Bar and Tavern Business Plan

Foosball Hall will leverage the fact that they offer the finest (as well as the only) facility of numerous, nice, good condition foosball tables. This will be especially useful when competing for customers against the pool halls. Foosball has the same draw as pool, a game that is fun, social, and requires some skill, but is much more fun than pool. To be competitive at foosball, players must develop a strong skill set, however, the level of fun is accessible to all skill levels. Therefore, foosball generates more fun than pool, a distinction that is valuable to a hall that is attracting people to come play games, eat, and drink.  

The marketing effort will rely on advertisements and sponsorships to reach the desired market segments. For the casual users the venue will be advertised as a place to eat, drink, and play fun games. To reach the competitive players, Foosball Hall will have to generate visibility among the different individuals and groups that compete. This will be done with advertising as well as sponsoring tournaments, arguably the best way to get this segment introduced to Foosball Hall.

The sales strategy is formulated on the hypothesis that there are a large number of people that will try Foosball Hall once, and that a successful sales effort will be one that captures the people and turns them into repeat customers. This philosophy is grounded in the solid marketing maxim that it is more costly to attract new customers than it is to maintain current ones.

5.1 Competitive Edge

Foosball Hall will rely on their competitive edge of offering a large number of foosball tables to patrons. Pool halls are relatively popular. They offer patrons a source of self entertainment (based on skill and strategy) while they drink and socialize. Foosball takes this value one step further by offering a game that has similar skill requirements, but injects much more fun and thrill into the game. Currently, there are no other public places that offer more than one or two foosball tables for play. This competitive edge could diminish if it becomes so popular that competitors take notice and offer similar game options. However, Foosball Hall will enjoy the market leader position and will not rest on its laurels, continually looking for new ways to add value for their customers. Foosball Hall will be always looking for new ways to appeal to their target market by both secondary research, and through primary research in the form of observation of their customers.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Foosball Hall will use two different forms of marketing communication as a way to reach the target market and raise their  awareness of Foosball Hall and their product offerings. The casual users will be reached through a series of advertisements, generally in the student newspapers. The student rags are a source of information that most students consult in determining activities and events. There are two main student papers, each with a slightly different readership demographic. The advertising space in the papers is fairly inexpensive and is targeted to reach the right audience.

In order to reach the competitive users, Foosball Hall will rely on a tournament sponsorship strategy to attract the serious players. Foosball Hall will sponsor several different tournaments, at least two days a week that will be a haven for the competitive players. The beauty (for Foosball Hall) of the competitive tournaments is that most players require practice to remain competitive or improve and the large number of tables at Foosball Hall will encourage this customer segment to use Foosball Hall as a place to train as well as compete. The tournament sponsorship will generate visibility on the local (city as well as state) foosball association websites. The visibility will take the form of activity by members of the Foosball Hall staff in association based activities. Becoming active within this association of people is valuable networking that is likely to bring many new customers to the Hall. Foosball Hall believes that this grassroots approach will be particularly effective for this unusual but tight knit group of people.

5.3 Sales Strategy

The sales strategy is based on the belief that there will a regular flow of first time customers. The real sales effort must concentrate on the conversion of each first-time customer into a long-term customer relationship where the customer comes regularly to Foosball Hall and also brings new friends to share the experience. This focus recognizes the fact that it costs Foosball Hall less money to convert a customer into a long-term relationship than it does to attract another new customer. With this in mind, sales activities concentrate on keeping existing customers happy.

Consistent, customer-centric service is the requirement for Foosball Hall employees. Every employee will have the idea drilled into them that they cannot let a customer leave dissatisfied. Employees will be empowered to remedy most situations that come up. Problem solving will be encouraged throughout the organization. It would also be fair to say that everyone within the organization is part of the sales staff.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

The sales forecast is a conservative projection. It has been kept conservative to ensure that, with the worst case scenario, we are able to cover our expenses. The first three months have a sales forecast that is pretty grim (relative to the standard month). This can be explained by the fact that the first few months will be slow, a function of being a start-up business, fighting to become more visible within the community, going from nothing to achieving a regular clientele. A slow but steady growth cycle with occur as the months toll. Profitability is projected to occur during the later half of the second year. As a rule of thumb for this industry, if profitability occurs before the second year than it is unlikely to be a sustainable profit, and if it does not occur by the end of the second year than the chance of it ever happening is pretty slim.

The following table and charts represent the breakdown of the sales for the first year as well as graphical representations of sales by month and year.

5.4 Milestones

Foosball Hall has identified several different milestones that will act as obtainable goals, providing the organization with benchmarks that they must reach. The following table details the different milestones, the timeline for them and the responsible party.