Anyone here started their own bar?

Don't drink on the job and don't frick your bar tenders. I've seen two successful businesses crash and burn because of this.

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From an outsider looking in, dont do it

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I almost bought a bar and took the time to do some research and sought out several bar owners and managers. Talking to them was very enlightening and caused me to pass on the purchase. A couple of things I learned:

1. If you aren't physically present at the bar, someone is stealing from you. Be it pocketing cash or giving drinks to their friends, it will happen if you aren't sitting there watching them. So don't plan on much of a life outside of the business.

2. You will have massive employee issues. Many (most?) of the folks working in the industry have drug/alcohol/other issues that keeps them from regular employment.* There will always be drama amongst the females. There aren't many people on duty at any given time so a single employee not showing up for a shift can throw the entire operation into chaos. Be prepared, as the owner, to be in the back washing dishes and cleaning the bathroom because someone didn't show and didn't call.

3. Your customers, even the best ones, will be assholes at some point. You are in the business of selling alcohol to people. The Church pastor/doctor/lawyer who is a pillar of the community may flip on you after three martinis and you will need to smile and take their shite. Because you are in the business of keeping them happy.

4. Liability is a motherfricker. Insurance is a major business cost and the first time someone leaves your business and runs into a busload of nuns, prepare they anus for the litigation.

There are more but I think you get the idea. I am just glad people go into the business because I need a place to drink. It just wasn't for me.

*All of the service industry folks can save their angry responses to this. I am sure you are a great person who chose this career and I am not discounting this, I am just repeating what I was told more than once from people in the business.

That is great advice. What I'd want to do sorta negates some of those concerns but not completely.

On my last trip to Denver I went to a place called First Draft. You can google it to see the concept but basically you walk in and give your credit/debit card to an employee to swipe and you get a card in return. There's a wall of taps and you have to scan your card to access each tap handle. That card tracks how much beer you pour and each beer costs a different price per ounce depending on what it is.

The place was very modern and I fell in love with the concept. You just go and turn in your card when you're done and they close out your tab. Another thing is they capped how many ounces of beer you were allowed to drink. If memory serves me right it was 40 or so. Though my buddy who lives there says that if they can tell you aren't sloppy then they can reset your card to allow you to drink more if requested.

That concept will make it down here eventually and whoever decides to bring it I believe will be successful.

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give your credit/debit card to an employee to swipe and you get a card in return. There's a wall of taps and you have to scan your card to access each tap handle

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That's pretty much how WINO works in NOLA.

I owned a bar for four plus years and ran it for three of those. Opened it when I was 23 by scraping together $6k with three close friends and talking a retiring loan officer into lending us $40k. Still close friends with two of my former partners.

Your profits going over the bar are a major concern. I've seen a few absentee owners make it work but usually it doesn't. And being there every night is a tough way to make a living.

Absolutely right about seeing people at their worst. Even the ones that are awesome 99 out of 100 times.

We never had many employee issues. Got luck with hires and just cut the ones that weren't working out. People were making enough money that they were sought after jobs.

I wouldn't do it again for some of the reasons outlined above. But the biggest one is liability. We got lucky. Had a guy die in a one car wreck after he left the bar. Crazy thing was we'd probably over served him 100 times but that night he showed up wasted, we gave him a beer that he didn't drink, tried to call him a cab and he said he was walking out to meet a friend. Still might have been liable had the estate sued.

There are easier ways to make money and the other perks wear off pretty quickly.

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But the biggest one is liability. We got lucky. Had a guy die in a one car wreck after he left the bar. Crazy thing was we'd probably over served him 100 times but that night he showed up wasted, we gave him a beer that he didn't drink, tried to call him a cab and he said he was walking out to meet a friend. Still might have been liable had the estate sued.

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I believe in Louisiana, this is not a problem as long as the person is of legal age.

Y'all are funny people with your info on The Bulldog.

I'm not correcting any of this though.

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He was dying a slow death...drinking too much, drug use, shady arse friends that steal, crazy bitches, people jumping him in the parking lot, etc

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Sounds like your brother was the problem not the bar

I'm considering bringing a Bangers in Austin type of beer garden to BR somewhere. Sausage and craft beer. Hard to go wrong with it. I have damn near completed a menu and will be testing it pretty soon. Hunting for a spot as we speak. Considered Perkins rd but with Dat Dog creeping in and that other hot dog place down the road i don't know now. Was thinking gourmet hot dogs at first paired with beer but the Dat Dog news has pushed me away from that. We'll see what happens