Opening Your Own Bar? Tour These 5 Destinations for Inspiration

Owning a bar is prestigious and fulfilling, especially for a bartender or mixologist who loves the business. It can also be highly profitable if you play your cards right, but being an industry insider isn’t enough to succeed.

Although all bars have lots of moving parts, each operates differently. The best way to understand the nuances of the specific kind of watering hole you want to open is to barhop around these five destinations for inspiration.

Las Vegas

The party capital of the United States is a safe first stop. The City That Never Sleeps has a dizzying array of establishments serving drinks around the clock, giving you a glimpse of the humanity you will serve when you set up shop.

Touring Vegas can be productive because of its richly diverse and vibrant bar scene. You can get lost on Fremont East and still find more clubs than you can set foot in on a weekend.

The Las Vegas Strip is a mecca for hotel bar enthusiasts with its dense concentration of resort hotels and casinos. You’ll be in awe of themed bars scattered around the town — from nerdy taverns to mysterious speakeasies — reminding you why many call it Adult Disneyland.

If you plan to open a cocktail bar, downtown Las Vegas will delight you with its bevy of lounges. Southern Nevada welcomes over 40 million visitors a year, so the competition between barkeeps can get incredibly intense. The high likelihood that most guests are fresh faces also pressures owners to outdo one another with extensive menus of innovative cocktails and creative concepts to magnetize newcomers.

Napa Valley, California

Planning to open a wine bar? Go to Napa Valley — the U.S.’s preeminent wine region. It’s like going on a bourbon crawl in Bardstown or Louisville, Kentucky, to get a sense of what running a whiskey bar is like.

Visiting this area allows you to understand what it means to provide an authentic wine bar experience to connoisseurs and novices — something similar establishments in random urban jungles can’t fully replicate. Napa Valley provides a template of what these places should be. Although every location tries to be unique, you’ll notice they focus on two things — wine tasting and lounging.

Pay close attention to prevailing bar aesthetics and differences in menu contents. Notice how incredibly knowledgeable the staff is and how they behave to impress even the most prolific wine collectors. Recognizing these intricacies can help you see how Napa Valley blends education , indulgence and relaxation to satisfy discerning guests.

Since you’re already in the area, begin networking. Connect with vintners and tell them about your plans. Napa Valley is a tight-knit community, so you won’t be hard-pressed to find local vineyard and winery owners who are more than happy to offer advice.

New York City

The Big Apple has nine professional sports teams — the most out of all U.S. and Canadian cities. A city with storied baseball, football, hockey and basketball franchises and passionately loyal fans naturally has dozens of sports bars worth studying by aspiring barkeeps.

Going out to watch highly anticipated games with fanatic New Yorkers is quite the experience. It can help you wrap around what it takes to serve zealous, intoxicated sports enthusiasts for hours. You can also compare when a local team wins or loses.

While bar fights are uncommon, they may be more likely in an establishment packed with inebriated, emotionally charged patrons. Witnessing a disagreement or brawl in a rowdy crowd can be a blessing in disguise, as you can observe how the management keeps the situation from escalating to prevent property damage and reduce liability.

Try to visit as many sports bars as possible to see their biases based on the games they show. Bigger establishments may gravitate toward more popular teams to generate high traffic. Smaller ones may cater to supporters of lesser-known teams like the Brooklyn Football Club or esports fandoms.

Nashville, Tennessee

Music City, U.S.A., is a must-visit for any aspirant for bar ownership wanting to provide independent artists a platform to perform original music to a live audience. You can’t replicate Nashville’s magic anywhere else, though. The Tennessee capital is the heartland of country music — a uniquely American genre.

The city is home to the Country Music Hall of Fame — and its more than 2.5 million artifacts — and the legendary Grand Ole Opry House. It’s a breeding ground for musical talent, which helped season Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Kenny Chesney, Kelsea Ballerini and so on.

Immersing yourself in Nashvegas and its nightlife can get your creative juices flowing when envisioning your live music bar. For example, this destination can introduce you to the listening room — a relaxed, intimate place where people go to hear and appreciate live performances from undiscovered musical acts.

Honolulu

Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Donn Beach and Trader Vic? Fly to Hawaii. While the pioneers of tiki culture opened their Polynesian-themed bars in California, the Aloha State offers an authentic experience.

A trip to this archipelago in the South Pacific is similar to a visit to a tiki bar — a form of escapism. Such a whimsical establishment offers guests a taste of paradise with tropical concoctions, Oceanic art, cheery tunes and a feel-good ambience.

Although the Honolulu noise and congestion may stress you out, you can explore other cultural adventures to get a real sense of Hawaiian identity and aid your tiki research. Drop by the Iolani Palace to learn about the state’s history and heritage, and dine at restaurants serving dishes that encapsulate the Hawaiian palate. Consider getting a Polynesian tattoo from a proud wearer to discover the deeper meanings behind fascinating tribal symbols.

Book the Right Flight to Get Inspired for Your Bar Concept

Watering holes are ubiquitous, but only a few places symbolize them. Travel to these destinations to lay the foundation of inspiration for your bar.