Strip Club Business What am I Missing?

[Guest tmbg]

A close friend and I would like to open a strip club. We currently have been looking at locations in Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

 

I have some knowledge of the nightclub business though very little about a strip club. In working on the business plan I continue to run into problems within the financial arena.

 

In many SoCal locations one cannot have a nude business and serve hard liquor. The cover charge on many of the clubs I've been to is usually 12.00. In a beer and wine bar the average bar tab per person (in this area) is 9.25. At best that is only 21.25 per patron. The club will have a legal limit of about 225 people. The overhead is huge.

 

What am I missing? Is there an area of revenue that I am not considering? Any suggestions are most appreciated.

 

Cheers! Ritchie

[trilingual]

Sounds like you need to narrow your search to the locations where you can have nude entertainment AND serve hard liquor. Otherwise, I don't see how you can make a profit.

[J-Man]

Wow! I wish you much success! I promise I will be your best customer, so please open up soon!

 

In my 14 years of living in the L.A. area, I've been totally frustrated by the fact that there are NO places where you can see male nudity, outside of occasional jack-off shows at the bathhouses. And even those have been curtailed by L.A.'s "adult business" zoning laws. The only place left that has those shows (that I'm aware of) is the Midtowne Spa downtown.

 

It's amazing that you can go to so many other cities, many more conservative than L.A., and find open male nudity. Examples: Phoenix, Atlanta, Washington DC, etc. And San Francisco even has theaters with jack-off shows. So while we may be the nation's porno video capital, we are certainly lacking when it comes to live entertainment, at least the kind that shows dick instead of pussy!

 

I understand that, before I lived here, there WERE places that had nude performers, including the Vista Theater (which showed gay porn but also had live performances.) But for whatever reason, they're long gone.

 

As for me personally, I'm not much of a drinker, so I wouldn't care if the place were alcohol-free (I believe the nude club in Phoenix is that way.) But I know that the inability to serve alcohol might limit its success. Maybe you should look more towards the theater model?

 

Anyway, good luck again! I'd be happy to help you out in any way I can!

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

The way it works in Boston is to combine a dance club with a strip club -- separate rooms but free passage back and forth, or one room with enticing go-go boys on tables around the dance floor. Attracks different crowds with big overlap. Money is made on the flow of alcohol -- some nights a phenomenal amount of money. Helps to have a decent DJ which ain't cheap or get a good one on the way up.

[RM]

If you want to serve hard liquor, you'd better open your establishment somewhere outside California. Thirty years ago there were sleazy topless bottomless bars all over California - but no more. Although the Supreme Court said that such expression is protected by the Constitution, the Constitution and its amendments also give to the states the right to regulate alcohol - and the ABC regulations are tha t nudity is not allowed where liquor is served in California.

 

Actually, I don't think you can have nude performers in California beer bars either.