Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

[Joey]

Getting the license is really all about cash..  (isn't everything about the
green these days?)  :(  PA handles it's licensing a little differently then
Ohio.  Here, if there's licenses available.. or if you wait long enough on a
list (about 18mo) for around $2300.00 you can apply for a license.  As long
as everything is cool.. you're in.  Unfortunately.. there aren't any
licenses available..  so if you want to open a bar now.. you have to buy a
license from a broker (basically someone with lots of cash that buys up old
bars and holds onto the liquor license to sell for big bucks to the person
willing to pay for it).  There are always licenses available for the right
money.  Here in Columbus a license will run you anywhere from 20g to 50g
depending on where in the city you want one.

In PA it looks like everything is pretty much brokered.  While I don't have
a quote, the estimates I've heard are in the 40g - 50g range for a liquor
license for the pgh area.  There didn't seem to be any problem getting one
as long as the price is right.

That's of course just one of the many permits/licenses needed to open a
bar.. :(  I don't want to count them all up here or I'll be in as bad of a
mood as you are.. :p  lets just say it's not cheap to open a bar.

On the good note.. I've managed bars here where we bring in $1500+/hr
thurs/fri/sat evenings..  and that's with nothing more then a dj and a dance
floor..

It's a dangerous business..  and while I'm willing to bet my own money on
it.. I'm not trying to build a bar that's just about the cash.  I've been in
the business a long time and I really just want to open something that's the
kind of bar that I'd like to hang out in.

I'll post my lawyers comments to this list if people are interested in
hearing that side of things.






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "deeann mikula hartmann" <goth at d33ann.com>
To: "Joey" <joey at shat.org>
Cc: <pgh-goth-list at listless.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt


> On Tue, 21 Oct 2003, Joey wrote:
>
> > I'm of course concerned about some of the laws in pgh.  I have a meeting
> > with a pgh liquor atty. tomorrow to discuss purchasing a liquor license
and
>
> heh...good luck with that.  i hear that there are even fewer licenses
> granted in the past few years than ever, requiring lots of "sharing"
> and creative paperwork.  you'll have to let us know how that
> mysterious end of club-owning works out.  i once heard the cost of a
> liquor license in pgh, and i was postively floored by the amount of
> money.  of course, i was probably making $5/hr at the time...
>
> > I'll definitely be addressing the 18+ issue with him to see if there's
any
> > interest in the industry to change the current laws.
>
> unlikely.  pa is a large state, i think it's rather like california,
> where you have a few resonable people (thousands, more likely) in the
> cities, but far, far, far more rednecks in the country to skew any
> kind of voting ratios.  "make it easier for the kids to get liquor by
easing the physical divider?" "help concert promoters?"  i don't think so.
>
> i don't mean to be a total pessimist, but i woke up in a bad mood, and
> i'm not feeling optimistic about pgh. quickly losing it's grasp on
> anything focused on youth.  half of me wants to say, "you go!  be the
> one-man army against this decade long trend!" and the other part of me
> is just saying "that poor kid, how many times have i seen perfectly
> great business plans for great new bars fail because of pgh's crushing
> laws?"
>
> good luck, and i don't mean that sarcastically this time like i did
> above :)  please do keep us informed!
>
> deeann mikula hartmann
>
> "the limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
>    --ludwig wittgenstein, tractatus logico-hilosophicus
>
>