Guides · Running the place

The mistakes I made in my first year running a bar

Fifteen years later, these are the ones that cost the most.

I opened Time Café & Bar not knowing much about running a business. Fifteen years later, these are the mistakes that cost the most. Some of them cost money. One nearly cost me the business.

1. I was too friendly with the staff

I wanted a happy team, so I was everyone's mate. Within a few months some of them were treating the place like their living room: turning up late, being short with customers, not caring whether the business made money. It took me a long time to understand that staff want a boss who is fair and clear, not a boss who is their friend. You can be warm and still be the boss. Leave a gap between the friendship and the business, and fill the gap with rules everyone knows.

2. I was too friendly with the customers

The same thing, the other side of the bar. Regulars I'd got close to started asking for discounts, asking to pay later, talking loudly, disturbing other tables, and expecting me to let it go because we were friends. A customer is a customer. Be generous with your attention and strict with your prices.

3. I said yes to everyone

Suppliers, salespeople, anyone who walked in with an offer: I said yes because I didn't want to upset them. I ended up with stock I didn't need, services I didn't use and deals that weren't deals. The word you need most in your first year is no. It's a business. Nobody who's upset that you said no was ever going to be good for it.

4. I gave shares to a member of staff

This is the big one. The bar was busy: a café in the morning, baguettes and burgers at lunch, main dishes in the evening, a DJ from nine, events most weekends, sometimes open till three with a late licence. When the shop opposite became available, my business partner and I took it on, split it with a wall, and moved the café side across: Time Bar, Time Café and a hair and beauty salon next door.

I put one of my staff in charge of the café and gave him shares to keep him motivated. He used them to take control of the café, applied for his own alcohol licence, started making cocktails and snacks, and competed with my own bar from across the road. The business I'd built was now fighting itself.

5. I grew before the first place was solid

Taking on the second unit felt like success. It doubled the problems and split my attention, and mistake number four grew out of it. Make the first place boring and profitable before you even look at a second.

What I'd tell myself on day one

• Write the rules down and apply them to everyone, including your friends.
• Learn to say no in the first week, not the first year.
• Keep your shares, and get everything with a partner in writing.
• Check the till reports every night. The numbers tell you things people won't.