1900 Harry Johnsons Bartenders Manual (Mixellany)

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A. Mto 2 P. M.) you expected, there will not be any op- portunity for making up the profit at any other time during the day; for, as a rule, there is no morning or evening trade. Additionally, you lose all the holi- days and Sundays, for business-men are not down-town on such days, and, therefore, you can only count upon about 303 working days, out of 365 days in the year. The great drawback is, that you have to pay rent for the entire 365 days, pay wages to your help for the entire time, and that your running expenses are nearly as great as if you kept open every day in the year. There are some few exceptions to this rule, of course, but such places are going out of the market, for the reason that the larger places will control the trade. On the other hand, if a place is started where there are long hours, from 5 A. M. till an hour past midnight (New York law), the chances are much more in the beginner's favor; for, supposing he should have a slack trade in the morning or about noon, he may still have a good afternoon or night trade, or both, while his expenses are much less, proportionately, than the down-town places. This is what every one must con- sider well, before he starts in business. For instance: —Supposing a man finds a small place, where the ex- penses are $25 a day, and he is assured that he can take in $50 behind the bar. He may think this is a good business, but a little investigation will prove, that it is not. The price to him of the liquor consumed will be about $20. This, added to his running ex- penses, makes a total of $45, and leaves him just a net profit of $5 for the day; that is, $130 a month, and $1,560 a year. But he must pay for his living, and if a family is growing up around him, the $1,560 will only pay ordinary expenses, and give him a fair living. At the end of five or ten years, he will simply have lived well, probably not have saved any amount of money, and, as he has grown older, will possibly be less able to