful pool room. I have never had a league player complain about someone eating chips too loudly and then leave the room.

I'm rambling but I've leaened a lot over the past 8 years. I wish I had made the decision to open a room when I was 30 instead of 50 but I wouldn't change anything. Owning a pool room is a tough business but can be very rewarding both personally and SOMEWHAT financially.

Boy if I had that low of pool percentage I would be out of business. Sounds to me you have more drinkers than pool players. Or too much free time given out. My break down has been approximately the same for 30 years in the business. On weekdays and nights pool and beer/wine will about equal out 50 to 50. On weekends alcohol will out sell pool by about 10 to 20 percent.
I was thinking about your percentage and it makes no sense. Say you take in $6000 in a week. Your pool sales would only be about $150 a day. That would bust me. Divided by 16 tables. That is about 9 bucks a table per day. No way. Something is wrong. Pool time is almost 100 percent profit where food and alcohol is about 66 percent and much more work and headache. I hope you get more pool players paying time.
And the great thing about those consistent numbers for all those years. That is how I catch most of the thieves that work. If those numbers fluctuate way under I know someone is stealing. Caught 2 more 6 months ago. I notice the numbers then go watch the video tape. Works everytime. It is just sad it has to happen at all.

 

[nineballpaul]

It is what it is

I'm not making any assumptions based on what you think my sales are. You assumed we were doing 6k per wk. Not even close. Not even in the ballpark.
I ran my percentages for last night and they were right on what I specified.
Does this mean that all poolhalls enjoy this breakdown of course not. The originator asked what my breakdown was and I simply gave him my history of % of sales by catagory. No assumptions included just the facts for my business and my business alone. I think you may have read between the lines based on your business model all the time not knowing mine.

I try not to be critical of anyones opinions in the room owners forum. I was just providing an honest answer to a question I was qualified to answer.

As far as not having many good players I have more than my share. APA National Masters Champions and the Fifth place team both play out of my room. We send three players to the US Open in Chesapeake every year with several cashing.

 

[cueandcushion]

Pool time is almost 100 percent profit

I wish my pool time was 100% profit. Just wondering how much your rent is? and how many square feet your pool tables take up as a percentage of that space? I think THAT is your cost just to HAVE the tables there.