So you’re thinking about setting up a bar. If you’re a sports enthusiast, you might go for the sports bar feel with dark wood furniture, lots of beer and TV screens scattered around your bar. If you’re going more for a lounge-type feel, you’ll want to have dim lighting, comfortable loveseats and couches and intimate tables for two. Either way, you’re going to need bar equipment including the bar counter itself, shelves for displaying alcohol, bar stools, furniture etc. You’ll also need some behind-the-scenes stuff for your kitchen if you’re planning on serving some food. Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind about the décor of your bar:
Make Sure There’s Enough Space To Walk Around
Often, bar and restaurant owners try to fit in as many tables as they can, not leaving enough room for customers to walk around. It can get pretty overcrowded when this happens, with people listening in on the conversations of others and falling over each other when they get up to go to the bathroom. Instead, create a feeling of exclusivity by giving people more space and you’ll find them lining up to come to your bar. This is one thing to keep in mind when you buy used furniture for your bar.
Make Sure There’s Enough Light
You might think that most of your business is going to be conducted in the evening, but many bars do a surprising amount of work around lunchtime as well. If you make sure that your bar is well-lit, especially with natural light, you can make it the kind of place that people go to for lunch as well as dinner. Keep this in mind when you’re buying light fixtures, blinds and curtains for your bar.
Get Feedback from Your Customers
Even once your bar has been set up, you can always make changes to it depending on the feedback you get from your customers. If it turns out that many of your customers think you should be serving a certain dish, you can add that to your menu. And if you need more equipment to make the changes your customers suggest, you can always go back to auctions of used bar and restaurant equipment where you’ll find the best deals. So think of your bar as always being a work in progress; you can keep making improvements to it as you go along.
These are just a few things you should keep in mind when setting up a bar. Contact us if you’re looking to buy used bar equipment at auction and we’ll make sure you get everything you need.
