chevy

Econ made some very good points...

I have run a catering company and have been in the hospitality industry since i was 14...

Some people have it and some people dont .....

If you dont understand customers and how to deal with them forget it ...

You must have the right make up and personality to do it and the most important thing is you must be able to stand back and criticize what your doing ...

It is easy to put your head down and do 16 hour days but sometimes by walking away and seeing your bar from a customers perspective is better - and i dont mean sitting in the bar getting drunk ...

and finally

Location .... if you have not got the right location you will have no chance ....

( unless your food is amazing - then you have a small chance of success )

good luck all !

TheArmChairDetective

What web site?...........Oh the one in their sig

They should have opened a fish and chip shop

It does work for some though, Eds' Bar and Diner (no connection to me) in Torre de la Horadada is one example. I have not been there since 2006 but he's still there and doing well by all accounts and I don't believe he's open all year, From memory he opens to a pre determined season but I could be wrong.
I for one would love to open my own little bar in Spain, I never will as from what I can see the only person making any money is the estate agent

fionamw

What, now? Newsflash - property selling somewhere

TheArmChairDetective

I take your point but the reality is that there is turnover, my mrs is rushed off her feet working 7am to 7pm every day and beyond and that's just on the legal side of (UK) property.
What's that famous line of Robert Ashton's "As Ford and Vuxhall car sales slump, why is it Rolls and Bentleys are being snapped up left right and centre- Value for Money, that's why" or something like that.

sonnyc

HI,
Sorry it did'nt work,but as been said what advice can you give that you were not given.??

Bigger Jim

FWIW an industry spokesman on BBC Breakfast stated that on average 5 pubs a day are closing in the UK, so its not only a Spanish problem.

Jim

smartmove

Damn! I better go get another round in then!

Lionda

Get one in for me

SpainLover

It's a hard business. I have Spanish friends, owners of bars, that entirely live on the money they earn with their gambling machine. So if the bar is big enough, Spanish bar owners set up one or two gambling machines, which are paying the bills of their fix costs

sonnyc

Not a new thing, a lot of us in the U.K. were doing that in the 1980's and probably still doing so.

fionamw

And without making light of struggling bar owners' misfortunes, I often wonder just how profitable are those plastic balls that my OH insists on indulging son & heir with whenever he misbehaves in bars

TheArmChairDetective

I know things don't happen instantly but has anyone else pm'd/e-mailed michaelanddawn and got the promised opinion please?
If so can you share it with me as they have not responded thus far.
TIA

jdr

Maybe cos it says "potential bar purchasers" and she knows you are not one. ;-))

TheArmChairDetective

That's right but not quite.
When I first took early retirement I had planned to buy a bar in Spain and resettle there.
I was registered with a company who sell on available bars.
Then I had a long chat with a bar owner in Murcia and he put me off the idea.

It's still something at the back of my mind hence my interest, but you are right as I would go for a different type of business.

valenciatim

They never answered in any of the threads that they started either.......