Alright dude so California is SUPER ANALYTICAL about gambling of any sorts in any place that doesn’t have an Indian reservation underneath it so I did a little research and here’s your niche. (It’s at the very end because I had to research it so read along..)
Do you think it’ll be cheaper once everything finally bottoms out? Maybe you could snag the spots you’ve seen lower or even buy someone’s bar outright and redesign it completely. Even retain staff and not have to do too many changes..
Word of mouth is great and key to any business. Tikker tokkers and Instagrammers should be awarded with a free drink (probably the daily special to not cost too much) for every review they leave (limit 2 per customer per month) meaning they have to leave two reviews (one on drinks and one on food preferably) which means people buying food and drinks plus them telling friends to come check it out and so on.
That’s just one way to keep ‘em coming and talking. The niche I suppose will have to be a bit of everything. Free drink and meal on your birthday (most come with a plus 1 or more so that’s great). A lot of it will come from the local community so find a way to cater to them.
*Your ultimate niche will be slot machines throughout the place. People can use them. California says this isn’t allowed and is a misdemeanor just to OWN one…IF
IF
IF
“THE MECHANICAL DEVICE IS DEPENDENT UPON HAZARD OR CHANCE” - ca gov website
You can pitch it as the one place where whether you win or lose, you win.
“(Paying) customers” ONLY get a chance to play any slot machine they want for FREE.
From there, you have to make it known this slot machine isn’t determined by chance. It’ll have to be rigged to be a preset (always lands on this) where it pays out $5-$100. Maybe a voucher for a free drink or free meal next visit. If you find a way to do that I think it’d get traction. It’d be the only place with slot machines that pay out every time lol