Starting a strip club

Cornell University has a school of hotel management. They may have some books on the business side. Association of Club Executives (ACE) may have some useful information. Reviewing bankruptcy cases of clubs that filed Chapter 11 may give you dose of reality.

Also, talk to a strip club attorney for his/her take on starting out in that industry. Overseas may be different, but start with local knowledge.

Have you chosen a country? The laws of a given country may or may not be more relaxed for strip clubs, but they will certainly be different. You will need to hire an attorney in that country who can guide you.

Dude...you should totally start your club on Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld.

If somebody fucks with you on Qo'noS you take 'em out with a bat'leth. Easy peasy! Just make sure you hire a Dahar master for protection. Qapla'

I would just like to be the talent scout or hiring manager in a non official sense of course.

Just remember that everyone will try to steal from you, being a cash business. Everyone. What country were you considering? Thailand perhaps?

I a)disagree that laws "overseas" are more relaxed because they aren't even allowed in many places; b) most foreign countries would ban foreign owners; c) If you don't know where you want to open already, you're not qualified to even pursue this idea and d) Liquor licenses are tough to get and expensive everywhere.

I think that Kabul, Afghanistan could use one once the US is finally out.

Seriously, if you want to start a strip club and make a small fortune, 99% of the time the answer is start with a big fortune!

I guess because my question was pretty simple and direct it gave the impression that this is an idea that just came to mind last night which is not the case. I have a specific country in mind that I am familiar with. I have a specific venue in mind which I'm currently negotiating on and I do have a local attorney assisting me with the legal aspect of everything. When I said the laws are more relaxed it wasn't an assumption. It's a latin country where there are no rules against fully nude dancers, serving liquor, lap dances, private rooms, etc. It's even common practice to be able to take the girls out of the strip club and home with you. That last bit although it is common practice is more in the grey area of the law however.

What I was hoping to find is some sort of resource discussing the nuances of running a strip club. I plan on hitting several US strip clubs as well as strip clubs in the local market to take notes on their operations and I have a buddy who's friends with a strip club owner so I can pick his brain. This isn't something I'm taking lightly, I'm just trying to get my hands on as much experienced information as possible. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.

I have not read it but believe you might find it helpful.

http://www.amazon.com/Topless-Prophet-Su…

I would think getting a job in one; or managing one for a while; may give you a good idea of the biz from the inside out (although IDK how much U.S. SC experience would correlate to a club in another country).

Also, for w/e reasons; it appears as if the typical U.S./Canada SC model is not very popular outside N. America – it may be either b/c the locals don’t’ have the $$$ to partake; or it’s just not part of the culture.

@shadowcat - Thanks for the link. Just bought the kindle version, looks like a good read.

@Che - Thanks for the advice. You're absolutely right about the corruption aspect. Like I said I am familiar with the country and have some connections there. I've spoken to several business owners in the area, many of which are expats and luckily it doesn't seem to be a major issue in that area. Sometimes you'll have a police officer ask for a handout to 'buy themselves a beer' but nothing significant and even that rarely happens.

@Papi-Chulo - Yeah you're right, you cannot duplicate the US model. For the reasons you mentioned plus the simple fact that a lot of these 'strip clubs' are really nothing more than brothels. The area I'm in is an area well known for sex tourism, there are a couple of these 'strip clubs' in the area but they rarely have dancers, people just go to have sex pure and simple.

I'm hoping to provide actual entertainment. Now the fact that you can go around the corner and bang whichever chick you want does pose a bit of a problem. The first thing that comes to mind is, why would I pay all that money to see a girl dance when I can pay anywhere from $50 - $100 to have sex? You can literally walk into one of these 'strip clubs', pick a girl, pay for an hour in a hotel-style room, have sex with her and leave. Well that's the biggest challenge I have. I'm still in the early planning phase, I'm not even at the point yet where this is a go but I do see an opportunity.

One positive out of that whole scenario is that while prostitution is legal, being a third party profiting from prostitution (like a pimp) is not legal. They get shut down once in a while but then they open back up, so who knows what will come of them.

Most dancers in this country are also working girls. With shifts of 5-6 hours and the ability to pay a fee to take the girl out before her shift I'm hoping to address the issue of what these clients are ultimately looking for. The other way I hope to tackle this problem is the quality of the girls. Quality as far as looks and as far as dancing/entertainment. The other establishments pretty much take anything they can get, I'm looking to be slightly more high end but without limiting my demographic either.

There's a good portion of american tourist, specifically young urban american tourist who are big fans of strip clubs. There's also the european tourist and finally the locals who are a smaller part of the clientele and ultimately more looking for sex. Because of this diversity I'm looking to learn about all the different strip club business models so I can make something that will cater to everyone's needs.

The opportunity is certainly there. Relatively low rent, very few licenses/permits required and it's more of a money issue than a bureaucratic issue. Acquiring talent is no problem, the work is weeding through the talent. The investment required wouldn't even be in the 6 figure range and the monthly cost to keep business open in the 5k - 10k range.

Dude...Go start a Burger King instead...at least you do not have to pay off the mafia and your meals are covered.

Best of luck with the club dude, I hope you offer a special rate for your fellow tuscl pervs!

Gentleman's Club Owners Expo
http://www.edpublications.com/expo

FWIW, I'd also recommend doing a lot of homework w.r.t. a non-citizen operating a adult establishment in a given country. Canada has clamped down on foreign dancers in clubs... not sure if this also extends to owners. I also believe that in NZ, you have to be a NZ citizen to be involved in SCs/etc ownership (not sure about employees).