Felipe’s Bar, Part 2

One reason friends and family suggested we keep the bar here was the upcoming World Cup games. Soccer, beer and a big screen – why wouldn’t there be a huge opportunity for income?

Three words: no night games. Since the Cup is being held in Germany this year, the time difference means all the games are daytime games here. The first game of the day is around 10am, the second around noon, the last one around 2pm. Now, in the States, I could imagine soccer fans taking time off work, maybe taking a long lunch, or calling in sick so they could hang out at a bar to watch the game.

Here in Tuxpan, going to a bar to watch a game just isn’t the thing to do, especially during the day. People will take time off from whatever they are doing, but they would rather stay at home or go to a family member’s house to watch the game. If I had known the games would all be during the day back in April when we were trying to decide what to do, I would have had no problem dropping the bar. As it is, we made the right decision anyway. Now it’s Felipe’s turn.

Felipe is doing what he can to get people in the bar. There is a big sign above the gates announcing the bar will be open for all the games – starting at 9am. He is probably announcing around town too. But I’m guessing he’s losing money worse than we were. Karma is a bitch.

Luis has calmed down a bit about it all. For the most recent Mexico game we were getting some last minute supplies in the center and ran into a few people who were going home to watch the game. They still thought that we were running the bar because they asked if it was open. Luis, in a gesture of good will (I guess) said yes it was open, “vamos al bar” (come to the bar). It’s much more than Felipe deserves, and I said so to Luis. I’m not sure he still feels that way as he didn’t respond.

But it’s true.

Is he making money or not? I have no idea, but I’m sure he’s getting a taste of what it’s like to run a business – the good and the bad of it.