finding and starting a bar in NYC

July 4, 2005 5:51 PM

NYC bars: seeking a specific recommendation, and [separate question], personal accounts of people who've started/bought one.

The recommendation: I'm looking for a bar that would make a good companion to a birthday/movie night following a viewing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So ideally a place that serves milkshakes or chocolate martinis or other candy-like sweets (desserts, rice crispie treats) in addition to straight-up alcohol. A good example would be DT-UT.

The question: a friend is brainstorming about starting a bar in NYC/Brooklyn. Don't worry about how financially feasible it is; he might have money to burn. I'm enjoying discussing it with him and would like to read some accounts of people who have done this. I'm looking for blogs where people discuss their experiences starting/buying bars, or books like Cosmopolitan, A Bartender's Life, where the process (or aspects of it) get expressed in some detail.

posted by xo to food & drink (6 comments total)

Here’s all you need to know.
posted by growabrain at 7:08 PM on July 4, 2005

didn't some internet / dotcom guy open a bar? he had a web site with info / stories about it. anyone?
posted by andrew cooke at 7:16 PM on July 4, 2005

You're thinking of Jamie Zawinski, former Netscape/Mozilla guy (amongst other things). He founded a bar called the DNA Lounge a few years ago, and kept - and continues to keep - a log of his experiences.

Hope this helps.
posted by ZaphodB at 7:55 PM on July 4, 2005

Scratch that, he bought it and rebuilt it. Still, given the amount of stuff done to the place, it was close enough to founding a new one.
posted by ZaphodB at 8:00 PM on July 4, 2005

thanks!
posted by andrew cooke at 8:22 PM on July 4, 2005

The hardest part (or, at least one of many hard parts) is getting the liquor license. It's almost impossible to get a license from the city in NYC these days unless you "know someone", so your friend's best option is to buy an existing establishment.

A corollary to this is that the liquor license is often the most valuable thing a bar owns. Depending on your fortunes, you can buy the assets of a bar/serving restaurant that's going out of business- I'm not sure how you find out about this, but it happens all the time, obviously.

You and your friend probably already know this, but I'm going to say it anyway- it's a lousy business, all but guaranteed to lose money. Burn is what's going to happen to your friend's money.
posted by mkultra at 7:57 AM on July 5, 2005