Tinbender
Registered
Having owned a poolhall for almost 2 years now I will offer my .02 cents worth since that's all I have left. As stated before if you can own your own tables, do it. If we did'nt we would have closed by now .If this is a family type place like ours ,don't serve alcholol. the kids won't come in or can't.The problem with that is the kids don't have alot of money to spend so don't get down when there are nights that are not busy.We have considered putting beer in but the liability is so high. you would be taking a chance - no kids vs not enough adults. Our intent ,(I have a partner) was a place for kids to have something to do instead of running the streets.We have a bunch of great kids and you need to get to know them and make them feel wanted there.we also wanted a place where we could all get together and play pool ourselves. ( played alot of pool/snooker in the last 18 months). A good jukebox with good music is a must with kids,our cut makes our rent every month or close to it.We both have day jobs, we don't rely on the poolhall as our only incomes.Try to have weekly tournaments and bigger entry fee calcutta tournaments at least once a month. We do 8-ball then 9-ball and sometimes throw in a scotch doubles on sundays.(a two day deal).We don't have a kitchen but we serve pizza and sandwiches,snacks and pop.We have hourly rates on all our tables and on Sat. nights we charge 5.00 from 8-12 per person to play pool .works pretty good most of the time since most teenagers are busy talking instead of playing pool.they might play 3 games an hour at .75 vs 5.00 per person.most of the time there are 3 or more on one table so the math is easy. anyway just some ideas and good luck P.S. have fun, we are
