Post #140805 by Swanky on Sat, Feb 12, 2005 7:49 AM

Just a little update. Things a re a bit slow since I found I need to have a restaurant to have a bar. I started out thinking of just doing the minimum to pass the legal definition of "serving" food and really just be a bar, but, I think that's financially bad. The space required would be hard to support that way.

So I have been looking for a good partner on that side. I have met a guy locally who was a regional manager for Applebee's and others who are willing to help.

I am not sure if I have the investors I had before it was a restaurant. I'll know more when the business plan is complete and the final numbers are on paper.

I am working on a new change to the basic tiki museum plan that will incorporate booths themed after other things besides places like Mai Kai and Kahiki. It started with the realization that I had a lot of Hukilau stuff already that would make a good booth. More on that later.

I am working on the logo. I will need the artwork early on to make any presentations to investors look better. I have begun creating the website and a sample drink menu. The website isn't done enough to share yet, but I got a chunk done this week.

I found a source for large puffer fish and am putting in an order for a dozen or so. Shipping is harsh. Like shipping beach balls. No weight, but huge. So I worked out a deal at my job to have them put on a pallet and trucked in at about half or 1/3 what it would be through UPS. I intend to make them all into lamps and sell a few through Ebay (with notice here) to recoup some of the costs.

I am working on a signature mug with Saint Thomas. He's been busy and we are supposed to get together maybe next week. I already was working on the design before the bar, and so we will simply put a logo on the mug for the bar. I will sell the mug before the bar without the logo as planned. But you can only get the Headhunter Lounge version at the bar. I am also going to have him make a batch of his Volcano mugs for one, and work on larger versions for 2 and 4, as well as other designs.

After sitting around discussing what makes for a perfect bar design with a fellow drinking buddy one night, we agreed on everything and flet that a curved or "L" shaped bar was best. You want to be able to see others at the bar, but not face them as in a square or rectangle. With that in mind, I have decided to make the bar shaped like the prow of a ship. A curved, angled thing. A nice maiden head on the prow maybe, mast, port and starboard lights, etc.

I talked to Wayne Coombs at the Hawaiian Inn about helping with the sign, and he said "oh, we're going to do more than that for you!" He has done a lot of large 3D stuff in the area. Dinosaurs, 12 foot sharks, etc. I know he can handle my homage to the Aku Aku sign. We'll see what else he comes up with.

It's really tough when I talk to friends and family and they say things like "you have to do this in the theater over there. Those high ceilings, just think!" And of course I have thought. That would freakin rule! I could do a whole Kahiki village scene in there! But could I pay the rent? No. I doubt it. But then again, they made it there before with just a few regualr latin dance nights, and no regular night crowd. And I could do valet parking under the awning out front like Mai Kai... STOP! These people are killing me! 3,000 square feet, not 10,000...

I may have the site ready to look at soon.

I am going to go ahead and ask for submissions. If you have tiki postcards scanned already at 300dpi or so, I would love for you to send them to me so I can print them out for use in the bar. I have the Mai Kai pretty well covered, but everywhere else, I have little. Postcards are the one thing I can "fake" by printing on heavy stock matte paper. Send them to [email protected] for more mana in your life! I also need images of drinks form vintage menus. I have Kahiki and Trader Vics. Color please and named so I know what they are. Anything you can do is great. 300dpi.

More as I think it's worht saying.

Mahalo.