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Entertaining in the South
The Breakroom in Montgomery, Ala., Is Sinking the 8-Ball and Setting New Standards
In the Deep South, ages of bar fights, busted beer bottles and moths
running kamikaze missions into dim lightblubs through a haze of
cigarette smoke, many of them are not places you would take your
retired grandfather to grab a burger and a game. When Rick Barber and
his wife Lithia moved to Montgomery, Ala., in 1999, his love for
shooting pool sent him on a hunt for a good place to pick up a game.
When he couldn’t find one, he decided to open his own.
The Breakroom opened in 2003 with 6,800 square feet of space, and
it has become, according to Rick Barber, “a chameleon in the
entertainment industry.”
“When I moved here back in ’99, I was a big pool fan. But no where in
town had good equipment,” Barber says. “I approached some places in
town to try and upgrade their equipment, since the APA (American
Poolplayers Association) has a big presence in town. But no one was
interested in doing that.”
Barber set out to fill a niche in Montgomery, and he opened The
Breakroom with 12 Diamond Pool Tables, custom lighting, food, cold beer
and an instant group of regulars.
The Breakroom would not remain a standard pool hall for long.
Barber eventually shut the place down for a few weeks and began adding
other forms of entertainment as well. “It was diversifying our
entertainment offerings that really caused our business to explode,”
Barber says. “Now, it is like a mini Dave & Busters or Jillian’s.
That is kind of the approach I have taken with it.
“Pool halls in the South have a bad connotation, and we do everything we can to offset that.”
High-End and Laid Back
Fostering a sense of community inside, The Breakroom is open from 4
p.m. until 2 a.m. seven days a week, and it draws a crowd.
“On the inside, the biggest thing we are known for is how clean,
neat and professional we are,” Barber says. “There is tons of neon, and
everything is higher scale. There is plenty of room between the tables
and plenty of seating. To the right of the room, we have four 10-man
poker tables with free, no-limit Hold ‘Em tournaments. In the back,
right-hand corner, we have a free Internet café, which includes six
computer terminals with games and Wi-Fi as well. People can check
e-mail, get on MySpace or whatever.
“We have also been using the computers to register people for our poker tournaments.”
The wrap-around bar seats 35 and offers both Buzztime and four
MegaTouch machines. While many reading this might be mentally
calculating the staff it would take to run this type of venue, Barber
only employs eight people, with two bartenders behind the bar each
night and two servers on the floor.
“We have a handful of patrons that are barflies,” he says. “We comp
them drinks and food for running the poker tables. The staff steps in
on special events, and the dart and pool leagues run themselves.
Because anyone can walk in and never spend a penny and still win the
money, none of it is considered gambling.”
Creative Thinking
Barber’s creativity stretches beyond a deck of cards, chalk and a
pool cue or two. Simply sitting at the bar means action at The
Breakroom. There is a roulette-type wheel behind the bar for instant
promotional pull. Each seat has a designated number affixed to the bar
top. When someone orders a drink, the bartenders spin the wheel. If it
lands on that number, that customer’s drink is free.
Another fun aspect is the yellow strip running around the bar
called the refill line. When a customer puts the empty bottle or glass
up on the refill line for a refill, the wheel is turned once more. The
number it lands on equals a free refill for the corresponding patron.
Garnering the most enthusiasm is Nintendo Wii. “We just added it
about six weeks ago,” Barber says. “The Wii itself is only $250.”
To add appeal, Barber set the game up to run on a 100-inch
projection screen. Patrons can enjoy the handheld video game for $8 an
hour with up to four players.
In just a few short weeks, the money from game rentals has s
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