How much money does a Strip Club actually make?

Here are the alcohol sales numbers for most popular DFW clubs:
http://www.barmart.net/ReportTradeName1.…
http://www.barmart.net/ReportTradeName1.…

Looks like they are selling around $400,000-500,000 a month!

Someone long term in the upscale chain industry says a minimum gross for the house of $3Meg per year. Again, minimum.

I think a lot of it is bolstered by alcohol and the effects of alcohol. Also, in at least TX, the alcohol sales accounting is public info.

But those are not the kinds of clubs I like. :) :) :)

SJG

Why I’m Proud To Be A Middle-Aged Stripper
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mid…

Baker Gurwitz Army Live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7GXbGPN…

San Jose underground, thanks to Jackslash for finding this:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/1…

Howlin' Wolf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpKB6OZ_…

FIAT Nuevo 500 Abarth
https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploa…

You wanted a serious answer from the clowns here?

It’s a cash business, so no one will ever know. I’ll bet their tax returns claim they lose money.

it's kind of like asking what a car costs. There are brand new Lamborghinis, and well-used Kias.

When it is a chain and there are lots of people around, it would be hard to make it work under the table. So the corp bosses need register reciepts and computer accounting stuff to keep their own people honest.

I still go with the min $3Meg per year, minimum, number, for upscale chain clubs.

SJG

i’m gonna guess that overall they make money.

if not,,,
the accountants know how to how to make money out of the situation.

They make plenty, not because it’s a cash biz, only the little people (dancers, and tipped folks) make out with the cash economy, nowadays taxes are lower than ever and the only cash that makes sense is the cash you can use in day to day activity, you can’t buy houses or expensive cars or boats without legit documented monies.
Savvy business folks declare their income pay taxes and invest in things, or pay for trusts that allow them to buy things pre-tax and use other schemes that amplify their income.
Evading taxes is so 20th century.

^^^^^ Stripper I knew got in huge trouble with IRS, not reporting income, but buying house.

Other one wanted me to do her taxes, as she wanted to stay out of trouble.

SJG

It doesn't matter. They are usually used to launder money.

^Some are, but the majority are not, and are owned by people, that make some serious money, through these clubs.

You know what would be so awesome is if the club management one day just stacked ones on the ceiling rafters, and then used fans to make it actually rain in the club haha!

But they're probably too greedy to do something fun like that!

The clubs (or most clubs really) probably make the vast majority of their money on the weekends. But we're really just dealing with hypotheticals. One club i know of charges $28 mandatory cover every single day all day (or night as they're not open during the day). Female customers pay about $5 less and they give some discount for college (and high school even?) students on Wednesdays or something, but otherwise there's really no getting around this very high cover. They get over 2,000 customers a week (probably over 1,500 just from Friday/Saturday), so around $60k there. They get at least another $6 (cheapest drink is $6) from each of those customers from mandatory drinks (non-alcoholic). Some customers get more than 1 or buy them for dancers so let's say another $20k ($10 x 2,000).

They also charge at least $100 per girl (i've heard as high as $200 on weekends) for her shift for about 200 girls/shifts a week so another $20k there. They also take about half of the dancers' money from "private" dances and VIPs. If we assume the average PL there spends about $100 on average ($100 is actually the minimum for private dances there now; for a set of 3), then that's another $100k ($50 x 2,000) there. I think i'm actually being conservative with this club too. Which comes out to over $200k a week or almost $900k a month or almost $11,000,000 a year. It could be almost twice as much, depending on the average spending of the PLs and how busy they are (customers and girls). Not bad for a club that doesn't serve alcohol and is only open 11 hours a day (7pm - 6am). This might be one of the highest earning clubs, if not the highest, in the state. Sure, there are expenses, but i think most of the labor/staff is paid with tips from the customers or the girls. Taxes and reported revenues are an entirely different story. The owner(s) probably net at least $5 million a year. I wouldn't be surprised if it was twice that. I wonder if anyone knows which club i'm talking about.

I could probably do a similar example for a particular club that was on it's last legs or super slow all the time, to show the other extreme and how such a club could still make money, but alas, i don't go to those clubs. Heck, i don't even really go to the aforementioned club anymore, so my numbers could be off now...

Years ago I used to work in an all nude club in California, which means no Alcohol. It wasn’t upscale, and I can tell you there were several days/nights when we didn’t get 100 customers. On top of that day entry fee was reduced to get business in the club. Their primary revenue was from VIP dances back in the booths. The club I worked at collected $10 for every $20 dance. Money from drink sales was all cheddar. Bottled water or soft drinks from a fountain had a huge profit margin, but not that many of them were sold. In the end the club brought in revenue from entry fees, drinks, and private dances. The overhead was rent and utilities, payroll for security, bartender, and manager. If I recall correctly the DJ worked on tips from the dancers. They also paid a cleaning crew that came in once a day prior to opening. I would be surprised if they had over 15k net most months. Like I said, this was a low end club.

One thing that would worry me is that all clubs are just one lawsuit away from bankruptcy. All it would take is one bouncer on roid rage to wipe out every dollar of profit since the club opened. Or, a customer who was over served before a fatal crash. Or, a wife who got an STD from her husband after a visit to VIP.

I remember reading that the biggest risk for most bars and nightclubs is employee theft. A bartender who gives drinks away to increase their tips, or simply pockets the payments, can erase a club’s profits.

When I worked at a bar, there was an unwritten rule , not known to management, that employees weren’t charged for drinks. On a given night, that probably cost the bar $200 to $400.

@dirk anyone that's been to Chicago knows

The only example I have; a small club (slight upgrade from hole in the wall) in Phoenix that an old friend of mine and I were considering buying. This was about 3 years ago so not sure what has changed. Owner said the club took in around $20K a month if business was just decent, more for busy months. Owner himself said he probably scored $4K per month or so. Enough to make a living, but he had another job too. I'd guess a large club the numbers would be around twice that, from what he said about managing a larger club at one point. It was an decent club actually, but the owner said his business partner screwed him over somehow. The club shut down about 2 months after we talked to the owner.

@dbledmike. Thanks for the insight there.

From what I’ve heard, a lot of clubs are places for the owners to launder their money from other ventures. But I guess if it’s upscale and corporate, that’s less likely?

Even as a place to wash money, if it doesn’t make enough to carry itself it makes no sense, washing dirty money is one thing, but throwing money into an open pit is stupid, no one is going to do that.

Not true. It can't lose too much to make it not worth it. There is a hurdle rate. When laundering you have to accept shrinkage.