OT: Bars open!
We re-opened the ALCOHOL BAR (http://www.alcoholbar.cz) last Friday evening, one full week to the day behind schedule. Just like the Dearly Beloved famous Zenit disaster (boom!), we had ours in the form of The Great Floods at the AB (gurgle gurgle!). While the water itself was successfully held back at the street level by make-shift Barriers that were constructed along the river bank, the law of physics did us in in the end: when the level of the water (of the river) raises above the level of your drains, they become open faucets. As a result, the bar took in, through the sewer pipes, some 2 meters of H2O replete with attendant, uhm, let's call it "muck". As a result, every piece of wood in the bar (and that includes The Bar itself) was destroyed. Luckily, we had some warning, so the 200+ single malt whiskey's, 75+ rums from around the world, cigars and the audiophile Chario speaker system, mixer, etc. were all whisked to safety. Oh, and the money in the safe :))
While i can't recall if The Dearly Beloved Zenit accident was covered by insurance, our bar was, fully. (as a side note: some businesses that "were" covered by insurance "weren't", cuz their insurance contract specified that "flooding" was defined as water coming "down", as in down from the street into your basement, where as these places, like ours, was flooded from the water coming "up" through the drainage/sewage system pipes. I know of one place that had a wine collection valued over 500K USD that "was, but wasn't" insured because their insurance contract defined flooding as the water "coming down" ONLY.) Ouch!
The biggest challenge in re-opening was drying the place out once all the ruined wood and other damaged stuff had been removed. There were dehumidifiers running for weeks on end.
So, we're happily and profitably re-opened again -- with every chair taken, Standing Room Only on Friday and Saturday nights -- kinda like your wish of every minute sold rather than wasted rotting in space. i think i will need to speak with my partners about Raising Our Prices like you have long waxed poetic about here, since The Demand is exceeding our ability To Supply -- unlike your Dearly Beloved (but not Nearly Departed) unprofitable Tonka Trunk losing venture you still continue to gush over, and over, and over... about.
Earth to Mqurice, Earth to Mqurice: come to Prague and see how a profitable business Really Works! Heck, i'll even buy you a drink if you can manage to trek all this way for The Education!
geoff |
