How to open a bar

For many, combining the freedom of being their own boss with the challenge of running a bar is perfect. Chatting to locals, pulling pints, making cocktails and playing an important role in the local community is an attractive thought for many aspiring entrepreneurs.

However, in reality, if you want to run your own bar successfully, you need to be prepared to work hard, dedicate long and unsociable hours to the business and have the patience to deal with demanding customers. But done right, you can get a tremendous amount of satisfaction out of making a room full of people happy.

If you’re up for this challenging yet rewarding career choice, we’ve provided some information about what it takes to run a profitable bar and what’s really involved in this career move. Here are just some of the key activities and responsibilities that come with the job:

Deciding on your brand identity

Think about the type of establishment you’d like to open and how it will fit into your territory. You want to start a business that will be popular, but that also has a unique selling point and is different from all the bars currently in your local area. Perhaps you could theme your bar around a certain country, time period or interior style, or position yourself as a specialist in a certain drink.

Your brand should suit your location well. For example, if you plan to set up your business on a university campus, there’s no point launching a glitzy bar with sky-high prices. A hipster bar with on-trend furniture, young servers and affordable prices is likely to be much more profitable. Or, if you’ve chosen a more out-of-town territory, you might want to consider offering food options as well as drinks, to appeal to a larger audience. It’s also worth keeping the décor and theme neutral for the same reason.

>> Read more:

• Bar Franchises: Start Your Own in 2019
• Marston’s Pubs Franchise: Take A Look At What’s On The Menu
• Run Your Own Pub With a Franchise

Writing a business plan

This is a vital step, particularly if you need to secure funding for your venture. All official lenders will want proof that you’ve put a lot of time and effort into your business, and that you’ve taken all possible measures to make sure it’s profitable. Be sure to include market analysis, your funding requirements, financial projections and a marketing plan. You should also explain your management structure and provide details about your business premises.

A business plan will also be extremely useful for you. It will help you set out your ambitions and work out what it will take to get you there. Make sure you keep it safe and refer back as your business develops.

Recruiting and training staff

The key to a successful bar is to get the right staff members in place. As your business is customer-facing, your employees represent your brand. By recruiting wisely, not only will customers receive a good level of service, but you’ll also be able to minimise the stress that comes with running a bar.

To get the best from your staff, you’ll need to invest time and effort into planning and delivering your training. You may decide to recruit team members based on their previous experience of working in the industry, but this doesn’t mean they will be adequately trained to represent your bar.

You must ensure that all employees understand their obligations, which are outlined in the Licensing Act 2003. Other than this mandatory element, you'll have control over the training that your staff receive. As well as the practical side of your training programme, you should make sure that you spend time sharing your vision and values.

This will create a positive culture amongst team members, which will become apparent to customers when they visit your bar.

Stock control

When you run your own bar, stock control is an important task to manage well. Get the stock levels wrong, and you risk disappointing customers or not making a profit – or both. By carefully monitoring the stock, sufficient quantities of each item can be ordered and delivered in plenty of time, avoiding unnecessary cash flow or overstocking issues.

Serving food

If your bar serves food, you have the opportunity to make more profit. Do it right, and you’ll stand out from your competitors as you develop your reputation as a great place to go for good food and drink. Of course, offering food means you’ll have to do more planning, recruit more staff and adhere to more licensing and food safety regulations. But it will be worth it in the end.

Firstly, you should decide what type of food you're going to offer. Whether you choose pub grub or gastro food, you need to ensure you offer something different to the other bars in your area, so people have a reason pick you.

Once you’ve decided on your menu, you need to recruit for kitchen and waiting staff. Ideally, you should hire staff with previous kitchen experience, as training someone from scratch will be expensive and time consuming. And, if you don’t have the necessary skills, you should also consider recruiting a head chef. This will allow you to continue to run your own bar effectively and without distraction.

Business development

Your bar may be well stocked, serving the best food and have a team of excellent staff members, but if you don’t invest in marketing, customers won’t know about it. It’s not enough to rely on word of mouth. Promoting your business will give customers a reason to choose your bar over any other in your area, so it should be prioritised.

Marketing needn’t be expensive. You can choose to put adverts in the local paper, on a local radio station or even on television, but there are plenty of free promotional activities you can do as well. Primarily, you should take the time to set up business profiles on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This can be extremely lucrative for restaurants and bars in particular, as you can gain custom by posting glorious photographs of your food and drink, and customers can engage with them and leave reviews. In short, it’s a great way to get a dialogue going in your local community.

Are you right for the job?

You don’t need to have any particular qualifications or even any previous experience to run your own bar. What's more important is the dedication and determination required to be a success.

Bars are at their busiest in the evenings and at weekends – when most people would prefer not to be working. However, you’ll need to be available at these times, even if you’re not physically present at the bar. If you value your time with family and enjoy being at home at the end of the day, this may not be the job for you.

If you’re determined to make it work, you’ll need to explain your responsibilities to your family and make sure they’re comfortable with this new business move. Your family and friends are likely to play a huge part in the launch of your new business, in terms of the support they offer you during stressful or nerve-wracking periods. For this reason, you should involve them in your decision to start a bar.

To start a bar, you’ll also need to be good with people. Customers expect a friendly welcome when they visit a bar, so you must be able to provide this, even when you’re tired, stressed or in a bad mood. You should also be sociable, and able to promote a warm atmosphere in your business. By creating personal bonds with your customers, you can encourage them to be loyal to you and think of your bar as their local.

Opening your own bar UK

If running a bar sounds like your ideal career move, why not consider investing in a bar franchise? This way, you’ll get to run your own bar while enjoying the support of an established business.

For example, Marston's Pub franchise has over 180 years of experience and, in that time, has managed to create the perfect pint. Customers in over 1,700 bars up and down the country get to enjoy a wide range of drinks, while franchisees benefit from a stable business with a proven franchise system.

When you invest in a Marston's Pub franchise, you buy into a company that is committed to delivering exceptional customers service. For a franchise fee of just £25,000 +VAT and a further £20,000 of working capital, you’ll get the chance to run your own bar. As well as providing all the training you need, Marston’s Pub will help you get your business off the ground quickly by dealing with repairs and not collecting rent or payment for utility bills. This will enable you to get on with being a successful franchisee running a profitable bar.

Other franchise opportunities

If you decide you’d like to spend more time with your family, or mould your new business around existing commitments, there are plenty of franchises that allow you to do so. Consider starting a work-from-home business or working part-time on your franchise.