Today’s show features Alex Moore. Alex is the chef and board game manager at Bampot, a board game cafe in Toronto. Bampot, or the full version: Bampot: Bohemian House of Tea and Board Games is a trendy place that offers loose leaf tea, vegetarian and vegan food and board games to their patrons.
Bampot is one of many board game cafes that have popped up in recent years. In this episode we talk about what makes Bampot different from other board game cafes as well as explore the operations side of the business. Many LGS owners have expressed an interest in incorporating a cafe into their business model so today we are going to dig into the business from the other side, start with the cafe and then add in the LGS and see how it plays out.
If you want to get a better understanding of the food and cafe side of a games business, this is a good episode for you to check out.
Over the course of the episode we discuss:
- Bampot's unique style that attracts customers and turns them into fans.
- The board game cafe model in general.
- Creating programs tailored towards your local community.
- The obstacles board game cafes encounter during the first couple of months of being open.
- Creating a library of games if you're not a board games person.
- Tips and tricks for operating a popular board game cafe.
All that and more in this week's episode of the Manaverse Podcast. Check out Bampot on Facebook and online, and if you liked this episode, check out last week's episode where Aaron Tillman tells the story of how he started building his LGS with $500 and a laptop and has grown to nearly $10 000 in inventory in only two months.