Are you nuts? Yes you are, but so are we. Good luck!

In all seriousness though, whats the population of town, whats the traffic counts where building is? What is average income? Many questions to ponder. But id be tempted too, too cool!

sounds awesome if ya think your area will support you!

Go for it!

Sounds like a good way to ruin your life and your hobby.

Good luck!

All depends on your monthly nut. I would be very realistic with my predictions and tread lightly

Bright side the depreciation will be fantastic!

BINGO, go over the details with your financial planner, see what they think.

I've seen enough restaurant saving shows to know a mechanic opening up a food or drink establishment is a scary idea

I would wait until covid is over for sure then consider it. If you’ve never owned a restaurant or bar before I would certainly be looking to partner up with someone or some bother people that have experience.

Add in the fact many successful barcades are closing down and who knows when the current situation will turn around

You should consider reaching out and speaking to Bruce Nightengale. I’m sure there are others who would be very candid.

My opinion. Pass.

I interviewed an op in Massachusetts for my podcast. It might be worth a listen. Free Play Bar Arcade.

Sorry Bruce. Nightingale.

Tacos and pinball. Just sayin. Maybe befriend those Mexicans, my business is located in our towns "little Mexico" and I'm getting fat. Whatever you do don't let a Mexican bakery in there, that sweet bread stuff they make is to die for.
B

Nice!

All I got out of that was you don't like mexicans?

Also, bars, arcades, barcades are more likely to go under than be successful. In fact, that Mexican restaurant probably makes more money than you would.

Mexican food is quite tasty if I may say...

My family has had bars and restaurants. never again. good luck in whatever you decide to do.

I have no idea what mexican food in IL taste like or how it sells. Does very well down here in Texas though.

for sure, keep the Mexican restaurant as you would at least have a nice rental income coming in to help supplement the money pit arcade below.

K of C Pinball has a nice ring to it.

First, go to the city/township board and ask how licensing would go with food, booze and pinball/amusement games. May as well get some Illinois "Lottery" slots in the place.

Inquire about how much Insurance and a liquor license will cost, if you can even get one.

Well then maybe it would work out.

Owning the building would be a far better strategy than renting it. On top of that, a paying tenant would be a huge plus.

But, first look at it from the point of failure. If whatever you install fails to earn and you operate at a loss, could you still be in the black with the other tenant paying rent?

Work up a business plan, find out what all your expenses could be, and figure out what your income would have to be to keep operating.

In theory, it sounds like it could be a good opportunity (not taking into account price, location, condition of the building, etc). But, keep in mind, no matter how enthusiastic someone is, most people generally fail at running a restaurant or bar due to any number of factors. Plus it's way more work than most people think it actually is.

Then, I suppose a fallback plan could be just renting out the bottom floor if things don't work out since you would actually own the building. I think the best plan would be to plan for a cutoff point. If after a certain amount of time things aren't self-sustaining, be prepared to pull the plug and rent the space out instead.

Careful, can't call it a " Barcade " c&d letter to follow.

No risk no reward. Good luck!

Do the current tenants (Mexican restaurant) have a lease, and when does it expire? You can evict them easily.

I'm not sure about non-residential, but I'm just thinking about when I rented my old house, are you allowed to pick your tenants' business if you are not going to run those businesses yourself? are you allowed to say I only want this space used as "XYZ"
Might be a non issue but something to look into also. Don't want to sign a lease with a person saying its a restaurant then a week later they turn it into a shoe store and the plan goes south.

Convince Auntie-Ann's Frozen Custard to open a spot in your building and i will move to Crystal Lake and live in your building!

Sure, I just meant someone that isn't in the restaurant business.

Continue to lease the restaurant space upstairs, AND lease the space downstairs to a local craft brewing operation. Most local breweries around these parts have large open spaces, some have even walled off/enclosed rooms for sound separated activity spaces. Make a deal with the brewery to allow you space to be the pin/arcade operator. Beer....GOOD beer....seems to have a continuous supply of revenue.

Yes, you are crazy!

But with family near Antioch, and friends in Cary.....I'll most definitely stop in for a visit if you wind up doing this.

Later,
EV

How does one own an auto repair shop and not be a mechanic or technician?

I work with a bar guy and yeah, money is in the booze, everything else is an attraction to bring them in. He just gets sick of dealing with the riff raff bad people, but if you get good bartenders etc you can keep things controlled.

Otherwise how will you deal with bartenders stealing money, no show, drugs, etc?
I mean you could hit up bruce from slam tilt and get some tips from him too. but unless you have some great managers or bartenders, be prepared to spend lots of time there.

I would wait... commercial property is going to take a gigantic shit over the next few years with so many closings.

rent something with a short term? sure.

Would I buy something now? hell no. Rents and prices will likely tank.

Every time I drive around my area i see more and more places closing... and there is no one to take those spaces.

Ha! I was going to say in 5 years you can always call Gordon Ramsey when it doesn’t workout.

Why would you want to open a "non essential" business after seeing how quickly the government can shut you down? So many restaurants went tits up recently. Covid didn't destroy those businesses. The government did.

It would not be a wise investment...

You could just not obey and open anyway. You wouldn't be the only restaurant/bar/establishment not obeying this BS around here.

I think it's a pretty simple rule of thumb for these kinds of ventures. If you do not plan to be there working from open to close for the first couple of years don't do it.

I conflated Auntie Ann's Pretzels and Julie-Ann's Frozen custard! (Embarrassing) That shows how long its been! I need some pinball and Julie-Ann's! Heck, i could even get the wife there with that kind of pairing!

HAHA, this exactly, every bar/restaurant in my town is open after the 2nd shutdown, with Pritzker sucks signs in front.

I am curious why the existing Mexican restaurant is not a "proper" restaurant. What exactly does that mean?

I've seen those "Sucks the life out of buisiness..".

Count me in as a patron if you do. Sounds like your doing your homework and every dream has to start somewhere. Good luck, I will be there opening day to support a local business.