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Tiki Bar 2005 a Swanky project |
Traitor Vic
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 02, 2003
Posts: 428
From: Greenville, SC
|  Posted: 2005-03-28 7:32 pm Permalink
Okay. I gotta come clean here. My reasons for wanting you to call it some variation of the Headhunter Lounge may have had less to do with my preference for authenticity and more to do with my desire to sip the signature drink from this mug...
I promise to be more honest and forthcoming in future suggestions.
[ This Message was edited by: Traitor Vic on 2005-03-28 19:41 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2005-03-28 8:28 pm Permalink
Tim, why not ask those restaurant questions to James at the Kahiki Moon? He was a Tiki restaurant newbie, and I am sure he loves to share his experiences.
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2005-03-29 06:28 am Permalink
Vic,
That's the mug you drink from when you walk in the bar and there is Drum and Bass or "Classic Oldies" playing! Or maybe what the employees drink from after work...
Bigbro, I'll look into that. But it may be something you don't share.
I do have an extra plus here in East Tennessee: a locally distilled rum. Prichard's That's all I will say about that... Also of note, HGTV is based here and a lot more TV than you would imagine comes from here in Knoxville. That jewelry network and other home shopping. But the HGTV people I hope would use my place for some backdrops.
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Feelin' Zombified
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 15, 2003
Posts: 1328
From: The Exotic Shores of Lake St. Clair
| Posted: 2005-03-29 06:53 am Permalink
Why not ask HGTV to make a documentary about the construction? Grab publicity anywhere!
-Z
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joefla70
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 17, 2005
Posts: 354
From: Fort Lauderdale
| Posted: 2005-03-29 1:29 pm Permalink
I agree with Chiselswinger that the logo looks good... and it wouldn't really matter to me how "authentic" it is. With the noted exception of Bigbro and others on TC, most people aren't going to know the difference, anyway! I think the most important thing is what looks good.
Hey, if you incorporate "Swanky" into the name of the bar, I think you should have the tiki in the logo swanked up too! How about putting a fez on him, like this:
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Rob Roy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 03, 2004
Posts: 349
From: Ventura, CA
| Posted: 2005-03-29 1:43 pm Permalink
Have the Ku looking to the sign and not away.
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chisel slinger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 23, 2004
Posts: 263
From: columbus,ohio
| Posted: 2005-03-29 4:52 pm Permalink
chisel swinger, damn, why didnt I think of that!
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joefla70
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 17, 2005
Posts: 354
From: Fort Lauderdale
| Posted: 2005-03-29 6:25 pm Permalink
Oops, sorry Slinger!
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Traitor Vic
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 02, 2003
Posts: 428
From: Greenville, SC
| Posted: 2005-03-29 11:04 pm Permalink
Youch! When the Drum and Bass or "Classic Oldies" start I'll gladly donate another, similar mug to the bars collection!
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2005-04-06 10:39 am Permalink
I had a meeting today with the President of Ruby Tuesday on other business. This is a guy that could not just finance the opening of the place, but start a chain of them if he wanted to. His statement on my idea about opening a bar/restaurant: "Sorry to hear that. I thought you were smarter than that." And he's right. What goes into a successful restaurant is a lot. And that's what we are talking about here. Though I want to open a bar, I must open a restaurant.
So, now I am squarely back in the old corner. I am either going to find the way to skirt the law and get the place open without actually opening a restaurant, or just give up. The whole restauarant aspect just fills my guts so full of knots, I just don't think I can do it. Certainly not myslf, and I would need to know a partner really well to trust them.
I am back to looking up a local business owner who has one of my favorite bars in Knoxville and no restaurant about doing the same thing with the Headhunter. He liked the idea, so maybe we can go in on this together. But the one thing you can't get around is the required table seating for 75. That means you have to have a certain amount of space, and I wonder what kind of income that would require to support. I can work on my business plan like that and see if the numbers add up. How many Mai Tais do I have to sell a night to pay the lease, utilities and payroll...
Why can't I be in a state like Georgia where you can get a liquor license without serving food? RRRrrrrrrr!
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pablus
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 23, 2003
Posts: 2146
From: www.crazedmugs.com
| Posted: 2005-04-06 2:10 pm Permalink
<<<But the one thing you can't get around is the required table seating for 75.>>>
This is required for a liquor license?
Sheesh.
There's never been a lounge I liked that had that many seats.
Have you researched making it a private club/lounge and selling "memberships."
It used to work in Ohio...
...where Witco thieves prowl.
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Raffertiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 31, 2003
Posts: 1527
From: L.I.
| Posted: 2005-04-06 2:56 pm Permalink
Is moving to a more reasonable state out of the question?
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2005-04-06 3:25 pm Permalink
Pablus: I would break up the space []ia lot[/i] fo sho. Seating for 75 would not be bad. Very intimate booths and a nice bar area. And I have looked into making it a club, museum, artistic venue, gallery, etc. There are nice big hurdles to all those ideas that mostly are like "you must have been established for at least 10 years to apply.." No sweet tricky way around it. The law says:
Must have table seating for 75
Must serve one meal a day at least 5 days a week
Must have kitchen and staff to prepare said meal
Must have food as main portion of income or some such vague statement
That said, there are planty of dance clubs in town where no one ever goes to eat and they sell tons of liquor. So there are ways around some of it. What I am told is you do things like charge a cover and mark that up as food cost and then just give away food from time to time. And other tricks. The seating is mandatory. They come in and count, very conservatively.
Raff: Nope, I am staying here until my daughter (13) goes to college somewhere else...
I am just being bummed about it right now. I need to find some help to get the thing going again in my mind. Maybe I find a really cheap location in a more out of the way, but upcoming part of town and do the most basic food imaginable, but have the most kick ass bar possible. And lots of live music... Dunno.
Everybody come over Friday night and let's brainstorm. Bring any memebers of the Liquor board you know to help...
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Tikiwahine
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3288
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2005-04-06 3:41 pm Permalink
Swanky,
I used to go to this dance club that had a buffet style dinner on Fridays.
You paid at the door, had your food(drinks extra), then the place turned up the music and down the lights around 9pm.
You could do a luau style meal and give out coupons to bring people in(that's why we went).
Just a thought!
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*missed the 'five days a week' thing, guess that wouldn't work then.
[ This Message was edited by: Tikiwahine on 2005-04-06 15:43 ]
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2005-04-07 06:31 am Permalink
HERE is the template for the new site. We hope to have the content together, including a mailing list sign up, this weekend so we can start showing the website to the public.
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