Are Bars Viable

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cptrelentless
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by cptrelentless »

Most bars here rely on the owner being there so your mates come round for a drink. Otherwise they'll be ghost towns. You have to work long hours every day and drink with your good customers, so you become a fat alcoholic. The churn is where you make your money so anyone with any sense opens near enough 24/7. $20 profit on a barrel means shifting those beers quickly. Then you have a heart attack.
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Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

A professionally designed and run bar has a chance of being profitable. A "hobby bar" by someone who has zero experience is unlikely to be profitable or succeed in any way. Pretty simple really.
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Seasquatch
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by Seasquatch »

Opening any business with your friends is a nightmare waiting to happen, let alone a bar in Cambodia.
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by Seasquatch »

cptrelentless wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:17 pm Most bars here rely on the owner being there so your mates come round for a drink. Otherwise they'll be ghost towns. You have to work long hours every day and drink with your good customers, so you become a fat alcoholic. The churn is where you make your money so anyone with any sense opens near enough 24/7. $20 profit on a barrel means shifting those beers quickly. Then you have a heart attack.
Sounds like a great retirement business model, sign me up :beer2: :beer1: :beer3:
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jah steu
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by jah steu »

Most of what the posters say here is true.
In any business if you put in the hard work, focus on customer service, and promote your business hard, your chance of making a decent profit is hugely increased.
There are currently 112 hostess bars in Phnom Penh and possibly a similar number of ordinary bars. Many are losing money, some are making a small net profit of $1-2K per month, and some are making $4-10K or more.
My personal experience is that you have to be personally present in the bar to interact with customers, and sort out problems for the bar to generate a good profit. And that means long hours. Generally I'm doing something connected to the bar about 12-14 hours a day.
Now that I have four bars, the hours are sometimes even longer. And that often works out as less money per hour than English teachers.
The cost of buying an existing bar can vary between $8K to $100K+, depending mainly on location. And this money is large 'key money' - all you are buying is the right to lease the location. There is often precious little goodwill on existing bars, and the assets are usually tatty and of limited value.
The cost of leasing an empty shophouse and building a new bar is around $25-50K including deposit.
If you work hard you will get your initial investment back in 12-18 months.
The running costs of a hostess bar, including rent, salaries, alcohol, ladydrinks, electricity etc are about $9-16K a month.


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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by phuketrichard »

how do u divide ur time between 4 bars?
do u drink everynight? WOULD ur bars work without ur presence there? ...ie the only bars i see that do, are ones where there lots of girls and a very good trusted manager ( NOT GF)
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by Raybull »

jah steu wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:15 am The running costs of a hostess bar, including rent, salaries, alcohol, ladydrinks, electricity etc are about $9-16K a month.

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Seems somewhat high but you're in the game so would know. Except for the 24hr bars, how many bars spend more than 2000$ monthly on either rent, salaries, leccy, and/or booze(averaged from yearly)?
Anyways, the hostess bar market is flooded and in a downward trajectory. Still money to be made especially if you can bring in the high spending tourist though.
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Guilomohoyin
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by Guilomohoyin »

We owned a couple of bars in 1996- 2004 and they were good times. You must be prepared to be there yourself a lot of the time.
We left Cambodia and open a bar in Spain, that was difficult and no profit at all. So at least if you loose some money it won't be a fortune.
Good luck.


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Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

That's the thing that never attracted me to a business in the service industry. The long hours are really crushing and a deal breaker imo. Sure, I suppose if you out your heart and soul into it, you'll be "hustling instead of slaving" like with a normal Jon, but at the end of the day it's all about hours in vs out to me.
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jah steu
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Re: Are Bars Viable

Post by jah steu »

Raybull wrote:
jah steu wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:15 am The running costs of a hostess bar, including rent, salaries, alcohol, ladydrinks, electricity etc are about $9-16K a month.

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Seems somewhat high but you're in the game so would know. Except for the 24hr bars, how many bars spend more than 2000$ monthly on either rent, salaries, leccy, and/or booze(averaged from yearly)?
Anyways, the hostess bar market is flooded and in a downward trajectory. Still money to be made especially if you can bring in the high spending tourist though.
Example of a typical single storey reasonably busy hostess bar with 25 girls, a khmer manager and a barang boss drawing a modest salary.
Rent $1,500
Electricity $500
Salaries $4,200
Ladydrinks payments $5,000
Alcohol $2,800
Maintenance, tax, promotion, other incidental staff costs etc $1,000
Total $15,000
And yes I do think they are in a downward trajectory. The increasing number of Asian tourists may arrest the decline, if the bars learn to adapt to the Asians different preferences and tastes.




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