There are plenty of good startup ideas floating around these days, but one you may not have considered is a video gaming café. If you’re looking for a great new investment idea, opening a video gaming café could be the perfect option.
Why Invest in a Video Gaming Café?
A video gaming café, as the name suggests, caters mostly to video gambling and can generate huge amounts of revenue. Here’s how they work:
Customers come to video gaming cafés to hang out, eat and drink, and try their luck on the video gaming terminals (VGTs) or video slot machines. The owners of the video gaming café profit primarily from the slot machines at the café.
Video gaming cafés in Illinois also need a liquor pouring license, so serving alcohol is another potential revenue stream.
If you’re wondering how profitable these video gaming cafés can be, the answer is VERY. The Illinois VGT industry generated over $2.4 billion in revenue in 2021.
And strong revenue is just one of the benefits of investing in video gaming cafés.
Benefits of Opening a Video Gaming Café
Increased Foot Traffic
The most important (and most difficult) task when opening any new establishment is actually getting people through the front door. If you can’t get any customers to come in, then you won’t be making any money. Luckily, video gaming cafés easily attract new customers with their bright lights and the allure of winning money. You’ll have no problem increasing foot traffic when you open up a new video gaming café.
Plenty of Variety
Ever hear a business claim that it “has something for everyone”? Well, that’s actually true when it comes to video gaming cafés.
These cafés have a wide variety of different machines and games to cater to everyone’s tastes. Even those who aren’t interested in playing the games can still come to hang out with friends and have a good time. Any one of them could be a potential customer!
Attract New Customers
People are just drawn to slot machines. They’re bright and fun and who doesn’t like the chance to win money? When you add slot machines and other video gaming terminals to your location, more people will be inclined to stop by. You’ll end up with an influx of new patrons who come for the video gaming and stay for everything else your establishment has to offer. Video gaming cafés are simply a great way to attract new customers.
Boost Customer Loyalty
Once you have those new customers, you’re going to want to keep them coming back. The good thing is that video gaming cafés are one of the best businesses for increasing customer loyalty.
Humans thrive on routines. We like developing patterns and repeating them over and over. It makes life easier and more manageable. Business owners can take advantage of that.
When customers start rolling into your new video gaming café and enjoying themselves, it can quickly become part of their weekly schedule. They’ll want to keep coming back on a regular schedule to have a good time at your establishment. It’s a win-win for you and your customers!
How to Open Your Own Video Gaming Café
If you’re interested in enjoying all these benefits and opening your own video gaming café, here are the steps you should follow:
- Envision your café
Just like with any other business, for your new video gaming café to be successful you need to clearly articulate your brand and target customer demographic. Do some more research into the industry to decide what kind of customers you’re going to try to attract. All different kinds of people across many age groups and professions enjoy video gaming so you have plenty of options.
- Look for a Location
You’ll want to set up your new video gaming café in the ideal location for attracting your target demographic. Picking a location in a high foot traffic area can increase the likelihood that your customers will decide to go to your video gaming café.
But there are other factors to consider, too. You have to be aware of any laws and restrictions imposed by the municipalities where you are considering opening your café. The Illinois Gaming Board has more information on laws on video gaming cafés in each municipality.
- Apply for the Necessary Licenses
As mentioned previously, to open a video gaming café, you’ll need to acquire various licenses including a liquor license and a video gaming license, depending on your location.
Without these licenses, you won’t be able to legally operate a video gaming café. Start the application process as soon as possible to avoid any costly delays.
For more help with any step in opening a gaming café, contact Universal Gaming Group today.
