Okay, so I talked to my mum, who's a master of all things buisnessy. And she built a multi-million dollar software corp., so I think she knows what she's talking about. She says the two biggest things about starting a buisness are getting an accountant, and ensureing you have the capital. Try to get your most succesful competitor to tell you who is their accountant. Secondly, calculate the maximum amount of cash it will require to start your buisness. Then double the amount. That's how much you actually need. Additionally, be prepared to starve for a year, becuase for the first few months your losses are going to be greater than your proffits.

Ask your mother to invest in your business. Even though it is a family investment, she is a businesswoman. If your plan is good, and it looks like it'll make money, she gives you what you need, you double it, and pay her back with good interest.

Jose this is a great sign, this guy is Scared. He is afraid that you will steal his buisness, and he does not like that. Here is what you do, don't go in person and don't say that you are starting your own buisness. Call them, say you are with Gallup or the Better buisness bureau,(I know, I know, Sneaky) and then ask them about the demographics and their customer bases. Also, resturants will be a great resource for your information.
IF you want, You can send me a copy of the buisness plan, and I will look it over, because it has to be written in GAAP, (generally accepted acounting principles) much like a term paper, and I can edit it a bit for you. For the purpose of keeping your idea proprietary, mail yourself a certified letter, because those dates can be used as the inception of an idea and are admissable in court for anyone that steals your idea. Again, I am pulling for you. Call me later if you want and we can chat a bit more about this.

Working on both. The contractor I'm working with is referring me to his CPA who is also an attorney. Supposedly he's kinda pricy, but he knows his shit, which is what I want.

As far as the capital, the business plan is coming along. Really pushing for a Friday or possibly Thursday submission.

Minor problem with this: no actual competitors. We have comic shops, D & D facilities, and coffee shops. I'm not quite in the same category as a game shop/cafe/juice bar/novelty shop. This is both my largest advantage and my biggest issue to overcome. I have to forcast my profits for the next two years, and I have no existing business model to ask.

Working on it, boy am I working on it. We'll probably be borrowing upwards of $100,000, but I won't know until at least Wed.

Thanks for the advice.

Heh, kinda wish I could. Hard to ask my mom anything when she's on disability. You've got me and Rezero mixed.

And Space Pope, really sneaky. I might just resort to those kinds of tactics if worse comes to worse. As soon as I have my business plan, I'll forward it to you to give a look-see. I'll probably call you sometime tomorrow night if all goes well, and thanks for all the advice man.

Jose'

Ah! Inspiration. Would it be difficult/expensive to get television (cable, satellite, whatever) available in your shop? You could show stations like G4 (Which covers E3 every year), and try and stock videogames that appear on the TV. After all, people always listen when the almighty box of vision and sound tells them to buy something.

I don't know if TV is as powerful as the internet and the variety it represents...

What? I thought this was supposed to be a game cafe, not an internet cafe. He doesn't need variety within a single medium so long as he has alot of different mediums-

Now I don't even know what i'm saying.

Personally, I prefer mine medium-rare....

I would think that the person on the internet picks and chooses games based on their personal preference and G4, though significant, wouldn't make a difference for the games that people already read about.

I would never enter a store that broadcast G4 for any reason other than mystery science theater style mockery.