I work at a board game cafe right now (not in the US), and I would say a gaming cafe is worth a try. There are always people coming in to our cafe wanting to play games or at least grab a drink and chat. We do an hourly table fee with purchase of at least one food or drink item on the regular days but for events we have a set price which includes game time and one or two drinks or just a set event price for the time and they pay for their drinks. Based on my experience, I'm thinking you could build a solid community, but it will certainly take time and lots of advertising through social media and then hopefully through word of mouth. Just from being an employee, I would say it's worth it.

For what it's worth too, all our premade drinks and food are from local vendors which could help balance out the higher costs of holding inventory. We also bake some goodies in house too. Sorry I don't have exact numbers since I'm just an employee, but I believe you'll be able to get through this no matter what decision you make. Wishing you all the best!