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Thread: Opening a Club and need advice

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    Default Opening a Club and need advice

    Hi there

    I am doing the research in opening the first ever gentlemans club in Belize in the Western Caribbean and while I have been to many clubs I obviously have not seen the behind the scenes operations etc and I would like ot get some first hand suggestions from dancers on any tips on making the club the very best for the ladies that will be working there.

    Any suggestions that you think I should consider that would make it a pleasurable woirking enviroment for the girls would really be appreciated.

    Also I would like to know what are the revenue sources for the club ie cover charge drinks etc how is the girls pay tips but do the girls pay the club a percentage or a set fee

    I want to make this club a positive working enviroment for the girls since they will spend a lot of time there so As I put this thing together I am sure I will be posting more questions.

    THANKS IN ADVANCE to anyone that takes the time to respond.

    Oh yes anyplace I can contact with regards to kitting out the club ie poles stages lights etc

    regards

    Gaz

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    Featured Member cash's Avatar
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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    i think you need to find out what the laws are there pertaining to zoning and alcohol...ect.. before you can think of opening a club...wht are the planing to do renting the building for the club or buying
    us: us: us: devil in disguise....

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Hi

    I own the building and there is no problem with zoning and liquor license etc thats all taken care of and thats the easy part here.

    I have several business's and already have permits in place for this next project.

    Gaz

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Hi Gaz,

    Many of the decisions are for you to make in regard to structuring the business model of your club. Obviously the decision to institute a cover charge at the door is a 100% moneymaker for the club. It also serves as a customer "screen", with a low cover charge (US example $3-$7) being insignificant to virtually all potential customers, but with a high cover charge (US example $15-$30+) tending to weed out pennypinching customers. This will result in a "Laffer Curve" in regard to total club income from cover charges vs. the number of customers willing to pay the cover charge as the amount of the cover charge is increased.

    Drink sales can be a 100% moneymaker for the club, or can be set up on a 'kickback' system to provide an incentive for dancers to convince customers to buy drinks for the both of them (i.e. clubs sells "ladies drink" for $7 and kicks back $2 to the dancer). IMHO the potential of a drink kickback scheme to distract dancers from more profitable activities i.e. selling private dances and Champagne Room trips usually results in less total earnings for both the club and the dancer, but some clubs choose to encourage drinking and socializing in the interest of developing a particular image/reputation.

    There are a wide variety of methods for a club to earn additional money from the activity of its dancers. However, the business environment, reputation among dancers, and location of the club influence the options greatly. It's one thing to be SCORES in Manhattan, which has built a worldwide reputation to attract big spending upscale customers, which has a well-established reputation with dancers for being a climate of high earnings, and which is located in a metropolis where amazingly beautiful dancers knock on the club's front door every day looking for work. In this sort of environment, SCORES can afford not to pay its dancers anything, and in fact can justify charging them $200+ per night for the privelege of working there and being granted access to big spending customers!

    However, it is an entirely different situation for a club which will very probably not have an abundant supply of local dancing talent, and which therefore must offer incentives to attract dancers to the club. The status quo for "foreign" clubs is to offer a work contract through an agency. Under this contract, the club almost always offers a guaranteed salary per week to the dancer (typically $500). Under this contract, the club almost always also offers to pick up the tab for the dancer's travel expenses on a pro-rated basis (i.e. 6 week contract includes a one way ticket and 12 week contract includes a round trip ticket). In this way, a dancer can decide to try working for a "foreign" club without having to make a major financial investment just to travel there. The dancer is also guaranteed to earn a certain amount of income every week that she works at the "foreign" club, which in effect compensates her for giving up the option of simply quitting if she doesn't like the club once she works there, and going to work for the club across the street, as she could easily do in Manhattan or other major cities.

    In order for the club and dancer to both profit from this deal, with a guaranteed weekly salary and pre-paid travel expenses coming out of the club's end, and with the club lacking the reputation and local supply of top notch dancers to justify charging dancers a fixed stage fee, it's very fair and reasonable for the club to collect a percentage out of the dancer's end instead. This usually takes the form of a 25% to 50% "cut" for the club subtracted from the dancer's private dance sales (US example $20 each * perhaps 20 per dancer per night) and Champagne Room trips (US example $200 per half hour * perhaps 2 per dancer per night). A 50% club "cut" would be justified if the 50% of private dance sales and Champagne Room trips were retained by the dancer on top of her weekly salary, and a 25% club "cut" would be justified if the 75% of private dance sales and Champagne Room trips were retained by the dancer in lieu of her weekly salary once the minimum guaranteed weekly amount of earnings was exceeded by her actual earnings.

    IMHO from the standpoint of a clubowner the 50% split on top of a guaranteed weekly salary is probably preferable, because it allows the clubowner to withhold ALL of the salary payments until the dancer satisfactorily completes her contract (in other words a big "carrot" that the dancer will work conscientiously and avoid causing trouble for the entire 6 or 12 weeks in order to receive a $3,000 or $6,000 lump sum payment when her contract is fulfilled). With the 25% split in lieu of a guaranteed minimum, the club gives up the "carrot" since the dancer is effectively paid her salary every night as an embedded portion of her earnings.

    It's always bad form for a club to attempt to collect a percentage of tip money which a dancer has earned while dancing onstage or which the dancer has received for providing "extraordinary service" during private dances or in the Champagne Room.

    I hope this has helped provide some insight to help you develop a business plan which is tailored to your location and typical customer base.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------

    Now for an unrelated question! Are there any Beachfront units remaining where the same person could purchase all four 1/4 share interests on the same Beachfront unit i.e. lease it exclusively ? A girl has to think about her retirement, after all (not to mention tax status).

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Whoa melonie! i didn't read all of that but have you ever thought about opening your own club? If so i would definitely work there!


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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Hi Seraya. Yes I have considered it, but I want to retire sometime soon and owning a club would keep me in this business forever even if I wasn't "shaking the goods" myself! Plus the political crusades against the exotic dancing industry in the USA make investing in a new club a fairly risky investment, since the enacting of new anti-dance club laws like 6 ft distance rules or pasties and bottoms can completely change the profitability of a club. Remember, if earnings at a club turn sour because local politicians change the "rules of the game", dancers can simply move on to a different club or a different city - but the clubowner is stuck with a losing investment! This is also something which Gaz probably needs to consider, but from his website it looks like he's fairly well established as a local businessman in Belize and probably carries a fair amount of "clout".

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Admit it Melonie!!!
    You were turned on by the charming tale of Stan the Iguana on Gaz's page.

    BTW Gaz that part is great

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Hi, melonie
    I was thinking that what did u mean by "Exteraordinary service"?
    Is that legal? dosnt it make problems for the both dancer and club?

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    well in a benign sense, a dancer may receive tips for "extraordinary service" simply by giving a great dance, by conversing with the customer, or for any number of reasons. In a more extreme sense, the dancer may indeed receive tips because she was "up close and personal" during a private dance or in the champagne room.

    IMHO from the club's standpoint, it's much better off not to take an active part in any such tipping and not to profit from it, if for no other reason than to be in a position of "plausible deniability" in regard to insinuations such as yours. As to exactly what's considered legal and what isn't, I know next to nothing about the particulars of Belize law in this regard. As to exactly who is considered to be in violation of the law should "extraordinary service" be truly "extra", under US law 99% of the time it is only the dancer who is charged, with the club able to "plausibly deny" that it had any knowledge whatsoever of dancers engaging in illegal activities in the privacy or the private dance area or Champagne Room. However, if the club collects a percentage of dancer's tips received in the private dance area or Champagne Room, then "plausible deniability" is much harder to claim because the club then has knowledge of which dancers are earning such tips and because the club is directly profiting from the dancer's "extraordinary service".

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    Default Re:Opening a Club and need advice

    Hi Melonie

    Thanks for the input and advice its much appreciated.

    You bring up some very good point about abundance of dancers etc especially since this will be new to the country so it will be an interesting process in attracting girls to dance there and ultimatley training them in the fine art of dancing and making money, will probably have to get one of you guys to come down and help show these girsl how its done :-) .

    Obviously it will be in wise to get local girls and have some other visiting girls to keep the numbers up and offer feature performers on occasions.

    Thanks again for the input and I am sure I will be picking your brains again in the near future as I get closer to realizing this project.

    On the other note about the beachfront unit yes I have one available drop me an e-mail and I will forward you the details.

    All the best

    Gaz


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    Default Re: Opening a Club and need advice

    Make sure the dancers have a huge changing room (not the ladies bathroom) with tons of couter top sapce, lots of lockers, showers, tons of electrical outlets, and keep it very clean
    Marilu

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