Can a Gaming Cafe be Successful? 345
droidlev asks: "For years I've been toying around with the idea of opening up a medium sized gaming cafe in the Chicago suburbs. I have already taken care of the issue on how to make money during the day, when our younger market is in school, However, the question of whether or not a place like this can be successful, still remains. I've seen plenty of undermanned and poorly planned places in the area (and on the East Coast) like this go under in six months. What is your opinion? What ideas and thoughts do you have that could help a place, like the one I'm proposing, succeed? Do you have gaming cafes in your area that are successful? What unique techniques have they implemented?"
Yes we have one. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:2)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:3, Funny)
What do you mean "probably"?
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:2)
That would be a good idea, just make sure to ask the store if it's OK to perform the survey near their store. That way you aren't upsetting them etc...
Another idea along those lines, is to see if you can partner up with the local EBgames and such to do some tourneys and get the store to offer some prizes. As well as work out a volume deal for games. But if everyone is going to the cafe to game nstead of buying new games they could get annoy
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Yes we have one. (Score:3, Interesting)
Recipe for Disaster (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Recipe for Disaster (Score:2)
Research? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Research? (Score:2)
We have a place locally that works well (Score:2)
wwtdd (Score:5, Informative)
Re:wwtdd (Score:2, Interesting)
If the computers could be rigged with bill accepters, it would make your job of keeping track much easier.
The pool table gives the non-gamers a place to hang too, and the gamers a place to relax between games.
Due to the target customers, it seems designed to be a disaster... kids dont make money.
This is something I've always wanted to do too, but never seemed like it had a goo
Re:wwtdd (Score:2)
Bargain shopping (Score:2)
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:2)
This was the same situation with arcades 7-10 years ago - by that timeo, most consoles were pushing almost as good graphics as the arcade - so either the arcade had to buy newer games at X,000 a pop to keep customeors or go under. Several dedicated arcades in my area went under (including 2 in mall
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, I've only ever been to a gaming cafe once, but I recall that they ha
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:4, Interesting)
Every bar, restaurant, cinema and stadium in the world disagrees with you. People will pay for convenience.
99% of your business will depend on the price and how good the service is. A WoW addict doesn't care about trust or how much money the owner is making, they just want to play the game.
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:3, Insightful)
If you knew a bar that had tasty food and snacks for a reasonable price, would you go there more often than other bars? I sure would! If there was
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:2)
It's impossible to say what would be best for this gaming cafe without knowing the costs and the proposed prices for the computer time and a bunch of other stuff, but let's have a look at this cinema example.
Suppose there is a cinema which can take 100 people, they're al
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:2)
It's called capitalism. If you don't like it you can a) move to a country with a centralized economy, or b) start your own bar/restaurant/etc. where the "sick" practice of maximizing profits isn't your primary goal. Good luck staying in business.
Max
Re:Bargain shopping (Score:2)
Well, I can't speak for stadia, but let's look at the other three:
What kind of games? (Score:5, Informative)
I'd recommend offering something aside from computer games. Set up some tables for Magic: The Gathering, D&D, Battletech, Warhammer, etc so you aren't only catering to the "I don't have broadband" market. This way you'll become a social gathering place for geeks. You may even consider starting a card/miniature trading deal in your shop where you buy things from your customers and sell them back.
That's my advice. But, then again, I have NO business sense.
Re:What kind of games? (Score:2, Insightful)
Or at least have a pinboard somewhere for people to put up notes about stuff they want to sell. You won't make money from the deals directly, but if you become a known trading hub, people will get used to dropping by for new deals. Add another pinboard for people looking for groups to play with, and a third for convention dates and the like. Information brings in people, an
Re:What kind of games? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want to lose money, make a common area for all gamers in one place. Let's face it. Gamers occupy serveral differnt rungs on the food chai
Re:What kind of games? (Score:5, Informative)
I think you should already know why this place failed.
But to the poster of the article... the first thing you do when you go into ANY business is to draw up a plan. Figure out what services you want to offer. Try to find out if anybody in the area really needs or wants those services, and how much they are willing to pay for them. If there is already competition in the area, figure out if there is an innovative way you can offer a better value: either in slightly better service/product for the same price, or similar quality for a slightly lower price. Figure out how many customers it's going to take to pay back all of your investments, then try to figure out if it's reasonable that that many customers will come through.
Next is a lot of behind the scenes work. Get a lawyer. GET A LAWYER. There are going to be a lot of codes, regulations and liscensing to wade through, and it's difficult to know what to expect. Get an accountant... you will need someone to verify everything to make sure that 1)you are doing it legally and that 2) your employees aren't stealing from you. Now go back to that business plan... make sure that everything is spelled out nice and neat. Some things may not be right, and unforseen opportunities and obstacles will pop up, but having the plan gives you something to deviate from. Without it everything will be chaos. Then have your lawyer and accountant go over the business plan. Are you going in with other people? Friends? Family? Acquaintances? Investors? Partners? Employees? Make sure it is spelled out exactly what is expected of them, and exactly how they will benefit from helping you. Make sure the penalties for either party not living up to their side of the bargain are clearly deliniated beforehand. Otherwise the plan will fall apart, and any existing relationship will become severely strained.
After all this is layed out, take steps to acquiring the storefront, equipment, funding, etc. For the big stuff, make any purchases/loans contigent on everything working out to at least the point where you can open the doors. Get everything in writing, including contigencies such as liscenses going through, funding coming through, etc. Determine occupancy limits and how you are going to enforce them. Make sure the physical premises can be secured, as well as any hardware/software used.
And remember, it is extremely difficult to start a business of any reasonable size alone and keep both a full-time day job and your sanity. Running a business of the size it sounds like you are going for will probably be more than full time, at least in the beginning. Once everything is smoothed out and a lot of the initial investments are paid off, you can think about farming some of the work off to a manager, but right off the bat you want the owner there for most of the time the cafe is open, and there is a lot of work that will have to be done when the cafe is not open.
When setting up all the finances, don't forget to budget money for yourself to live. It's okay to give yourself a salary out of loaned money to the company, as long as you are honestly working on the project. There is going to be a LOT of work that has to be done before the doors open, and you will be burned out before that time if you need a full time job to live.
Value added. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why should I use your facility rather than a crappy one. Are you going to have hot chicks offering massage? How about a place to smoke while you play? Good DJs beat matching to the action? Red velvet? What?
Take it from me nothing is worse than just another fucking cubicle.
As Bender would say: (Score:2)
Re:Value added. (Score:2)
But not humungous monitors; ergonomic chairs, all kinds of joysticks.
Re:Value added. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Value added. (Score:2)
Re:Value added. (Score:2)
You have fucking cubicles at work?, I wish we had that, but I don't think our boss would allow it. How cool would that be to have a fucking cubicle.
We do however have someone who comes and gives massage once every week.
No, here's why (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps elsewhere... (Score:3, Informative)
Good luck, but currently, I don't think it's a viable business plan.
depends on how you do it (Score:4, Insightful)
I did find a few things I would do differently, for one I would like to see a bank of printers, scanners, etc so that during certain hours (maybe school hours and few after that, the machines could actually be used for study, business etc. I also thought of adding a gamestop type game exchange with maybe a points program for time rented and maybe tournaments and contests (monthly high score, etc). Another idea would be to have certain nights that are 18+ and special events on a monthly basis. For rental time I wanted to use a keycard system like gemstar to keep track of time and charges. I had also thought about working out an advertising/sales deal with a local vendor to help with equipment costs.
I wrote an entire business plan but then got a job offer I couldnt pass up and just kind of threw it aside for now. I belive "cyber cafe's" are viable here but they need more of a hook than just "PC's for rent".
Re:depends on how you do it (Score:2, Interesting)
But there are a lot of things you could do to add compelling features that go beyond what gamers can typically provide for themselves. You just have to put yourself in the mind of a gamer.
Gamers tend to be a picky sort. Each gamer
Is there information here? (Score:2)
Are you under the impression that this statement conveys some information? Like are we intended to know if that is a week, a year, a decade, or 50 years or more?
in the 80's they were called arcades (Score:4, Informative)
today, places are starting to incorporate wifi access as part of their extended business plan. most panera bread stores have free wifi access. so, i go to panera bread for coffee. i hear the starbucks has wifi, but you have to be part of some expensive plan to use them. i've never gone that route.
so, to answer your quetsions, no, there are no gaming houses that are successfull around here, and more creative business establishments would use something like that as an attraction to compliment their other business.
In 06.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Here's the order of events as I see it.
1. Go to *every* place that has people sitting down, even for a few minutes. Coffee, bars... nightclubs.
2. Corner the head-honcho and tell her you will bring the PC's for a game night and you want a cut of the business that night. T
An Idea (Score:2, Informative)
Tough Sell (Score:2)
But, let me give you an example from a different culture and a tangentially related service.
In Korea, at least in South Korea, kids live at home until marriage. That makes it really difficult for kids and even young adults to get any nookie
It may work, it may not. (Score:3, Insightful)
We had one place that was successful in my area quite a few years back because they could provide a large amount of internet bandwidth for a relatively low cost compared to consumer prices. However, when DSL and eventually cable modem caught on, that market was done.
If this is strictly a gaming cafe, in the age of oodles of bandwidth everywhere, if you cannot support numerous tournaments with worthwhile prizes (that people will potentially play all day or two straight days to get), it won't work.
As other posters suggested, if you combine food/coffee with the gaming, you may be onto something. But a gaming-only cafe, I think that idea was done 6-8 years ago and then it was done. When corporate-level bandwidth started to be available in homes at commodity prices, that was the end of that. You can now play in numerous online tourneys and still get very good prizes and whatnot...and from my perspective that's what a good portion of the people will go to a cafe and play for. When I played, I played for cash or prizes worth over $300 USD. That was the only way I could justify paying to get into a place and then wasting a day or two with the possibility I might get eliminated before I got the chance to earn a top 3 spot (which were the only payouts in a cafe tourney).
Aside from what I just said, if you live in a major metro area, it might work. I would imagine Chicago would be a decent place to try this because of all the bandwidth there and managed hosting of all kinds. I know Hurricane Electric will rent out completely furnished computer labs and such expressly designed for gaming. You pay a deposit to the provider, charge the people to come in and play, etc etc. If you plan it right, you can make money.
Cafe experiences (Score:2, Interesting)
No, it will probably fail (Score:2)
They Can Work (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of people chimed in mentioning that computers and net access are cheap. Well, that's true. I would also mention that, at a hypothetical $5.00 / hour (we're cheaper due to being in small town USA), it takes quite a while to catch up with a computer, games, maintenance, and internet access.
For people who either just browse the net or people who play games maybe five or six hours per week, it's much less trouble and cost effective to go to a place like this. I dare say that most people fall into that more casual group--especially when you consider they also divide their time with home consoles. We also have a nightly and weekly open-pass rate that keeps the place hopping when we would otherwise be slow.
There are other mitigating factors too. Maybe they don't trust their roommates. Maybe they're traveling. Maybe they really just want to avoid their parents. Maybe they skateboard in the area and just want to buy a drink someplace cool. All of these people fill in the gaps that are left by hardcore gamers just buying their own computer.
Some advice, don't go it alone. We have three people that own / work the place (only open after 5pm) and we couldn't really do it with less (and bona fide employees are expensive). Also, plan to replace your computers. If you don't you'll run out of money just when the business is taking off. Also, don't forget the three most important things to a business: location, location, and location. Finally, keep in mind that some games aren't licensed for cafe usage without special arrangements. Most notable is Valve Software (for which we have a cafe license). Also, don't pirate Windows. It's just stupid (and *will* get you shut down when the competition kindly turns you in).
Re:They Can Work (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:They Can Work (Score:2)
I've always knew this was going to be costly, but I'm curious to how often you change computers or upgrade parts. Once every 6 months? Once a year? More? Less?
Also, when it comes to upgrading or replacing computers, do you replace the entire computer or upgrade certain key parts. The only things I see the is necessary to replace/upgrade is the video card and CPU. Changing the CPU usually means changing the motherboard too. RAM needs to be increased, but I would assume le
Re:They Can Work (Score:3, Informative)
Re:They Can Work (Score:2)
Good comment, and a few additions. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's like a rebirth of the video arcade, but it's more captivating.
Some things that a game spot should avoid:
- Ruthless monitoring of the players. If you have the game police watching everyone and barking every time someone does something you don't like, it will keep people away REAL fast. Make sure you have a supply of keyboards and mice. They're cheap. Don't worry about them so much.
- Tailoring to the very young kids. While families might visit a gaming center once in awhile, you don't want to alienate your core customer group by forcing them to be proper little gentlemen because sometimes a young kid might play. Some ediquite is a good idea, but be too strict and you'll drive them right away.
- Limiting internet usage. Don't limit internet usage. Sure, you could block porn sites, but don't block everything else.
A game cafe should have a method of quickly regenerating a PC to "defaults" and should have a couple machines on stand-by. If you don't have to worry about users screwing up Windows, you don't have to be the PC Nanny.
You should also provide stations for people that want to bring in their own PC's. You could charge the same amount of money, but let people use their own equipment. If I am going to go to someplace like this for a bunch of hours with some friends, I want to bring my own PC, my own LCD screen, and my own keyboard+mouse.
I've been to places that break all these suggestions and I'll never go back. It would have been great if they weren't so strict. I mean, gamers want to hang out, play some games, yell at each other, and have fun. Let them do that and you could be successful.
Re:Good comment, and a few additions. (Score:5, Informative)
You think? (Score:4, Insightful)
You're probably going to need to cater to teens. Teens are less likely to have their own computers, or their usage is restricted by their parents. They're also a lot more social-- they want to get out of the house and they have time to kill. Conversely adults are more likely to be able to afford their own gaming rigs, and (more importantly) they tend to want to be left alone-- they'd rather play in the comfort of home than hanging around a gaming cafe-- especially if it's filled with packs of teenagers (kind of a catch 22...)
The downside, of course, is that you'll be spending a lot of time playing babysitter. You'll be constantly monitoring for theft and vandalism, telling them not to smoke in front, maybe even breaking up a fight or two. You're going to get a lot of attitude. Did I mention the theft and vandalism? Things are going to go missing and you're going to have no idea how they pulled it off. Things are going to be broken for no reason at all. Ever seen an arcade machine in pristine condition? For that matter, ever seen an arcade bathroom? That's what yours will look like every night too...
Console games! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Console games! (Score:2)
Laundry (Score:5, Interesting)
There were a few in the Kansas City area (Score:3, Interesting)
There were also a few that failed. There were some things I noticed about what made the successfull ones successfull, and the unsuccessfull ones fail. The biggest thing was that the ones that were around for a while didn't focus just on PC games. Both of them offered (for free) space for running table top games, sold CCGs, table top books and accessories, sold PC hardware, rented time on machines to play PC games, and had a couple of TVs set up for console gaming (also for free).
They didn't focus on selling stuff as much as they focused on a place for gamers to hang out, and just happened to sell anything that one might need for gaming. Part of that was also keeping the stores fairly kid friendly. This meant keeping the older gamers from cursing loudly, as well as turning down the gore factor on games with such options. This made parents feel better about letting their kids hang out there, and the kids usually spent a good amount of money.
Maybe (Score:2, Interesting)
Read about this guy's experience (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Read about this guy's experience (Score:2, Insightful)
Sour Grapes Man. (Score:2)
Their failure wasn't that their chosen business was simply no good. It was that their business plan wasn't very good and they simply didn't have what it takes to run a successful business. The fact is that most small businesses fail within a couple of years. An
We can't tell you (Score:2)
Make a GOOD cup of coffee and tea. Charge reasonable prices and make it so people want to come to you for coffee over places like Starbucks. Once they're in the door impulse buying will take over more ofte
Re:We can't tell you (Score:2)
Taking this a step further, look at baguettes and pitta pockets rather than just two-slices-of-bread. It's easier to eat things with one hand and without mess if they are not open at the back.
No (Score:2)
Uh, no, they generally can't. (Score:5, Informative)
I like to think of the real problem game centers have in terms of system dynamics: a game center draws customers from within a limited geographic radius (about 10 miles, or maybe 15 km, in my case). Within that radius there are a limited number of people who will be interested in what you offer. In the early days business grows exponentially, but NOT because of any kind of growth in the number of potential customers--it's just that more and more of your fixed number of potential customers are finding out about you. At some point you reach saturation, and that where the system dynamics comes into play: you are in a fight between the number of potential customers in your area that are leaving (graduated, moved away, bought their own computer, ran out of money, lost interest, etc.) versus the number of new potential customers that are being created (moved in, got old enough mom would let them play, etc.). Basically, there are many more paths for customers to leave then there are for them to arrive in your pool of "potentials", so it's a loosing proposition.
Yes, there are things you can do to change the coefficients of some of the terms in the basic equation: you can try to bring in more adults, you can add more games more frequently, do more advertising, etc. What I've seen, though--and I've validated the basic model with several other (former) game center owners--is that if you do everything right business is good for about a year and a half, then it peaks and falls off to much lower level. Revenues can remain stable after that point, but at a level that is WAY below the peak--and that generally means you don't have the profits you need to upgrade machines, buy new games, etc. When you stop being able to upgrade and add new games, you enter the final part of the curve when business falls off further from the already-low plateau it was at, and then you're dead (in terms of the business).
Tweak the situation a little bit and the timing of when you hit the inflection points on the curve will shift forward or backward some, but the basic shape of the curve doesn't change--that's why I say that this really isn't a viable business.
Oh, those "special circumstances" I mentioned, that would make it viable? They DO exist, but are rare: for example, you don't pay for most or even any of your games (a popular strategy in developing countries, and unfortunately used much more frequently than you might think even in the developed world!); you're setting up business in a community where there's nothing else for kids to do; you find other uses for the floorspace and computers that you can make money on when people aren't playing games (computer classes, for example). Even if these or similar factors apply in your case, though, they usually only make the difference between surviving and not--I've never seen a case where they are enough to actually get things to the point where the business is financially attractive to be in.
Yes, all of the
Re:Uh, no, they generally can't. (Score:2)
This makes me wonder if there are any legitimate, license sharing solutions for gaming stores such as this. Let's say you have 30 stations, but you know that maybe only a maximum of six stations are ever going to play Starcraft (yeah, I'm old school), so you buy six copies of Starcraft with the intention of in
Re:Uh, no, they generally can't. (license mgmt) (Score:2, Interesting)
The best license management system out there, bar none, is Valve's "Steam" ( http://steampowered.com/ [steampowered.com]) system. Most people are familiar with this is the basis for their internet-based software distribution model, but there is actually a special version of Steam that is available for use ("required" actually, if you're licensed) by game centers. This "cafe" version of Steam solv
Don't think of the PCs as an asset (Score:2)
Re:Don't think of the PCs as an asset (Score:2)
You can even spin this to your advantage by giving first purchase rights to your most regular cu
Cyber Cafes are successful. (Score:4, Informative)
Check out Website CyberCafe [webcitycybercafe.com]. They have webcams and photos of the place to see how they got it setup. Webcams are live so you can also see how busy it is with a 1.6 million population.
suggestions (Score:2, Interesting)
I ran one (Score:4, Informative)
I ran my centre, Capture The Frag here in a small town ~80,000 with 2 other pc and 1 xbox center and we did alright, surviving about 15 months.
What ends up killing you is the price of the games, the stupid licensing from companies like valve and the cost of supporting your hardware/upgrading and making sure the machines are maintained.
Get a license for Deep Freeze, it'll be your best friend.
We made a good deal of $ but it mostly went to advertising and paying for the property lease plus games, remember you're not buying 1, you're buying however many games for however many comps you have.
In the end, after about 15 months, i got sick of working 100 hours a week for no pay, its SO much more than just hooking some comps into a hub and going.
Re:I ran one (Score:3, Interesting)
Location location location (Score:2)
It doesn't matter how well you manage your place, if customers aren't walking in, you're screwed.
Interview GenCon (Score:2)
Were you here, you could likely either post a message of some type (e.g., cards with an email address -- a throwaway because of a spam magnet) or interview people at random
(I don't go SouthWest of there during May (Indy500) two weeks ago (Brickyard 400), the F1, or Gen Con. I was born without the racing gene and I won't say anything about GenCon. The state fair is going on this weekend and I love riding on the tram (the tractors
Prepay Prepay Prepay... (Score:2, Interesting)
Prepay *sweaty clap* Prepay *sweaty clap* Prepay...
I've helped start up a major internet cafe and has been running for six plus years. It's the place the national news uses for any "computer" related shots.
Two things brought success to the place, prepay (the on going success story) customers. Take the money and run, there is no need for debt recovering, when people split for "emergency reasons" they aren't leaving you in the lurch. Second is get some known gamers off the forum and employ them for a mo
Maybe if it were very upscale (Score:2)
Palo Alto has a place called Neotte [yelp.com]. This is a tea bar with WiFi and a power strip at every table. Everybody there is on a laptop. The tea is about $4, and they have a modest selection of bakery items. It's the next notch up from Starbucks.
Perhaps a upscale gamer cafe where you bring your own laptop...
China Netcafe's are 80% gaming (Score:2)
One has to wonder about the long term social consequences of an entire generation
They can't get it at home (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Your job is NOT running your cafe. Your job is improving it. Owning a small business is a red queen affair: you have to be constantly improving just to stay even with the competition. Do every job in your cafe just long enough to know how to do it well. ( This will be anything from doing taxes to fixing hubs to cleaning the toilet. ) Then DELEGATE.
2) Your territory does not end at the door. OK, legally maybe it does, but you must treat the area immediately around your business as your territory. Clean up trash, cover grafitti ( immediately ), get rid of panhandlers. If something goes wrong immediately outside your business, it is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.
Get to know your neighbors. They can be helpful, or they can hurt you. ( This is especially important in your case, for many of them may initially view your clientele as troublemakers )
Join your local business association. Get to know your local cops.
3) You may have drug dealers and hookers of both sexes trying to use your place as a base of operations. Get rid of them. Not only do they give the cops a reason to cause you problems, but they will be competing for your customers' money.
4) Decide exactly what your business is. Yes, it sounds silly, but many owners don't really know what line of work they are in. In your case, you are not just in the business of offering games. As several posters have noted, most people can get that at home. You have to offer them an experience that they can't get at home.
A) Coffee and food will help. It does not have to be great food + coffee, but decent and reliably so. ( which many people don't have at home because they are too busy playing games. )
B) Have at least one hot babe working for you. ( Most gamers don't have one of those at home ) It helps if she is not an idiot, too.
C) Create a social scene ( most gamers don't have that at home, either ) This means catering to women. Keep them happy, and they will hang around, and then the guys will hang around too. Find out what kind of games women prefer. Have plenty of them. Keep the bathrooms clean.
D) Have a clear statement of expected behavior ( no smoking, no fighting, no booze, etc - whatever rules you think will do best ) Be very, very clear about what standards you expect of your customers, and then stick to them. Be prepared to explain why those particular rules are important to you. A large number of gamers play games because they find the rest of the world to be confusing, irrational, and hypocritical. Very few of them have a social environment that makes sense at home. E) Keep asking yourself 'What can I do for my customers that they can't get at home?"
Just don't do everything at once (Score:3, Insightful)
Your principle problem will come from having to pay bills and not having money for it. You get money by (a) your original investment: be careful of what is known as "the cost of capital" - anything you borrow will have to go back (b) paying customers: whatever your target audience is, be ready to shift this as fashions change - this can be almost seasonal.. (c) whatever franchise you manage to get going local businesses may be interested in banner advertising on your default logon screens.
You spend money by running the business (read: pay your bills, staff, live AND set aside enough for maintenance and equipment/business refresh - the cycle of that depends on what you want to do and how destructive our clients are
The equation is simple: if you get your income (including future planning) to rise above your spend and you have about 3 months running costs in the bank you have a winner. As a matter of fact, if you have a winner of that scale you should pump some of your profits in doing it again elsewhere and create a chain but NEVER try to continue a business after it shows not to work where you you put it. You'll know that in 3 months or so (so you know what your potential loss is before you do this).
Ultimately, if you've got 3 shops doing this with profit you have in principle something that you can sell on for quite a bit more, but let's tackle that when you get there
Oh, and try to avoid personal risk, companies can be set up with 'limited liability' but some companies want your shirt/house as guarantee - be careful because it can be used on a succesful business to take it over. The bankis by NO means your friend. They may help you, but they're a business too. The more you can avoid external money the better it is, and if you do get a loan, make sure it's one you can clear ASAP without penalties. Try and stay debtfree where possible, that's the stuff that will keep you awake at night.
Good luck - starting a business is a nervous enterprise but it's also very rewarding when it all starts to tick.
= CH =
how about (Score:2)
Seen few very sound idea's mentioned in the thread:
Run after 5pm with few mates - means keep your day job and lower risk and more fun.
Run a laundry business in conjunction - people have a lot of dead time at laundry places.
Thats a key point - combine with another business that will compliment in some way. Another poin
gaming cafes in Japan (Score:2, Informative)
I used to work for a gaming cafe that went under (Score:2, Informative)
1. Put the cafe in a building that is not protected by the National Landmark Act. This will keep you out of conflict when you try and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
2. Put the cafe somewhere you can get cable, or satellite TV. (Of course make sure that you've go a fat LAN to boot)
3. If you're going to sell food or drink:
a. Sell it behind a counter, or in a vending machine. Selling food out in
i own a business,,,don't even try this idea! (Score:2)
1. think "category killer" (ie Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's Sporting, Starbucks)
2. think "xbox 360 + HD tv" (ie Microsoft)
3. think "convenience of sitting at home and playing great looking massively multiplayer games": (ie couch potato)
4. think "out of business in 6 months"
I own a small retail business in a small town. Whatever you "plan" for overhead, double it and you will be close. Have you run a breakeven analysis, so you know what the minimum usage needs to be JUST TO COVER RENT
Keeping customers is the hard bit (Score:2)
I ran a non-gaming cybercafe for 3 years, and, around the same time, someone else started a cybercafe that was mainly about gaming. I never got rich, but we lasted longer than the gaming cafe.
One problem is simply per-hour income. For the vision to work, you need people to spend hours per week in front of one of your computers, and the hours they have available will be the same as other people's. Their total spend per month on doing this is limited. So you are going to be lucky to be very get a couple of d
maybe .. Can a Gaming Cafe be Successful? (Score:2)
That depends on how and who you get to run it. You *can* make money the thing is it may not be as much as you think. Given the nature of the technology your outgoings can be as much if not more than your incomings. Rent + rates + services + cost of hardware + software licenses + Internet connectivity can add up to a lot.
Chicago Burbs (Score:2)
Bottom Line (Score:2)
A: They have hardware that many people don't have at home.
The bottom line is: analyze whether or not you can provide a service, at the location you choose, that people cannot access already in the comfort of their own basements.
I live in Winnipeg, Canada. The last internet cafe closed 4 months ago, and the last arcade closed 2 weeks ago. You are thinking about entering a dying industry. Tread carefully because you likely cannot win.
I own a gaming center. (Score:3, Informative)
No one can tell you if your future game center will be successful or not. It depends too much on you, the owner. How you can manage stress, details and time. How good you are at securing business deals and contracts. How good you are at advertising, marketting, promoting and spreading the word around. How well you can manage customers and keep them happy... There's so much involved that depends on you that only you will know. As an entrepreneur, the only thing you can do is dive in and take the risk to find out.
Re:Chicago... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's also right across Lawler Ave from Niles North High School.
Regarding the demographics in that area, there's a lot of money to the north, and it's standard suburbia south into Chicago proper. The kids from Niles North have more money than brains (I went there- I can say it!). And Old Orchard is a hangout for most young people from the Chicago border north past Wilmette.
The location at Old Orchard is exceptional, and one of the few locations I'd see working for this kind of thing in Chicago
Re:Chicago... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Are there any left? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Are there any left? (Score:2)
Re:They don't seem to make money (Score:2)
Re:In Schaumburg (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but then people would just steal the frickin lasers, strap them to shark's heads and then we'd be in real trouble.
NOTE TO WORLD (Score:2)
Always use "Preview"