Are Bars Viable
- cptrelentless
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Re: Are Bars Viable
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.
- Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Are Bars Viable
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.
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
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Re: Are Bars Viable
Opening any business with your friends is a nightmare waiting to happen, let alone a bar in Cambodia.
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aka Yankee Gringo Gaijin aka Seppy Yank
aka Yankee Gringo Gaijin aka Seppy Yank
- Seasquatch
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Re: Are Bars Viable
Sounds like a great retirement business model, sign me upcptrelentless 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.
------
aka Yankee Gringo Gaijin aka Seppy Yank
aka Yankee Gringo Gaijin aka Seppy Yank
Re: Are Bars Viable
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.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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 $9-16K a month.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from embedded sub-cutaneous iPhone 9 using Tapatalk.
- phuketrichard
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Re: Are Bars Viable
how do u divide ur time between 4 bars?
do u drink everynight? WOULD ur bars work without ur presence there? ...ie the only bars i see that do, are ones where there lots of girls and a very good trusted manager ( NOT GF)
do u drink everynight? WOULD ur bars work without ur presence there? ...ie the only bars i see that do, are ones where there lots of girls and a very good trusted manager ( NOT GF)
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
Re: Are Bars Viable
Seems somewhat high but you're in the game so would know. Except for the 24hr bars, how many bars spend more than 2000$ 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.
- Guilomohoyin
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Re: Are Bars Viable
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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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.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
- Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Are Bars Viable
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.
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
Re: Are Bars Viable
Example of a typical single storey reasonably busy hostess bar with 25 girls, a khmer manager and a barang boss drawing a modest salary.Raybull wrote: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.
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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Sent from embedded sub-cutaneous iPhone 9 using Tapatalk.
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