Tips on first time business?

Am planning on creating an arcade near a high school to turn it into a sort of meeting hot spot. Will be selling snacks like slushies and nachos as the main money source. Is this a good idea? Tips?

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i reckon its a good idea.. my school was boring as fug.. we had nothing like that.

Lol

Why does this post not surprise me? I've been on Veeky Forums for 4 fucking years, and I see this at least once a month.

Don't call it an arcade. Call it an under 21 club. Have arcade machines, pool tables, dart boards, and perhaps a bowling alley or two along with a big wall that projects a movie or video game competitions.

Charge $5 per day during Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday, and on Friday you can charge $20, same with Saturday.

Just a gaming arcade will fail, only nerds go to those things, but if you make it a spot for the popular kids as well as nerds, then you've got something to work with, the problem will become retention rate.

You have to circumvent this problem by doing different things often, perhaps hiring local musicians and/or artists, or allowing them to perform for free to get exposure. Then you can also introduce DJ's every week, and attempt to get famous ones.

To get this idea to work you'd need a good amount of capital for startup, and you'd need help, from a couple people. You'd also need a big enough space, not some shabby little street corner shop lot. An industrial building would work nicely.

Bad ideas arcades are lame m8 open a vape bar that uses flavored water vape for people under 18

sounds like an awesome idea

this x1000!

just make sure you get a cut of the action from any drugdealers who are plying their trade in your facility

teenage pussy. ugghhh!

First, thank you for the generous amount of information. Second, I'm making this in the country where there is nothing but small corner shops available. I lived here for a couple years and realized that the kids just make bonfires for fun or drink alcohol. In this situation would a small arcade stop be at least capable of being successful?

Also, these kids have so little to do that I have seen them gather in a Taco Bell after prom and leave about 5 minutes after.

Depends how small, how many kids do you want in your place? 10? 20? 30? or 100, 200, 300 from other high schools too?

If you start in a small shop lot you will be restricting yourself to the amount of business you can have to start off with due to fire codes and other things, and it could become uncomfortable to have a lot of people in a small shop for the guests.

If you think the space is fine, then go for it, but get the biggest place possible so you can grow in it without having to move quickly.

If you decide to go legal and make a business, you can't serve alcohol unless the age is low in your country. You'd have to serve other things, like non alcoholic beer and shit like that.

This hangout space has to constantly change it's offerings or they will become board of it too, within 3 visits. It might honestly be better to just organize adventures or trips into other cities every 2 or 4 weeks, charge them enough to cover the costs, and then travel.

How well off is the area you're looking to start in? Can they afford to spend $20 every week, or afford $100 a month?

If you're in a poorer area, you're not going to be able to do this, you need to be in a somewhat middle class or upper middle class area, other wise it will fail.

>been on Veeky Forums for 4 fucking years
>Veeky Forums
>4 years

Welcome to Veeky Forums newfriend

The area I'm at is not poor but is also not very rich. That being said, 15 people is the maximum that I would expect at once to at least sit down and chow down on some nachos and a slushy. What I was thinking was to make it in a combined shop, and then later on once another client of the landowner potentially leaves, negotiate with the landowner to have that combined as well. I want to be able to upgrade little by little. Not go and throw money like a madman and then have a chance of everything falling to pieces. Also, if these kids are able to go to McDonalds and Taco Bell every other day with their girlfriends, then I'm more than certain they can afford snack food at the only local piece of entertainment.

...

>creating an arcade
Are you posting from the year 1986?

>near a high school
I see you're ambitiously targeting a clientele with a lot of cash to spend.

Well yeah, they do have quite a bit of money to spend. Most of them have minimum wage jobs not even 2 miles away from the high school, and to seek entertainment they have to drive about 20 minutes to a neighboring city.

The problem is that you're selling low-margin products to them, and they can't be too numerous either.

Also you're only targeting this low-income clientele and can't diversify.

Your idea will make you work long hours for a few high-schoolers who will bring you a profit of $2 per hour (each).

Ah I see. So I have no choice BUT to make it an under 21 club like user said and just charge admission. Now to figure out how I would pull this off at a small town with only small shops.

>just charge admission

People won't come if you charge admission. Charge the products you sell. But sell higher-margin stuff, something they can't buy easily elsewhere.

It's a bad idea IMO, it can work out though.

Your demographic will be teenagers that by definition don't have that much money to spend and you can't sell alcoholic beverages because they're underage. You need a huge capital for an arcade, especially if you try to do something like Just open a quality bar, set up a beamer and stream football, soccer (etc) matches. Hang up a lot of football, soccer and other sport shit like uniforms etc. Sell food, beer etc., don't make it too expensive, you don't want to have a luxurious bar but rather a sports bar where people meet, watch football and get drunk and shout together. Much better income because adults actually have a bunch of money to waste, especially drunks.

Ok ok. What if I make it a pizza place, but have the arcade to bring people in?

>Charge the products you sell. But sell higher-margin stuff, something they can't buy easily elsewhere.
drugz?

I was thinking dragon dildos.

Nobody goes to a pizza place to play arcade. Stop thinking about stuff you would love yourself and think about mob mentality and how to abuse poor habits of others - alcohol and greasy addicting food.

Why start a pizzeria with arcades when you can open a sports bar pizzeria that sells buttloads of beer and other alcoholic beverage every time there's a match (every week). My uncle makes 500k a year with 2 of these bars.

buy monero

> making money off teens

Usually not a good idea.

But it sounds like you have something somewhat cool. Dave and Buster's makes a profit.

/v/ has this discussion every couple weeks or so and the conclusion is always the same: arcades have been dead since the fucking 90s and it's far more profitable to open a sports bar that panders to the middle class.

>I've been on Veeky Forums for 4 fucking years
This board has only been around for like 2 and a half years dude. I think moot gave the okay for a finance board to be made at the very ass end of 2013 when crypto threads started shitting up /g/.

Definitely do the math on how much kids will need to be spending per minute while they're there.

Check how much the building space is going to cost, how late after school your clientele is going to stick around, how much the cost of labor will be, utilities, etc, etc. Divide these monthly costs by 30 to get your daily costs. This should give you an idea of how much you need those teens to be collectively spending in order to make this business profitable.

Couple things bro.

Don't start out with a small space and then upgrade. Kids are incredibly shallow, dumb, superficial, etc. Start out with a large space that has the right atmosphere or vibe to it. Think EDM, drug scene that's what's cool right now. You pull this off, kids will think it's cool and want to get in on it.

Now think about extra money makers. Snacks are fine, but cool kids are not as interested in snacking in public in my experience. Still offer it, but sales will probably be smaller than you think. Definitely bring in musical artists from time to time and charge tickets for that. What about instead of arcade games, you have like 5 xbox ones/ps4s with giant ass tvs? You could sell monthly/yearly memberships to your place too.

I like the idea and it can work, but you really have to know what is popular with young kids in your area. This is all from my experience in America and I'm 25, so I'm probably not as hip as I think anymore.

GL HF

>Am planning on creating an arcade near a high school
protip: do console gaming and card games as well.

do a small amount of pc gaming too but not much because its not a very big market in america.

How would I even do consoles? Rocket league tournaments?

maybe he was on some other boards before that

Honestly bro I'm 20 and your shop sounds like any other burger joint. I wouldn't go to it or hang out there. Your opinion and idea all sound old fashioned but desu the kids now are ALL into what this guy said.

The "chill hangout arcade w slushie and nachos" is dead bro. You gotta be up to date it's all about experience now.

If you have a straight arcade it's not going to be like the classic good ole times, the only kids there would be some barred out niggas.

That would be sick. I've seen a gaming bar where theres around 30 monster gaming machines and some nice program on each with a shit ton of games. It's $5 an hour and $12 for 3.
You could also get silver and gold memberships for like $700 a month.

Where are you located?

>2 and a half years

Look into this site, it's a business in my city that's the equivalent of what you want to open ignitegaming.com/

Multiple ones of these have opened up in my town and they all go out of business in less than a year. There's an arcade / retro gaming place and a pinball arcade but both of those only stay open because the owners are doctors / engineers doing it as a hobby and don't actually care if they make money. The only arcades that stay open are two that also have mini golf laser tag bumper boats go carts etc and have been open since the 80s

But in your scenario there is entertainmemt existant. In mine there is not a single thing except walmart. People have to go to a neighboring city to find entertainment.

Here's my idea for a successful arcade in today's age:


>retro arcade and classic mom/pop style pizza restaurant
>EVERYTHING IS DOUBLE SIZED
>huge custom arcade cabinets
>huge pizza
>huge tables and chairs
>possibly waiter walking on stilts to make him look taller
>also, huge bill at the end

The idea is to make people feel nostalgic with things they liked from their childhood, then make them feel like a child by making them feel like they're really small.

I suspect the novelty would wear off pretty quickly and wouldn't be sustainable business. So maybe it's best if it's a fair. Open a few weeks every year. It'll give people something to look forward to every year and will grow in popularity each year by word of mouth. If it becomes popular enough after a few years a permanent business might then be possible feasible.

I work at an arcade which has opened 3 close locations within a year, it's not dead at all

Use a profitable and proven business model. Most entrepreneurs try to do some revolutionary shit and even if their idea is great it crashes and burns because they don't have the business accumen to properly run their business.

I would suggest something simple and profitable.

>Am planning on creating an arcade near a high school to turn it into a sort of meeting hot spot. Will be selling snacks like slushies and nachos as the main money source. Is this a good idea? Tips?
No. You're creating two businesses and several more projects than you need to.
You're also limiting yourself to a single audience/demographic for no reason I can see.

Keep It Simple Stupid.

>Make a business off the arcade or off the food, not both.
>Remember that food overheads are huge unless you're making them yourself
>Remember that you need council (or other body, not sure who in the US) safety and health checks before you can legally sell food
>Remember you need packaging with ingredients and info, at least in civilised countries
>Remember not to limit your audience and customer base unless you have a damn good reason for doing so

Oh, you're a highschooler with a project idea, not a business.
Above still applies but find a way to move as well as scale and plan accordingly.

Also since you're deciding to be local and go local then you can do tons of market research and get great feedback on what they actually want and will pay for. Go out and get asking.

He's not limiting his user base you dingus. Why would he put his effort and money into trying to sell arcade games to 50 year old single women?

He's identifying his audience, which is what you're supposed to do if you want to be successful.

As soon as a kid wearing a Naruto headband walk into that place you can kiss that venture goodbye

you absolutely cannot brand this as an arcade.

Don't just set the limitation to arcade games. Barely anyone plays them anymore. A lot of the arcades in my city have shut down.

My advice, get some PS4's or XboxOne's, and get some local multiplayer games people like to play together in groups. (Think games like Fifa, etc).

Try to set it up as a place where you can see all kids going as a good time (Primarily the popular kids, slutty girls, etc).

I'd suggest getting a DJ, playing the new music, that whatever the kids are listening to.

You could do a snackbar, but it all depends on the type of food you want to serve. Making actual hot meals (e.g pizza, burgers, etc) will be difficult, but may be more rewarding. A simple snack bar that sells candy and drinks will work perfectly fine. Food depends on your capital and how much money you're willing to splash on it.

Also, get some table games, like table tennis, pool, etc.

Depending on the laws on your country, try to also sell hookah pipe there. In my country there's isn't an age for hookah and places make bank with highschoolers. Having hookah may attract unwanted attention from local media, nosy parents and potentially police though.

Also, do events. Like game tournaments, local band nights, etc. These nights basically become club nights where you can basically charge whatever cover charge at the door. This can only work though if your place becomes popular. If this is a hotspot for highschool kids who want to go there every Friday and Saturday night, you can justify having a cover charge for special events.

Try to aim it as a place teenagers wouldn't mind going to. Where you see the place filled with at least 50-100 highschool kids on a Friday or Saturday night. I wouldn't market it as a gaming cafe, or something like that. Try to market it as a place teenagers wouldn't mind hanging out.

Open the arcade in a rural area

Ok so is there one simple thing you guys collectively agree on or is gonna be

>Add some strippers
>Now a clown monkey
>While you're at it, just replace the arcade games with a salad bar.

Why, so that all of the kids with computers and consoles can stay at home and not go to it?

what the actual fuck ? make a fucking based lanhouse asian style. low lights, shitton of snacks and food. everytime a kid dies there out there (they die all the time after days without sleeping) give yourself a raise. Make lol and dota2 championships. dude this could work.

Strippers near a salad bar sounds pretty unsanitary desu.

The "double-sized" stuff is a very interesting gimmick IMO.

It will double up the space you need (hence double up these costs) though.

>possible business idea: literally make promotions, like -10% or -20%, for double-sized people

I think vintage arcade games (like the original Street Fighter II, or Mortal Kombat) could attract older people, with more money to spend.

Basically resurrecting a whole arcade room from the 90s, with stuff from the 90s hanging on the walls... could be an interesting idea.

Call that "The Time Machine" or "The 90s Room".

Not sure if that would be extremely durable though.

Ah, and obviously the background music should be full 90s hits.