This is our biggest venture idea yet. And it’s in a new area of business. Please help me poke holes and think from every angle!
A local restaurant near us is shut down and selling their space. It’s underpriced for the sq footage (5000 sq Ft inside and 10,000 sq Ft outside) it’s selling for $450,000. And the space is right on the river with about 115 feet of waterfront.
Our idea is to take the space and make it an event venue. Primarily focusing on weddings and receptions as well as other social events, baby/bridal showers, and corporate events.
The space has two inside bars, an outdoor bar, an outdoor stage. It has great bones. I think we could move in and start renting with little to no work - the biggest updates would be paint and decor.
Year one (hopefully summer 2024) would be just a rental where we help manage day of and start building wedding and event vendor relationships. No in house restaurant or anything.
Future years we would assess the ability to expand to event decor and chair rentals, expand into other in house food options, etc.
The question: please poke any holes you can or provide your experience if you’ve done something like this before!
If you’re in the venue industry, what am I not thinking of? What is a typical book rate for venues? Is every weekend booked? How long does it take to turn that around?
Financing: we would go through a bank. Do you have any best practices for buying buildings through the bank for local event spaces?
Don’t know much about the event venue world, but my initial question (which sounds like you’re thinking of) is how frequently would this realistically be rented out for events? Need to understand the local market and demand.
Further to that, why would some pick you over any other event space besides being on the river? Does it fit the vibe for the events you’re talking about (eg wedding where people may be looking for something with good ambience and intimate feeling than corporate space feeling)? Is waterfront as big of an appeal / attraction as you think (not saying it isn’t bc I like the thought of looking out over a river, but not just for the sake of looking over water if the rest of the surroundings and vibe aren’t great).
In terms of your other comment, how do you know the prior business failed due to lack of marketing and not simply lack of demand for the space? I get the play on the development of a low income area, but that can be a very long term play and very well not play out as you think it could.
Is the place easily accessible for the type of clientele you’d want? Depending on the area and what people are accustomed to, they may not want to trek very far when there’s another good enough venue closer.