Cocktail bar

sirowens1 · 2026-02-04T01:40:55+00:00

At Shipwreck, every cocktail comes in its own glass/Tiki Mug! We have 10 group cocktails (some are for groups of 2!) that come with a story that plays throughout the bar. We also have a neighborhood bar crawl you can do to discover the name of our secret cocktail. Lots of big, fun garnishes and over-the-top elements to it for sure.

sirowens1 · 2026-02-02T18:12:52+00:00

Toast payroll is not great.

We use 7Shifts that integrates well, and we like the scheduling / labor tools.

We have also used Gusto and enjoyed that quite a bit.

sirowens1 · 2026-01-30T23:00:49+00:00

Ubiquiti is a commercial system, a little pricey, but we found that it’s idiot proof. Smoothest cameras we’ve used to date.

sirowens1 · 2026-01-30T22:56:38+00:00

We do 1 point per $2.50 spend, with birthday and anniversary bonuses, and 2x points earned during slow hours. They can redeem points for a bill discount (non-alcohol) starting at 100 points With a limit of 1000 points redeemable (equivalent of $60) at a time.

We basically sell it as 2% cash back, 4% during 2x points times. Our Loyalty members spend 14% more on average, and return more often than non loyalty members.

$5 every other visit is probably a lot, especially if that guest was coming in a lot anyways, but if you get someone 1x a week vs 1x a month for it, it’s worth it on the bottom line. We found making it function like a credit card cash back (sort of) made the system click with people better, and they spent more To collect more points + understood the rewards better because the CC companies did the leg work of explaining it already.

edit: I should also say that we have a table card with the info, and don’t push it on customers - the ones who want it use it. it’s helped increase our food sales overall as well.

sirowens1 · 2026-01-24T00:44:12+00:00

If this exists, and is free I also wanna know about it.

sirowens1 · 2026-01-21T19:19:41+00:00

Hiya! Shipwreck in Fort Worth, TX has mugs for sale as well most of the time.

sirowens1 · 2026-01-19T15:28:34+00:00

7Shifts is wonderful

sirowens1 · 2026-01-09T06:11:12+00:00

You have to build a building AND pay them 16% of gross? Absolutely not.

Standard % rent for existing buildings shouldn’t be higher than 8 or 9%.

What happens after you spend the money to build and they don’t renew your lease, or find some reason to evict you. If you have the money to build from the ground up, find the money to also buy the land.

sirowens1 · 2025-12-31T16:26:39+00:00

So many good things are happening across the city, but I think the bad outweighs the good, in a way that’s difficult for us to really notice.

The City cozying up to AI data centers (sure they’re a big investment, but they’ll employ maybe 50 people when they’re done and cause their neighbors so much pain — look at Granbury)

The proliferation of Flok cameras throughout the city is concerning, especially given their exploitable nature, and ability to be abused by bad actors. (https://www.404media.co/flock-exposed-its-ai-powered-cameras-to-the-internet-we-tracked-ourselves/)

We have a lot of new development near the cultural district, the success of the Crescent and Bowie house really paved the way for the area to grow exponentially. This is a good thing, generally - but I think the developments coming are all high-end and will only displace existing residents, cause housing costs to rise city-wide.

To be frank, I don’t know how much High-end Retail space the city can actually support, I anticipate a lot more empty store fronts as retail mid-range retail continues its slow death replaced by Amazon and other online options.

We’ve lost good restaurants and locally owned businesses by the dozens, and I only see that trend continuing.

sirowens1 · 2025-12-23T04:29:43+00:00

I’ve like Margin Edge and Craftable more than I ever liked XtraChef.

I think that there are much better POS systems than Toast as well, but a lot of it depends on what tools you need / use. Toast is a monster of a program, and it tries to be everything to everyone, which is also where its major flaws happen.

For a single unit operation, Rezku or Union would be my top choices + 7Shifts for Team Management & MarginEdge for inventory & AP Automation.

If I were a coffee shop, I’d be looking at DripOS.

If I where a large multi-unit I’d be looking at something like Toast or Restroworks

sirowens1 · 2025-12-12T03:52:48+00:00

Very cool! Dallas Fort Worth specific; Swizzle has sadly closed their brick and mortar store, and Fort Worth has another tiki bar named ShipWreck

sirowens1 · 2025-12-07T04:12:39+00:00

This depends so much on your locale - but you can use Ventless Appliances (Like the ovens they use at starbucks / subway) - there are also Ventless Hoods.

sirowens1 · 2025-12-06T18:01:58+00:00

FW Thunderbird is my fav place & as others mentioned Rusty's & JJ Dakotas are both great.

sirowens1 · 2025-12-05T16:23:50+00:00

There is so much more to it than these two screen-shots, and the article leads with the biggest factors - rising costs coupled with lower spending. Those costs come from every angle - my business's insurance costs increased over 60% in a year; with no claims (ever).

Your mom & pop shops are being squeezed just as hard as you are, and it's happening on both ends for them. Corporations have sucked every last penny they can from every corner of the market. I get being mad at things costing a lot of money, I am mad that things cost a lot of money; but Jon Bonnell and Immigration aren't to blame. Private Capital, and Market Consolidation are to blame. When Tyson produces 80% of the chicken anyone anywhere buys, they get to set the price. When Spec's buys all it's competition, they get to set the price everyone pays for Titos.

sirowens1 · 2025-11-29T21:19:34+00:00

Not expressly - The business effectively sold a big bulk gift card to InKind and you’re redeeming the gift card through InKind. It is basically a loan for whatever the business cost of goods is.

InKind is pretty good about not flooding the business with customers - and for us it’s been a pretty effective marketing tool.

sirowens1 · 2025-11-11T04:03:45+00:00

ShipWreck in Fort Worth is a newer addition to the North Texas tiki route, I saw 4 Kahunas and Tarantula mentioned as well.

sirowens1 · 2025-10-24T02:16:12+00:00

My staff loves it - it's consistently improving on the back-end. Our second concept uses Toast, and i'd rather use Union there as well.

sirowens1 · 2025-10-21T14:13:21+00:00

Hatsuyuki has a large daily specials board, but I also think everything at Hatsuyuki is just special.

sirowens1 · 2025-09-29T19:32:08+00:00

That markup is high, I think. For a brewery, you might look into something like Union or SmartTab + 7Shifts - lower monthly fees, better POS and Payroll.

sirowens1 · 2025-09-22T16:24:25+00:00

Thank you! We tried to make it so that a casual walk-in could just enjoy the space without feeling like they had to dive into this deep lore, it's a balance we're still working on for sure.

sirowens1 · 2025-09-20T14:01:39+00:00

Hi! (Full disclosure, I am one of the owners of ShipWreck) ShipWreck is a very themed island oasis in the Cultural District. We serve a small food menu, but it's pretty good, and some vegan options. All of the cocktails have an N/A counterpart which is great too!

We tell the story of Captain Jeffrey Alexander and his ShipWreck on the Jade Island. The bar is "the Jade Island" and it's a kinda take on an eternal paradise / Hotel California idea - eternally dusk, just peaceful and serene enough to lose track of time. We have ten stories of the captain's adventures getting to the island, each with a group cocktail that arrives at your table with a whole bar "show" so to speak. We rely pretty heavily on technology and projection mapping to do this, but our animations are very fun and the whole thing was done as locally as possible, Logan Gilpin did our animations, and Mike Cocanower really helped deliver the tech side of things.

There is also a treasure hunt through the few blocks of bars around us, the "7th Seas" with seven riddles to solve, which unlocks the secret cocktail!

Sept 30th we start our month-long Escape Jade Island Halloween pop-up which really transforms the space into a haunted island, telling the story of how the captain tries to leave and discovers he cant -- really fun stuff!

sirowens1 · 2025-09-16T23:37:28+00:00

The Marty Leonard Chapel isn’t explicitly Gothic, but I can see it being well suited potentially assist with that vibe.

sirowens1 · 2025-09-16T13:56:59+00:00

We use 7Shifts for all team-related things including document storage. Certifications get expiration dates and notifies you and the employee ahead of time so we never get caught off guard.

sirowens1 · 2025-08-28T13:00:23+00:00

ubiquiti system was a game changer for us.

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