How much does it cost to open a bar in Ghana?

Answer 1

No idea. I had a friend named Asiedu that immigrated to the US from Ghana that thought he could be a wealthy man there if he could manage to get a commercial ice machine back there and sell ice.

Answer 2

Mixed drinks

Answer 3

Earlier I answered you other question about working in Ghana so I guess you must be quite keen on the idea of moving there. And who can blame you for wanting to live in what must surely be one of the friendliest countries in the world.

Anyway - the cost to open a bar would depend on many factors. A Ghanaian bar in it's simplest form consists of nothing more than a rough framework made from branches with a bit of grass thrown on top for shade, the total cost would be a few hours hard work plus a few dollars for some bottles of beer. If you were to brew your own pito or palm wine then it wouldn't cost a thing.

These types of 'bars' can be found dotted alongside the roads and when I was in Ghana we regularly stopped at one on the road to Aburi. It never did much trade and sometimes we'd be there for a couple of hours and no-one else would stop by. By nature these are transient and after a storm the 'bar' is liklely to be blown away and reappear somewhere else.

A more permenant structure needn't cost much at all - one of the bars we regularly visited was constructed around a huge tree trunk, the structure itself consisting of nothing more than nailed together timber and sheeting with a tin roof. The structure being of little consequence as it served only as somewhere for fridges and storage - all the seating being outside and underneath the shade of the tree. The building probably cost less than $100 to erect and the land may have been somewhere in the region of $1,000 to $3,000 on top of that there'd be the cost of stock and fridges - perhaps in the region of $5,000 all told. This particular bar was popular and typically had 50 to 100 people at any one time. It was located in 37 (an area of Accra) and more or less in it's own space - unlike pretty much everything else which is squeezed in amongst thousands of other stalls and traders.

If you're looking at what Americans of Europeans would describe as a bar then the costs are going to be a lot more and you're looking at building somewhere that has air-conditioned indoor seating as well as outdoor seating and includes proper toilet facilities (most bars don't have toilets - you just go wherever and nobody bats an eyelid). Such an establishment would almost certainly need to sell food so you'd need kitchen facilities and staff. A nice place that wouldn't be out of place in New York, London, Rome etc could be somewhere in the region of $100,000 to $200,000 - the same building being constructed in America or Europe costing 5 or 10 times as much.

The bottom line is that it costs as much as you want to spend.

Many bars are only temporary and are often sited in front of the building line (alongside the street), this land belongs to the Highways Authority and the buildings are unauthorised, technically they could be demolished at any time but this rarely happens - this would be a cheaper option than getting official approval for a building, buying the land and building a solid structure.

If you are serious about this then you'll probably want to enter into some kind of arrangement with one of the major drinks companies - they'll provide their beer at a reduced price and provide signage, glasses, glass covers (keep the flies out), tablecloths etc. Such companies include Star, Club, ABC, Gulder, Guiness etc.

The location will make a big difference to land costs - something in Accra (city as opposed to region) will be many times more expensive than the same plot of land on the outskirts of Accra which in turn will be more expensive than on the outskirts of other cities such as Tamale or Kumasi. Likewise if you look at setting up a bar in the north of the country costs will fall even further.

A cpouple of things to bear in mind are that bar owners in Ghana work long hours (perhaps 10am to midnight) and don't make large amounts of money.

A lot of bars are owned by one person and run by someone else. Several of the people I was with were doctors, hospital administrators etc and it wasn't unusual for them to own a bar. If you have spare money in Ghana you either invest it in cows or buildings - investments as we know them (banks, stocks etc) are all but non-existent.

If you are serious about setting up a bar then e-mail me as I know several bar owners in Ghana and might be able to get more specific info for you.

Regarding the answer about the ice machine - I don't think this is a viable option as ice is very easy and cheap to come by. Most streetside vendors that sell drinks have ice coolers as do the water sellers and 'Fan Boys' (boys that push carts selling Fan Milk products including ice cream).

Regarding your previous question about surviving on $400 a month - it depends how you want to live. Very basic hostel accommodation can be had for about $2 a night, $7 if you want something a bit better that has air-con. Food is cheap, a basic Ghanian dish of fufu or banku with soup will be about $2 - $3 but if you want something more Western such as prawns than it's about $10 a dish. Clothing and footwear is cheap, a good quality shirt being about $6 and a about $8 for a pair of sneakers you'd pay $80 for in the US.

Transport by STC (State Transport Corporation) over long distances is cheap - Accra to Bolga is about 1000km and costs about $25, MMT (Metro Mass Transit) has fixed fares and from say Adenta to Medina (regions of Greater Accra) would be about $0.25. The trotro is even cheaper but usually involves 30 people squeezed into a mini-bus held together with bits of rope.

Fuel is expensive - Shell was 9344 cedis a litre last week (about $4 a gallon) so driving by taxi or private car costs a lot.

Being realistic, $400 isn't a lot - you could get by and manage to pay for basic food and accommodation plus the essentials but would have to make some sacrifices. You could probably get by on half of that but would have to live the lifestyle of an average Ghanaian.