A Guide On How To Find the Perfect Location For Your Exciting Bar Venture

When it comes to running a successful retail business, there are many aspects that when combined together create the winning formula needed to get people coming through the doors.

Businesses that have front line staff engaging with its customers on a regular basis need to ensure that they have perfected how to deliver the best customer service. Restaurants that are hoping to stand out from the competition need to strive to offer better food, better drinks and perhaps even better entertainment options than their competitors.

The list of what makes a retail business successful can seem endless at times and selling goods to the public comes with its own unique set of challenges. Learning how to overcome the challenges thrown at retailersis vital if your bar venture is going to flourish, but it is of course better to avoid the challenges altogether, if possible.

“How Can I Avoid The Challenges Other Bar Owners Are Forced To Deal With?”

That may well be the question on your mind right now, and the answer is simple. Preparation is key and that comes from doing as much research as possible before you actually open the doors of your new bar.

It might be tempting to jump in head first – perhaps you have been managing bars for years and feel that you are finally equipped enough to put your name above the door. Or you might have noticed a shortage of bars in your local area and committed yourself to making the most of the opportunity before someone else does.

As difficult as it might be to slow things down a little, you must learn to make well informed business decisions if you are going to become the owner of a booming SME.

The Key Consideration Any Retail Business Needs To Take Is…

Location.

If there is one thing that can make or break a retail business, it is of course the location – and this is certainly the case when it comes to establishing a new bar in any area.

So, as we previously mentioned, perhaps you have seen a gap in the market in your small village and vowed to be the one to change it. It is likely that you are not the first business savvy individual to have identified this opportunity, so you must first look into why someone has not already snapped it up themselves.

Joining an Already Established Food And Drinks Hub

This is often considered to be the ‘safest’  route to explore for bar owners. Opening a bar in an area that is already popular comes with its own benefits. If you choose to open a bar that is surrounded by other bars and restaurants, it is likely that you will not have to work too hard to get them coming through the doors – but of course, the difficult part will be ensuring they keep coming back.

Another benefit of choosing an area that is already flooding with customers is that you can quite accurately predict who your customer base will be and as a result, catering for their tastes and budget is a possibility from the offset.

Choosing To Take The Road Less Travelled…

You might decide to turn your back on the more traditional route and instead opt to open a bar in a premises that is not yet as busy as others. You might have a friend who is in the loop and who happens to know that there are plans to create a new entertainment quarter in town.

Or maybe you have discovered a fantastic restaurant or two in the quiet part of town and feel a new bar would be aptly placed amongst them.

Choosing to open a bar in an area that is less busy to begin with comes with some great pros – these sorts of places charge less rent and of course, there will not be much competition, at least to begin with.

Though it is worth noting that your SME will have to funnel more of its initial budget into marketing, as the customer base will not come “ready-made” like it would in a much busier location.

Pricing Strategies Based On Location

You will need to put a fair amount of thought into pricing strategies for your new bar and whilst you might be tempted to ad-lib, setting the price is sadly a lot more complicated than that.

The first step should be analysing your customer demographic. It would be remiss to ignore important factors that come into play with pricing, including gender, age and occupation.

If the customer base you are targeting are not high earners, then setting the price too high will mean that your bar closes its doors before its even had a chance to get through the first bottle of whiskey. For example, if you are planning to open a bar on a strip that is often frequented by university students, the pricing strategy should include low prices with an expectation of high volumes of orders. Incorporating drinks bundles and a regular happy hour are both sure-fire ways to give the foot traffic into your bar a boost.

A Few Other Things Worth Remembering When Choosing The Location For Your Bar…

– Parking: Depending on who your clientele is going to be, you might need to guarantee access to a spacious carpark. If your bar is going to be in an area that is not a central location, then a car park is a must.

– Easy Access: Getting to your bar needs to be as effortless as possible. If potential customers have to drive past the premises and then go back on themselves to turn into your carpark, they might decide it is more effort than it is worth and go elsewhere.

– Disabled Access: If the doors to your bar are accessed via steps, it is a good idea to invest in a ramp so that those with disabilities can still enjoy what your bar has to offer, without having to worry about how they are going to get inside.

– Difficult Address To Locate: If your bar is not recognised on Google Maps, or easy to locate with a sat-nav, then it could drastically impact the number of customers walking through your doors.

Finding the right location should be at the top of any business owners priority list when starting a new bar venture, but at Nucleus Commercial Finance, we realise that not all businesses have the working capital to guarantee the location they desire.

If your business has been operating for at least four months and can provide four months’ card statements, the Nucleus Merchant Cash Advance can enable it to operate in a better location. Repayment terms are flexible and can be scaled up or down, depending on the cash inflow into your business each month.

To find out more information about our Merchant Cash Advance product, get in touch with our team today for a consultation.