Post #773927 by mikehooker on Fri, Mar 10, 2017 7:20 PM

On 2017-03-10 14:56, HaleTiki wrote:

When I wrote 'cocktail strength' I guess I meant how strongly do they remind you of the tiki drinks they should be. Not necessarily how much alcohol was in them.

I definitely want to offer something memorable. I've been working on my business plan and my SWOT analysis of this idea and the main thing that keeps coming up in my mind is that I want this place to be different. I want it to stand out from the surrounding bars. A place people talk about because of the decor, drinks, friendly staff. I have it in my mind to create an atmosphere where things happen similar to Trader Sam's even.

As far as experience. I have business experience, but none from actually working behind a bar. I plan on addressing this weakness through a well chosen hire that I would definitely not skimp on.

As far as location, I don't really know if I want to say that yet if that's okay? I feel like the location will provide me ample opportunities to lure in guests. I think the market is ready for a high end tiki bar and I don't want to feel like I have to rush to market to beat someone else there by giving it away. Maybe that's just me being overly paranoid though.

Still not sure exactly what you mean, but you're definitely gonna want a variety of strengths for people to choose from. Places like the Mai Kai have their menu broken into Mild, Medium and Strong sections. Other places use illustrations of kegs to indicate how many ounces of rum are in each drink.

It's good you're doing the legwork and not just jumping into this blindly. I gotta say though, if there's anyone with the means and motivation to open a tiki bar in your area, they likely would have done it already. I doubt them seeing your post on Tiki Central will suddenly jump start their process and beat you to the punch. But you could never be overly cautious I suppose.

I'll tell you this though, I'm actively trying to open a tiki bar in Austin. I've got a good business plan and have lined up some financial backers. We've raised the majority of capital we'll need to build it and float us for a while. I've currently got someone scouting locations. I'm happy to tell people of my plan while still keeping my ear to the ground to see if anyone else around here is planning a similar venture because I'd hate for it to come as a surprise shortly after we open that someone down the street is also doing a tiki bar.