Opening A Bar: A Comprehensive Guide

Did you know the average net profit of a successful bar is more than the average annual return from the stock market? Yes! According to statistics, a typical bar makes between $25,000 and $30,000 per week, compared to the stock market, which has returned an average of 10% on investments over the last century. Inflation takes away around 2.5 percent of your purchasing power each year, leaving you with an annual effective return of 7.5 % from the stock market. Now you’re thinking what I’m thinking? Sure, you can open a bar. These figures, however, are all based on average annual profits once a wine bar is up and running and do not account for the upfront or start-up costs associated with opening a successful bar in the UK

Considering the high startup costs to pay for licensing, a location, equipment, and various unforeseen expenses, opening a bar in the UK might seem difficult, but with the right advice, adequate startup tips, and dedication, together we can make opening a successful wine bar in the UK easy, simple, affordable, and enjoyable.

Opening a Bar in the UK: Overview

Truthfully, opening and operating a successful bar in the UK takes a tremendous amount of work, but with a carefully planned business proposal prepared, your pub can become the favorite relaxation or hangout spot in the city.

Opening a bar in the UK is profitable, fascinating, and fast-paced. Just come up with a strong concept, design a business plan, do comprehensive market research, and focus on how you can make your bar stand out in your neighborhood.

Wondering how to open a bar in the UK in a neighborhood where there are already a lot of them? Despite the fact that cities have a large number of bars, you can still beat the competition and build a successful business. Let’s do it together:

#1. Choose Between Freehold, Leasehold, and Tenancy

You can choose to run your bar on three legal bases: freehold, leasehold, and tenancy.

In freehold, you will probably need a mortgage and own the bar outright, while in leasehold, you occupy the bar for a fixed term where a lease is created by the brewer (landlord) or is sold to you by another bar owner.

In a tenancy agreement, on the other hand, you are entitled to occupy the bar for a short-term period, usually not more than three years.

#2. Get Some Training

Opening a wine bar in the UK for the first time might require some training. Along with several other necessary certificates, you will need a personal license, health, and safety.

#3. Legal Compliance

To run a bar, you will need to fulfill a range of legal obligations.

#4. Staff Recruitment

A bar is as good as its staff; know where and how to hire your first set of staff.

#5. How About the Stock?

Create your menu and look for suppliers, your bar needs to be filled with something. Be considerate, try offering an exciting, balanced series of options for drinks and the best produce your margin can withstand when it comes to food.

#6. Expand Your Business

Your bar is up and running. You might feel like expanding your business further in any dimension of your choice.

Opening a Successful Wine Bar in the UK: How Does It Work?

To open a bar in the UK, aside from registering your business, every single bar needs an alcohol license, which is usually awarded by the local council. Necessarily, also think about licenses for food handling, health and safety, music licenses, and building permits.

Here’s a checklist of things to do before your bar opens for business.

#1. Formulate a Business Plan

This is the document that shows the vision you have for your bar and a strategy to grow the business. It should guide you through major decisions, help lay the groundwork for you to act consistently, and possibly secure a business loan. It serves as a management tool that can help you reach your short-term and long-term goals. Your business plan for opening a wine bar in the UK should therefore include:

#1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is a simple interpretation of your detailed plan compressed into a single page.

#2. Organization Description

Here, you will point out your

• statement
• Mission
• vision
• Goals
• Programs
• Beneficiaries
• Budget

#3. Employ SWOT Analysis

Look at your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and time, objectively to plan for pitfalls.

#4. Product Descriptions, Menu, and Pricing

Develop a comprehensive layout of all your products, describing them, and also identifying both the pricing and cost of each item.

#5. Marketing Strategy

Strategize on how to create awareness about your bar business, and how you reach and keep your customers. Put together a plan for reaching your prospective consumers in the UK and turning them into your customers. A marketing strategy should contain the bar’s value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements

#6. Organizational Overview

Outline how certain activities such as rules, roles, and responsibilities are directed in other to achieve your business goals.
Decide the decision taker, who makes important decisions, how decision-making power flows whether you need to approve all orders or will a manager handle inventory and vendor relationships. And before they become a power struggle, answer all power questions.

#2. Carry Out a Market Analysis

Conduct market research, what are your competitors up to? know their strength and weaknesses, close in on them, define what are they doing, what kind of vibes they have established with their decor, what is their Price point and whether your area is flooded with the same type of bar. All these will allow you to beat the competition and make your bar business a success.

#3. Get Funding Sources for Your Bar Business

Think about the expenses you need, both the initial cost as well as the ongoing costs of running your business. Chances are you need capital to get the business up and running, and while some bar owners depend on investors when opening an establishment for the first time, another option is getting a business loan as a business owner. A business loan can likewise be used later on for evolving or growing your business by investing in inventory, marketing, or renovations and not just for opening costs.

#4. Locate a Favorable Location

The location of your bar plays a great role in its success. When you’re searching for venues, think about how much traffic you’re expecting, try to find a location near areas with a lot of foot traffic, the more passers-by who can discover your bar better, the average time a customer will ideally spend at your bar. These help determine the size of space needed as well as the best neighborhood. Be sure to avoid areas that are always under construction.

#5. Obtain the Proper License

Get the appropriate Licenses, while others might be more complicated to get, some of these are easy to obtain. Nonetheless, they are required to serve alcohol, and food, and even to play music in your bar. Many require money and time but, your bar must be appropriately licensed before your business kick-starts to avoid legal trouble. In addition, It will be an outrageous mistake not to acquire the proper license which can cause your bar to shut down, so don’t skip this step.

#6. Trademark Your Name and Logo

Trademark the name and logo you intend to use for your bar, this offers your bar’s name or logo the protection it requires within a specific geographic area. Without registering your trademarks enforcing protection will be difficult.

#7. Design Your Bar

A unique style matters a lot. People go out for the atmosphere and to socialize, so selecting the right design (music, décor, and furniture) is essential. Be certain everything is complementary. For instance, not everyone is a fan of country music, instead, play pop music, R&B, dance, or rock and hip hop. Make sure everything is in sync.

#8. Track your inventory

Purchase and track your inventory. keeping track of all your cost of sales (food costs, liquor costs as well as other products) is an important aspect of proper bar inventory. And this helps you set prices, figure out items in your bar that are most profitable, and help you increase to increase the profit margin as well as make more effective drinking recommendations. Also, make sure you have in place a good accounting system.

Opening a Wine Bar

Opening a wine bar, which can also be called a pub is a small or a tavern-like business, a restaurant focusing on selling wine rather than liquor or beer.

However, opening a wine bar can be a private “stand-alone” establishment, and you can as well associate with a particular wine retailer or another outlet of wine, to offer additional marketing for such retailer’s wine portfolio.

Subsequently, wine was voted the UK‘s number-one alcoholic drink, which means it will have a special place in consumers’ hearts. With that in mind, all you need to get started is a proper understanding of how opening a wine bar works, and the essential tips or steps you need to open a wine bar.

#1. Research the Wine Bar Market

The market research gives you a better understanding of the recent state of the wine bar business in the UK and also enables you to analyze how to shape different aspects of your business to attract the right customers.

In conducting thorough market research for your wine bar, you can ask yourself :

• If the current wine supply is greater than the potential demand.

• Is there a specific set of consumers that aren’t finding what they’re looking for in existing bars and restaurants in the neighborhood?

• Is your desired area for business in particular lacking a wine bar like the one you’d like to open, and would it be able to accommodate the arrival of a bar?

Answer these questions and use the information you’ve gathered to identify a concept that will seduce your ideal customers to your wine bar.

#2. Choose the Right Concept for Your Wine Bar

Another important aspect is picking a concept. Have in mind that you will face competition from existing bars and cheap, comfy supermarkets. So you have to think of how to give consumers a concept that they won’t be able to find in other bars. Your furniture, lighting, and unique menu make you stand out.

#3. Choose a Location

Scoping out the location to open your wine bar is also necessary. Check the area, if it experiences high foot traffic consistently, the number of passersby it would attract, and make sure there’s enough space to store wine and a large reception area for your customers. Choose the perfect atmosphere and distance your wine bar from competitors.

#4. Set Up a Marketing Plan

Apart from choosing a perfect location that would attract a natural flow of customers to your wine bar, you can as well use other marketing tools such as social media, the official website, and local media.

#5. Draft a Business Plan for Your Wine Bar

The business plan is a written document that presents in detail a financial forecast that shows the expected profitability and financing requirements, your project, the crew, your business strategy, and your medium-term goals.  This is the exact document that secures loans from your bank or potential investors, so you need to make it look perfect.

#6. And also have a legal form for your wine bar in mind, because once you open your bar, you need to license it to avoid possible legal trouble.

Opening a Bar in London

Opening and operating a bar is one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences, despite the long hours and hard effort required. Yes, you won’t know what it’s like unless you try it. It can be entertaining, fulfilling, and even profitable at the same time.

To get your bar up and running, first, decide what kind of bar you want to open. The following are examples of bar types:

• A brewpub or a beer bar:  is a place where you can drink beer
• The neighborhood pub-style bar
• Sports bar
• Night club
• Bar with a specialty
• Lounge

#1. Create Your Concept

Once you’ve decided on the type of bar you want to open, you’ll need to come up with a concept. Your concept should be able to fit into both your target market and the place you’ve chosen. Make a clear vision of how you want your bar to appear. Make certain you select a location that the neighborhood will appreciate.

#2. Determine Your Business’s Structure

You’ve got the idea, you’ve got the cash and you are ready to go. The next thing is to determine the ideal choice for your business and your concept: buying an existing bar, building your own, remodeling, or purchasing a franchise 

#3. Make a Business Plan

Though business plans are most typically used by bar owners to secure more classification. They may also serve as a useful guide to help you stay focused on the most critical tasks and build your bar.

• These are some helpful hints for writing a successful business plan:

• Create a detailed outline of your idea.
• In other to show the profitability of the bar, add a profit and loss analysis.
• your location’s advantages stand out.
• Provide a full list of your employees, including their pay.
• Make a list of potential dangers.

Spell out exactly what you’ll accomplish, how you’ll do it, and how much it’ll cost to open a bar in your business plan.

#4. Analyze Competitors and Devise a Strategy for Defeating Them

Focus on the following points as you visit a range of bars in your neighborhood:

• The total amount of visitors to see how your competitors are performing.

• The purchasing habits of your competitors’ clients.

• A list of general likes and dislikes of a specific location.

You’ll be amazed to learn that many bar owners, as well as personnel, are eager to discuss their business and provide the necessary information you require. You can as well engage a marketing firm to do that for you. Just make sure you’re in touch with trustworthy people.

#5. Defeating Your Competitors.

Now that You’re aware of who your competitors are and what they’re up to. You must now figure out how to do things better, larger, and faster to create a successful bar. Underprice your competitors, even if it isn’t the greatest strategy. To distinguish your business distinct from the competition, improve the cuisine, concentrate more on the atmosphere, or more of in-house entertainment as a unique feature. Centralize solely on a single clientele and avoid competition from the start.

#6. Locate the Ideal Place.

Location is crucial, though few argue that with the appropriate attitude, you can run a thriving bar business anywhere. Since you have a good idea of who your clients are and the best place you can meet them. Now is the time to choose for your bar the ideal location.

The following considerations should be considered before deciding on where your bar will be situated:

• Your financial situation.
• The type of clientele you want to attract.
• Customer accessibility.

#7. Come up With a Name That Is Short, Attractive, and Reflects Your Concept, Design a Logo Then Trademark It:

Consider what people would expect when they hear the name of the bar, the category of clients it will attract, and how best it suits your concept.

The legal process of trademarking your name and logo, on the other hand, might be simple or complex. In any instance, you should seek legal advice from a trademark attorney to assist you to sort out the issues.

Now that you have trademarked your bar name and logo Also, 

• Go to your local Alcoholic Beverage Control office in other to get your liquor license.

• The food-service license that certifies your ability to provide for your consumers a safe and sanitary environment should be obtained 

• Keep track of all the alcohol you receive from suppliers in your record book or inventory accounting system, including the date and quantity of each item, as well as the name of your supplier.

• Talk with the local fire department for information on fire safety rules and procedures.

#8. Design Your Bar

Don’t forget, the design of your bar should be consistent with your concept, name, and theme. Capitalize on establishing an appealing atmosphere so that there can be returning consumers.

• For easy managing of orders and receipts, working with customers, and adding transactions, Install a POS system at your bar.

• Prepare your menu, including the drinks and dishes you’ll serve.

• Choose appropriate bar equipment that will boost the bar’s production or service and at the same time, fit in with your bar’s concept. In addition, only go for equipment that will be safe and simple to operate, not to mention simple to clean

• Find dependable vendors to help stock your bar and finalize your food and beverage menu.

• Find and hire the best people for the job.
• Finally, open your bar and promote it.

FAQs

Is it realistic to open a bar?

In general, yes, bars are profitable. The bar industry experienced annual growth of almost 3% from 2013 through 2018. The profitability of opening and owning a bar depends on more than industry trends, though. We must factor in how much it costs to open and get up and running and how much it makes.

Why do bars fail?

Spreading your resources too thin creates major pitfalls and causes many bars to fail. The most common and obvious culprit is financing: You don’t start with enough capital, you spend it on the wrong things, or you pay too much for equipment. … Often, bar owners overwork their employees to the point of exhaustion.

How much profit does a bar make a month?

Estimates suggest the revenue of the average bar is between $25,000 to $30,000 pefr month. These estimates are based on certain assumptions: An average price of $8 for drinks, $6 for appetizers and $13 for mains. Your profits will depend on how well you run your bar and manage your operating costs.