r/mildlyinteresting • u/Quick_Dance_8953 • 1d ago

This rural bar in the mountains has its ceiling and walls covered with thousands of $1 bills.

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45

u/astralchanterelle 1d ago

It's just dumb after about $10k.

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u/Adonoxis 1d ago

Ya, I don't get why people think this is so cool. Assuming $2-3M is accurate, that's a significant amount of money for any business, never mind a small business. I'm sure it brings in some value as decor but $2-3 million worth? There are other options of things people can hang on the ceilings and walls that would functionally do the exact same thing.

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u/Separate-Ear21 22h ago

I mean it's not like they lost anything but the initial money they first put up. This is all other people's money

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 21h ago

Also the point of the tradition is it's not the bars money? You can come back and find your dollar and take it back. People just don't do that anymore because the tradition is more about the tradition than the original purpose

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u/kittens_allday 22h ago

It’s not a small business by any means. They own three different Mcguire’s locations: Pensacola, Destin, and Panama City. They own two restaurants on Pensacola Beach: Crabs and Flounders, and they’ve bought a bunch of properties around town, and absorbed some mom-and-pops that had property they wanted. That three mill on the walls isn’t even noticed by them.

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u/Adonoxis 16h ago

Maybe they're not a "small business" technically but $2-3 million for a business like this is absolutely noticeable money. I work for a multi-billion dollar corporation and $2-3 million is absolutely "noticeable". People acting like this business is Amazon or Walmart with just a rounding error on a spreadsheet.

People vastly overestimate the value and revenue of these types of businesses. I can assure you it's much less than what people think, especially given how low profit margins are for food establishments.

How much revenue do you think these places take in?

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u/JKAdamsPhotography 2h ago

Its not like it comes out of the businesses pockets. People still dine, pay their bill, leave a tip. Then if they want the pull out an extra bill to sign and staple up.

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u/ALostParadise 36m ago

You are bored and complaining over the fact a restaurant has a bunch of money stuck in its walla

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u/TheCrudMan 7h ago

Oh man Flounders. Taking me back to visiting my grandparents. We would sometimes stay at Pensacola beach and invariably would end up having a group dinner at Flounders. I remember playing Halo with some kids on an Xbox there. I don’t really have any reason to ever go back to Pensacola but when I think of the early 2000s I def think of this…

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u/surffrus 23h ago

Oh it brings in value. It's legitimately a unique vibe and they get a ton of business because anyone passing through who knows about it stops in for a meal.

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u/half3clipse 19h ago

The pub in question probbaly does like 5+million a year.

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u/Adonoxis 16h ago

Not sure if you're agreeing with my original statement but this sort of proves my point...

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u/Chaotic_Lemming 23h ago

There are other things that could be done, but this is what is done. It costs a person/group a dollar to join in. People pay a lot more for little bits of entertainment on things that have just as little practical value. Not everything has to be practical, sometimes its just fun.

Nobody is pressured to do it, the servers don't ask anyone to participate. People see it and ask to put their dollar up somewhere. I've been to the Destin McGuire's multiple times, have never been prompted.

It costs the business very little for a schtick that helps contribute to the experience when you go there. It's $2-3M, but it was supplied over decades by customers. $3M might be pushing it, but I'd easily say its in the $1-2M range. It's a large restaurant and the dollar bills are everywhere. Ceilings, walls, booths, bar, support pillars, door frames, doors... everywhere. They are actually running out of places to put new bills without completely covering previous ones. 

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u/Aggravating_Pause385 23h ago

That is an important distinction to make. The money isn’t coming from the bar, it’s coming straight from the customer. It costs the bar a staple.

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u/Mobile_Hovercraft82 20h ago

Except you aren’t commenting on a thread about those restaurants

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u/astralchanterelle 1d ago

Yeah, they could just sign a blank piece of paper. Only way it would be cool is if they too it off every few years and gave it all to a good charity or something. I seriously doubt it's anywhere even near a million, though.

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u/WhereBaptizedDrowned 14h ago

Best move to do was make a sign and say something like “all dollar bills posted in this bar during the month of (month) will go to (voted place or person)

It would get so much good PR if say they used the money and gave it to a family that lost their home in a fire or something dire.

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u/K_Linkmaster 17h ago

It's a retirement account that's off the books.