Do you think you could or even want to own a bar? Not too big. Maybe something like “Cheers” where you basically serve beer on tap and mixed drinks.
I’ve been running a small business for a long time. I don’t think I’d want to own a bar. Customers can be difficult enough, I can only imagine it’s an order of magnitude worse when customers aren’t just grabbing what they need and leaving but rather staying for hours while they get drunk.
I can think of a few other things, but all said and done, all the bar owners I know, don’t seem all that stressed out. That could be partially because it’s the demeanor you need to own a place like that along with them being people that generally enjoy being around people, but if owning a bar was as much of a PITA as I’d imagine it to be, they’d be tearing their hair out after a few years.
The bar owners you know are lucky. The three people that I’ve known who owned a bar were not as lucky and all three of them were very stressed. Having seen what they went through, if somebody gave me a bar for free tomorrow, I’d immediately put it up for sale.
I’d be a raging drunk in a month’s time. No, I would not want one.
No you wouldn’t. Owning a bar is very difficult work. You won’t have time to be a drunk. It’s an 80 hour a week job, at minimum.
I worked with the public long enough. No, thanks.
Brother, I’ve been binging Cheers for the past month. If I could run a bar like that, I’d be on it in a heartbeat.
Sadly, most bars are not up to Cheer’s snuff. No, most bars I’m familiar with are filled with angry people. I don’t need too much more angry in my life.
Norm!
Oh, I agree it’s gotta be a hard job. I couldn’t do it. I think I’d turn into a blithering idiot and start drinking to cope. 'Cause, dude I’m just that weak.
Not even if the job was in the Rover’s Return, where your only job is apparently to bring barrels up from the cellar and wipe the bar down with a damp cloth.
You’ve only been around for what–a year?–but still, you’re in almost every thread I have any interest in. And you’re always awesome!
I’m thinking more “Archie Bunker’s Place” than “Cheers”. My hometown was famous for having so many ABP-like joints.
I’d love it, if I could make a living. But I know I could not.
mmm
Only if it was in an industrial area, serving the local workers. Those close relatively early and get the biggest crowds for meals. A lot of those people can’t even drink beer unless it’s 0’0%, since it’s incompatible with their job (industrial machinery, trucks).
The kind involving going to bed late and the presence of drunks, hell no.
First of all, I agree–Beck is awesome, and a welcome addition to the SDMB.
Nextly, I’ve known two bar owners. Both were personal friends (still are, IMHO, but I moved 2000 miles away, and have lost touch), and I learned from those friends that there is a helluva lot more to owning a bar than just serving up beer and mixed drinks.
ETA, in response to the OP: No, after hearing my bar-owning friends’ stories, I would not want to own a bar.
Actually the people I’ve known who have runs pubs have all been pretty big drinkers.
The hours is what would put me off though - 8am-12am daily. Plus you get really annoying regulars who just want to prop up the bar talking rubbish to you for hours.
I’ve done bar work when I was a student - fun when you’re young and your idea of a private life isn’t all that private. Now I’m in my 40s, not so much. There’s something to be said for having your evenings and weekends to yourself.
One thing I cannot figure out is unlike “Cheers” you really cannot have alot of people just hanging around talking and maybe only ordering one or two rounds. You need to have customers come in - drink - then leave so another customer can come in. I mean the ideal customer would be a guy who comes in, lays down a five and buys a shot, drinks, then leaves. Then repeat.
I’ve never understood the economics of bars. For example, Peter and friends at the Rusty Clam on “Family Guy”. They sit at a table for hours and order maybe 2 rounds. How much profit does that table make?
And lets say its a night where everyones watching the big game. Well thats 3-4 hours where you start off with a packed house but after that there are few new customers and all people want to do is order a couple of things and just sit. How profitable is that?
Now as I understand it, booze has a pretty big markup. Way more profitable than food. One guy I knew who owned a bar said just straight beer alone on tap is the most profitable. No fancy drink making. Just pour from a tap.
Now I’ve never been into drinking but the few times I’ve been into a bar and its too crowded where I cannot find a seat, I just want to leave. I hate first having to pay a cover then I have to pay and tip for every drink and half of that $6 drink is ice and orange juice. I did know a guy who when we were in seminar, would go down to the bar every night and drop $30 or more.
Being around drunk people while sober is exactly my definition of hell.
No. Back in my college days I was the morning bartender (or “tearbinder” if the customer had enough to get cut off) at a small neighborhood-type place and I enjoyed it but at a certain point I could punch out and leave. And I had a good share of a place near the border (but in PA) for several years after the Ohio smoking ban went into effect; made out like a bandit but I wasn’t the person there every day. But for my case of good luck I can name 50 cases of bad luck where every day was a struggle and owners got ground into the dust. I’ll take a pass.
The bar owners I’ve known have struggled with employee theft, mainly skimming from the register.
And if you serve food, which is required in many states, you have the headache of dealing with food sanitation laws and health inspections.
And the hours suck.
No thanks.
No, for two reasons.
- Smokers
- Law Enforcement
Those being television shows, one can’t expect accuracy in how they portray the economics of operating a bar. 
IME, if a group is spending a long time in a bar, most if not all of them are drinking (and eating) the entire time.