serious clubbing advice needed!!

[Mohawk]

planning to takeover a club in bangla. what i will throw in will be all my life's savings. so, it's a big decision. i need a recipe that will keep me alive, i'm not looking for huge profits, just enough to keep it going for couple of years till i get my returns back on the investment.

from what i see, tiger & hollywood are the main competitors. i am not trying to compete with them so any ideas on what type of club/disco that will survive in this market amongst the big boys?

kindly help me out please!

 

[Came Twice]

Have you ever taken something like this on before? Can you afford to lose all that you put in?

For patong as I'm sure your aware location is a key factor.

To stick out of the crowd you will have to be different from the others, wether it be a certain theme for your venue or something in your club that no other club has: Super laser show, 4 deck dj booth, foam machine, bucking bronco etc..... All of these would tie in with budget. Acorss the board house music is a safe bet, upbeat chicago or some dirty tech house, the foriegners love it - but rest assured they will not put up with too much of the cheesy repetative stuff that gets played in too many of the bars so you'll need a good DJ, also don't be afraid to try out the odd band night. T-shirts seem to be a good cheap way of advertising on the island, aswell as promo girls stomping up and down bangla with ballons and flyers and the likes, basically anything that catches a passing tourists eye. When in your venue you could offer drinks stamps: along the lines of, buy 5 drinks get one free. You want an added incentive for them to hang around.

A good recipe would be:
- Off beat / different theme for your venue
- laser show, bucking bronco, foam machine or the likes
- Good DJ -quality music ( House, hip hop , R & B )
- Marketing - t-shirts, promo girls, baloons, flyers ( with location )
- Drinks promos
- Friendly staff
- A decent lease on the place so when built up you have a good chance of a return on the re-sell.
- AND most importantly - LOTS of cute sexy girls
There is a feirce rivalry amongst bar/club owners in Patong, and tea money will play a big part in your smoothe day to day running. Fires and someone caught dealing disco biscuits is one way you would be shut down.

good luck in your venture, let us know when its open, would be keen to check it out!

 

[Pompal 09.]

55555555 I think we may have put him off a smidge! :tuxout:

 

[pooh Bear]

Sorry guys I know this must sound a silly question. What is a Troll that you all keep mentioning ? Also P4P..... I just got used to the texting slang but this is above me.

Good advice beeing given here so all well done. I just wonder if it is just some one trying to start a thread with nothing better to write. Do you get extra access if you start a thread and get loads of reply's or something ?

Anyhow Happy New Year ALL

 

[ponders_99]

Good luck with your business, but I think it is also important to attract the free lance crowd. Free lance girls attract punters (and thus extra revenue). If the place is good and you have decent marketing "normal" tourists will show up anyway. Since Patong is still very much a mongering place, clubs with a lot of girls will appeal the mongering crowd.

 

[Froggies angel]

Dont Do It ......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dart]

P4P is Pay for play ie exactly what it sounds like. A troll is a person who starts a thread basically to provoke some sort of argument/bad feeling

 

[Pants On The Ground]

i must admit,in the current climate i think you would be mad.
steve

 

[The Chika Rita]

Seems like a bit of a mad idea to me. This is a joke, right?

 

[CanineTruth]

Happy New Year to you too mate.

Here is a thread to get you started with abbreviations : http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/newbies-area/11245-abbreviations.html

http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/newbies-area/20069-frequently-asked-questions.html

 

[brendan y.]

Up to you, up to you! Your money I guess!

A good solicitor/lawyer.............55555555555555555555 Sorry.

A big pile of brown envelopes marked MIB, Mayor, Mayors Mum etc

A ABBA CD and Free drinks for the over 40's..........Cough!

Free drinks for ladies, get them in and the herd will follow.

.......and with the current batch of 'shirt-less' wonders loitering around Bangla.....Forget the lasers and go for tazers for your door staff.

Which club are you looking to 'take over' on Bangla and why are they looking to sell or bail out, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Beach Blondie]

Tough time to start a business anywhere not to mention a tourist destination developing a bad image problem worldly.

 

[DaMan]

Probably the worst time in recent history to start a venture like this in LOS.

My suggestion?? Take a little of your savings and come and live here for a while. Do your market research on the spot without drinking the alcohol and base any decisions you make on first hand knowledge.

Informed decisions always have a much better chance of success.

There are many pitfalls so talk to BM's, really listen and decide on what is pessimism and fact yourself.

Dont act rashly, money and time spent researching now will mean the difference between fail and profit.

The place you are looking to take over will still be there when you are ready to buy, nobody else will jump in, probably..

Take care

 

[godsnarnialover]

Same thing happened to me on TV Phuket forum months ago, and I haven't posted since. I don't need another mother.

 

[murphdog6]

Thanks for reply Bonza... I am now armed and dangerous with my new abbreviations. Watch out Trolls I am looking for you.

 

[guerrero82]

Question 1.. Who in the local power system is on your side (so we can guess which elements will oppose you in the power games they play with other peoples businesses).

Question 2.. How much have you negotiated in bribes with the police and mayor etc to be allowed to open after 2 am

Question 3.. How are you going to get touring DJ work permits

Without solid answers to those as a first basic 2 minute test you really havent a prayer.. You do realise who your competing with ?? I watched one guy lose his life savings in 6 weeks doing this exact thing (Mr P's, which was then inherited by Pian to become dragon after the other guy had built it).

 

[Obama Lied Trillion$ Died]

Whether the OP is a troll or not, with a failed business under my belt, I'd have four pieces of bloody obvious advice for anyone.

1. Spend a long, long time researching. If it's a bar in Phuket, get a visa and do nothing for 3 months but inhabit bars, talk to owners, observe the levels of customers at each time of day etc etc. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Perhaps even go twice in one year, low season and high season.

2. Location, location, location. Once again, bloody obvious, but I've seen some decent businesses with fine products tank because there wasn't the footfall in the area. Especially with a bar, there simply won't be enough people who 'seek you out'. You have to be in a spot near enough for someone to seforum.xxxger to on a Friday night.

3. Base projections on a worst-case scenario. Take your anticipated worst week of the year and multiply by 52 for annual income. This will then set a realistic target for how much you should be spending annually: staff, lease, insurance, loans etc etc. It's much easier to start small and have a relatively light debt burden.

4. Never put in more than you can afford to lose, even if this means going in with partners, rather than on your own. Make a substantial profit on a joint venture and you can start up your solo venture using money in the bank rather than borrowing from the bank.

Damn. If I'd listened to my own advice, maybe I'd still have a business right now. :

 

[jo jo]

Save your money and go buy GM or Ford stock ... you have about 1000% better chance of making some money.

That is not a joke - seen clubs come and go in Patong with regular and predictable outcome ... owner lost his shirt or was forced out by local Thai competition.

You are not playing on a level playing field ... Denver is not kidding about the brown envelopes and very grey areas you will have to end up dealing with. Running a profitable bar is challenge enoigh - a nightclub is that x100 degrees of difficulty.

Go take a look at Seduction and the level of experience this Finish opertaion had they believed they knew what they were doing and I hoped it would work, but its a patchy sucess and they ended up shrinking the size of their club and heaven knows what 'fun' they have with Tiger and Tai Pan!

Club Lime on Beach Road is also a club that should work - but somehow despite getting key name DJ's in it too stuggles to find a niche.

The demographic of Phuket is not yet right for club scene outright - the P4P punters are over catered for with Banana (Patong's oldest and Thai run disco), Tiger (owned by the Mayor!) and Tai Pan (farang owned) ... also rans Baya Beach, Seduction, Club Lime, D'Crocodile and now Hollywood (not seen) have mixed success and you have to ask yourself if this is a business you really want to get invlved in?!

The clubbers (18-35 set) more likely head to Samui and Bangkok - families and couples who stay in high end 5* resorts dont have enough numbers to make places like Club Lime work - just check out Home Bar if its still going to realise that high end clubbing/bars is very difficult niche.

The best club ever in Patong was Shark (now the Bangla Boxing Stadium) - forced to close as jealous 'influential' business owners decided it was too successful be left to be run by a farang - so you have been warned. In fact I'll go further and say they very fact your asking here in this forum about such business investment is a sure fire signal that its 99.999999% certain that its NOT something you should 'invest' in.

Good luck and you owe all of us who have saved your money a : or 10!

 

[JUSTIN BIEBER FTW!!!!!!]

Considering no reply after advice was given, i would say yes...

 

[jess:]]

serious clubbing advice needed!!

First take a stout piece of hardwood approx 1 metre in length.

Hold in front of you with both hands and a firm grip.

Quickly bend wrists up and towards your face in such a fashion that the timber makes good contact with your skull and makes the proper ringing sound in your head.

Do this as many times as needed to get the idea of starting a club in Patong ( with no experience) out of your head.

If this should fail to remove the idea, then, at least you will know how you will feel in about 12 months!!

The invoice for this advice is in the mail!!!