So, you want to be in the nightclub business? Or rather you want to open your own restaurant. You’ve traveled, you’ve bought bottles in all the hipster clubs, you’ve analyzed your market and now your ready to make the plunge. Where do you start? Do i hire an architect, a designer, or both? First things first. Before we help make that determination listen closely. Thou a cliche, three things still hold true. Location, location, location.
Do your homework, rather your footwork on the location hunt. Have a percentage number in mind before falling in love with any space that may have assets but isn’t within your budget. This is one of the biggest first mistakes people can make and actually doom the project before a nail gets hit on the head. As a general rule, do NOT let your gross rent exceed 10% of gross revenue. WITHOUT EXCEPTION. When you learn about occupancy cost and where the money goes you will be stunned at how much a bad rent deal can affect your bottom line regardless of critical or high gross revenues. Sounds elementary and to some i can almost hear a loud “duh, tell me something I don’t know” coming from my macbook but it is amazing to me how many experienced operators make the same near fatal mistake. I know this from experience.
Hire from experience. Check your references. Don’t believe the hype. Many sub contractors will take credit for high level experience of projects they merely wired and hung lights. A lighting tech who worked on a project does not a good lighting designer make. You get the point. Call the owners of venues you like, find out if they had good experiences with the design team. Did they provide new and fresh ideas or did they regurgitate the past? Were concepts provided within the budget? Or were fantasy designs presented that could not be built regardless of cost or time. This is step one. My take is this. Become an educated consumer. Don’t be fooled. You are not hiring a design team, you are entering into a relationship albeit a short one, it is still a relationship and at the least, a personal one.
Happy hunting.
Cal