|
Answer from our Guest Expert Kent Capener of Capener ConsultingPAGE 2To Serve Alcohol (or Not) to Your MarketHere's my two-cents' worth when it comes to serving alcohol: Don't serve alcohol unless .....Why? Legal troubles. Insurance costs. Market segmentation. How many "kids" in the student population can legally consume alcoholic beverages in your community? If the drinking age is 21 in your state, you automatically eliminate a large juicy bit of that market before you even open your doors. And if you happen to be thinking that college kids will be college kids, they will! Complete with fake IDs and first-time drunks. This is where the law comes in. If your state has a "dram" law, then you can count on very high insurance rates and legal bills. So unless your talents also include incredible patience and a fondness for attorneys and their bills, you stand a much better chance of success of not serving alcohol a la nightclub. The college market is truly a niche market. One factor that nicheifies it is that while college students have the lowest average income by population, they have one of the higher percentages of disposable income. This is why you see fast food franchises on campus - and even in the dormitories. In some cases, they've replaced the "grabateria" concept altogether. Not be outmaneuvered in this market, the credit card companies allocate a significant percentage of their marketing efforts towards college students. So that leaves your restaurant idea. How can you market to students and others in your community? continued
Small Business Tax Center • Idea Cafe Home • Sign Up • Biz Grant Center • CyberSchmooz •Coffee Talk with Experts • People in Biz Profiles • Starting Your Biz • Biz Planning • Running Your Biz • FREE Trade Publications • Marketing • Financing Your Biz • Human Resources • Legal & Biz Forms • Managing Your Biz • eCommerce • You and Your Biz • Gen X • Work@Home • The Fridge • De-Stress • Send an Award • Send an eGreeting • Yoga @ Your Desk • Web Guide • Idea Cafe in the News • About Idea Cafe • Advertise on Idea Cafe • Contact Us • Privacy Policy • Site Map • Small Biz News Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc. DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages. TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business, CyberSchmooz, and BizCafe.
|
For more business advice, check Coffee Talk Answers
Each week we pluck reader questions from CyberSchmooz and ask our savvy biz experts to give you their ideas -- compliments of the house! Got biz questions of your own brewing? Go post 'em in Idea Cafe's CyberSchmooz. You'll get peer-to-peer help from fellow entrepreneurs. And bookmark this page so you can check back here soon -- maybe our experts will single out YOUR question next!
|