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from the volunteer-labor?-that'll-never-work dept.
Chicago-based "Geek Bar"-- where bartenders dress in labcoats and serve geek-themed drinks-- has been saved from financial ruin by a combination of crowdfunding by patrons, and a sizable personal loan. But The Chicago Reader asks, Geek Bar's fans rescue it from oblivion—but was it worth saving?
It sounds like a feel-good story, something inspired by the kind of movie sometimes screened at the ten-month-old bar. You know, the ones where the scrappy outcasts band together to save their beloved sanctuary from the clutches of evil. But former employees and volunteers now wonder if the bar was worth saving.
Nine and a half months after it first began slinging Cthulhu-themed cocktails, Geek Bar Beta still feels like an experiment, one that hasn't gone according to plan. Former employees say paychecks began bouncing last fall, soon after the bar opened.
The article tells a tale of a business that is obviously loved, but plagued by mismanagement, poor employee relationships, financial woes and an over-reliance on community support and free labor. What value does the "geek" label have, when the underlining business is unsustainable? What extraordinary value does the concept bring that justifies such extraordinary efforts to keep it afloat?
(Score: 2) by scruffybeard on Thursday August 13 2015, @02:51PM
An excellent example. I am not sure I would say there is no market for something like this, but given that it is a new(ish) concept, the owners need to focus all of there concentration on making the prototype successful. I think that it would be a minimum of 8 years before you could start growing a business like this. You have to find a balance between your fun concept and what will bring in a steady stream of customers.
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Friday August 14 2015, @01:41PM
Yes, I was perhaps a bit rough in my wording. There might be a market for it but not substantially more than any theme bar. Certainly not enough to assume your ideas will catch on like wildfire.
The more I hear about the guy running this the more sure I am of one thing: If the market was as good as he thinks, he'd be out-competed by someone else anyway.