GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: The Classical Music Café syndrome...

Post Subject: Basic cost estimatePosted by yoshi on: 6/3/2009

I don't know much about the US situation, but here's some realistic estimate to maintain such business in Tokyo. Of course it depends very much on the size and location of the space, but let's assume it's in downtown Tokyo (I don't go into the size because that's a completely different issue in Japan and the US). Beside the initial investment for re-decoration, furnitures, sound proofing and audio gears, I estimate the monthly rent as around $5000 if it's in a convenient downtown location. I need at least one person handling the system and serving customers. Depending on the open hours, what you serve and how many customers you expect, it can be 2 or more. Let's say 2 employees, costing $12/hour, 8 hours a day, 6 days a week and it comes down to another $5000 almost. There will be a cost of food/drink too. Let's assume that I'm serving soft drinks and light food only and the cost of stock per month to be $3000 (this is bogus because it all depends on the number of the customers too). Plus another couple of thousand for utilities, maintemance, etc. So it comes down to minimum of $15,000 without my own profit.

I can probably get away by charging $8~10 for a cup of coffee or soda in that kind of cafe. To make $15,000, I need to serve 1,500 to 2,000 drinks. That's 60~80 drinks/customers a day (EVERYDAY!). This is a very, very tough (almost impossible) number for such a place in today's Tokyo, no matter what type of music I play, and it doesn't include any profit for myself!! In '60s, those Jazz Cafe catered average of over 100 customers everyday.

Of course, this is the calculation of the most basic model and the numbers would vary vastly if the settings are different (what I serve, whether I combine other venue like CD store, etc.).

So unless I'm a multi millionare and need to spend some money for tax or whatever reason, I can't risk myself on it. Is there an equivalent of Mr. Hwang in Boston area?

Yoshi

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