26 Degrees in the Shade . . .

Promoting Your Spanish Bar or Restaurant Via Societies and Clubs

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Some businesses are absolutely self promoting because they have a position to die for. Unfortunately that is rarely the case, so be prepared to put in a little time on outside promotions in order to

1. remind your customers just how great your food is.
2. get some new customers to cross your threshhold and get to know you and your bar or restaurant

It’s pretty easy to get to know someone through your bar or restaurant who is a member of a local club or society and once you’ve done that you can ask them to give you the contact details for their functions or entertainments secretary.

All clubs and societies have charity days or some sort of open day and they’ll only be too happy to give you some advertising space in their programme in exchange for you putting up a prize.

The prize we normally offer is a sit down meal for one person, so you can be pretty sure that when the winner comes to claim their meal, they’ll bring another one or two people along with them, so you won’t actually loose money, in fact you’ll probably break out even or make a bit of a profit.

The main tip here is that you must be as open and friendly as possible and give off a really upbeat vibe, so that your guests will go back to their club/society and really recommend your bar restaurant.

Remember the more you promote, the quicker your business will grow.

What Made You Leave The UK? Part 7

Buying a Bar and/or Restaurant in Spain - My Advice

20 years ago neither my business partner nor I knew the slightest thing about catering or running a bar. We bought a going concern and then sold it and bought another business (Graham’s Pizzeria) which was also a walk in business.

However, we did change the menu and the way in which it was run extensively. Now 20 years later here we are still making good profits and we have made many friends along the way and been very happy doing what we do.

Remember: if you want to leave the UK and invest in a bar or restaurant in Spain, all you need to do is:

• Follow the advice in my blog
• Have some funds available to invest
• And finally you must really want to do it and want to succeed

My advice to anyone who is prepared to sell their assets in the UK and come to live in the sun in Spain is :

1. Either start from scratch with a bar shop unit and fit it out yourself or,
2. Do as we did and buy a going business and then build it up, using your personality and ideas.

There Are Disadvantages In Starting From Scratch

If you fit out your own place from scratch, it will cost you a lot of time and money. You’ll have to buy the unit and then pay tradesmen to completely fit it out. Then you’ll have to wait for all the necessary paperwork to be issued from the town hall before you’ll be able to take a penny. Don’t forget that whilst you are doing all this you’ll have to find money to cover your living costs and when you’re all finished and ready to open, you’ll be in the lap of the gods as to whether you’ve chosen a good position or not.

A lot of people do choose the above option, but personally I would always be prepared to invest my money in a walk in business, which is already established, and taking money every day.

Your Business License

It’s important to mention here the most important document for your business - the Opening License. If a business is brand new you may have to wait anything up to a year before you are granted your Opening License and you cannot open at all until you have this document displayed on your wall.

If you buy a going concern you can transfer the existing opening License into your own name. This is a quick and relatively straightforward process. The newer the Opening License is the better.