Example: Purchasing a Hotel / Pub, Plenty of Money Down

Thanks for posting this very interesting thread, good on you for hanging on it would have been incredibly tough.

Am curious, was the pub in Australia??

Why did the accountants not pick up that the pub was not making $100K?s
Its all water under the bridge now anyway.

Next question, anyone I know who ran a pub ended up with a drinking problem, I believe you said you don't drink alcohol, that it pretty damn amazing

 

Pub was definitely in Australia

I was given a set of financials, I gave them to the accountants who found them to be a set of financials and everything appeared to be in order. The problem with financials is context. Who is to say they are representative or even relate to the enterprise you are looking to buy when viewed in isolation? You really need more than a spreadsheet from an agent to be sure of what you are buying, hence corroborating information such as BAS statements, bank account statements help here. I'd now assume that financials were a bit rubbery on any business purchase until I could prove otherwise.

Running a pub you see people at their worst - it turns you off a little bit or you become a lush I guess. Plus hangovers hurt!

 

Yes, got it.
I assumed it was in USA, you mentioned Charleston, in one of your other posts.

But then think about it, you would not call it a PUB??? in US lingo

What an experience though, nerves of steel

 

Great story and I agree with the book too!

Pubs are such an interesting evolving business nowadays.

We have been travelling oz and stopped in at many pubs. They seem to be a reducing in numbers and having to change to include other avenues. A pub nearby in regional wa has been reno'd but feels more like a restaurant with a bar and now also caters for weddings. While the competition in town has closed 1 demolished, 1 bought by a Cafe franchise and the other open caters for the betting facilities and is the early opener.

Small town in qld population <400 people had 3 pubs, one taking on more Cafe restaurant side but one their "regulars" die off, literally, it's not exactly booming! And all 3 run off back packers.

Thanks for sharing your story!

 

It's an industry squeezed by high rents, deteriorating margins, increased wage costs, bulk liquor sales, lower barriers to entry and more competition from non-traditional areas. Small town country pubs will be few and far between in the future IMO.

 

One thing I meant to ask was whether you had any pokie machines? I assume not?

 

No pokies. We were that cafe looking hybrid style of pub - we called ourselves a bar and restaurant. In our city pokie pubs tended to cater for (or attract) the lower end of the market and struggled to attract mid-market/upmarket clientele.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. To come out on the other side the way you have is true resilience.

 

Just read through it all then - thankyou so much for sharing it all what a huge story. Lots of respect for fighting through it & coming out with your head still held high.

 

Good on you Trigger for giving such a no-holds-barred account of your journey. A real eye opener for many who have no experience of being in the small business arena. It can be absolutely brutal – the extremely long hours, the fabrications from vendors, industry disruption, financing horrors, violent swings in economic conditions, GFC, impact of droughts, floods cyclones etc. On top of this you had to clean-up the mess from drunken patrons each morning and line up each day for another round of pain, with no quick-fix available. That’s gotta hurt.

I reckon many who have been in retail and hospitality industries as owners can relate more than a little to a lot of those experiences you mention – just not to the same degree! But anyone who has even a taste of these emotions possibly do become just a bit sarcastic and bitter – it’s easy to appreciate why when you look at circumstances anything like yours.

I hope the PAYG readers take note of just how tough it can be at the SME coalface, and appreciate just how cruisy most employees get it in this country by comparison - all care but no responsibility the order of the day.

I imagine this journey has really tested your mental health especially, and like everyone else I take my hat off to you for hanging tough through several turbulent years. Real gutsy effort, and I wish you the very best going forward. Another vote for best PC thread so far. As for the book idea – its not so silly - business lessons intertwined with raw personal emotion would leave Grisham and Kiyosaki in the dust!

 

Thanks for sharing your journey mate, looks tough and a real eye opener

 

Thanks for sharing your story and many tips!

 

great suggestion. Wish I had done this when looking to purchase a fast food franchise many years ago.

 

I think the only way to survive now is to have poker machnes, keno etc.
But i heard yiu have to buy poker machine licences and they are very expensive ?

 

Food and beverage is always tough. We have two licensed venues, and it is incredibly hard to make consitent margins.