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I work in an arcade with a fair-sized LAN gaming center (25 systems). You're probably not aiming for the same demographic, but I might be able to offer some help.
Snacks are VERY important. We usually gross more off snacks than we do off computer time. We have a slurpee machine, and it's our best seller. That said, people are pigs, and it can be a hassle keeping things clean. Spills haven't been a problem so far, tho.
Tournaments are a GREAT way to attract new business. What we've done in the past is have an entry fee of ~$5 per person, and have 100% payout, as well as some free computer time (typically an hour or two just for showing up, plus 5-ish for the top few teams/players). They don't make us any money, but we aren't really losing anything either (plus we do HUGE snack sales since people are waiting a lot for their team to play).
Most places will tell you that Counter-Strike is THE game to have. It's an extremely popular game online, but has been around for a long time and is very eletist. We've been pushing Battlefield 1942 and it's been working well for us. The addition of vehicles makes the game much more accessible for newbies who just want to play around for an hour or two. If you're not very experienced with games, you might consider bringing someone on-staff to handle that aspect, since gamers can be picky people.
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