The Little Black Bar Book: A Comprehensive Guide To Starting, Owning And Operating Your Own Bar Or Nightclub
Chris Lenahan has been involved in developing, designing, and consulting for the highly competitive Bar/Nightclub industry since 1996! From his humble beginnings with his first company, VISUAL MAGIC  (a company specializing in supplying Audio/Visual support and design), Mr. Lenahan has gone on to work with some of the country?s largest and hottest  Bars/Nightclubs, as well as  the specialists and operators behind the scenes who have created these world famous venues . With over a decade of first hand experience in designing, remodeling, consulting and building as well as installing sound, lighting and video systems in some of the largest night clubs /bars/theaters in the world, Chris Lenahan has become an international success story with numerous magazine and newspaper articles published about projects he has developed/designed and consulted on around the world. In 2001 he was featured in a Nationally distributed Design Magazine for his work with the Designer of Green Valley Ranch Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  In the year 2000, Chris took his intimate knowledge of the industry and began his first trek into bar/nightclub ownership with Freedom Nightclub  (a 10,000 square foot nightclub specializing in world class international DJ?s) in Tempe Arizona. In 2001 with the success of his first ownership venture, he expanded his interests becoming co-founder of the Library Bar and Grill, which was awarded ?Bar of the Year 2001? by Bar and Nightclub Magazine. He has since held interest and ownership of several bars and nightclubs in Nashville TN and Scottsdale AZ. His extensive experience in designing venues from scratch as well as new construction/renovations, venue selection, concept development, and market placement, and construction design/management have given him the insight to be able to design layouts that maximize flow patterns, design elements, and energy points needed for efficient and successful operations, as well as an understanding of standard City, County, and State Code requirements. He has also played a key role in hiring and training entire staffs for new concepts, as well as the marketing and promotional concepts and strategies for bar related entertainment venues, and the instituting of loss prevention systems to detect and prevent theft from staff members.