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Adding entertainment to your restaurant creates a new approach to building profits in your restaurant—with or without a bar. There are so many bands and musicians that are willing to play for little or no money in your community, and according to Eric Obloy of Bambino’s Pizzeria in Waterford, Michigan, the only thing they want is free food and a place to play.
“The bands are mostly from the local high schools,” Eric said. “They pass out all the flyers, invite all their friends, and we charge eight dollars a head for everybody that comes in, and that includes free pizza and sodas.” Eric said they don’t have to worry about underage drinking because they don’t sell any alcohol. But, he says that doesn’t slow the kids down any. “We try to keep it to the younger generation because the older ones come in drunk and we don’t allow alcohol on the premises—the township kills that right away,” he said.
Why Do It At All?
Eric said his dining room wasn’t doing much business before adding music to the menu. “We were a carry-out only pizzeria and we decided to add a dining room, but I just couldn’t get people to sit down and eat,” he said, “So, I went in, built a stage, and the rest is history.” Eric says they’re making over $1,000 on Friday and Saturday nights just by offering live music for the local high schoolers to come out and dance and have fun.
Harry Horner, of Wynola Pizza Express in Wynola Springs, Calif., said he began having entertainment to drive people to his restaurant, which is three miles outside of the tourist town of Julian, Calif. “It started by just having a place for local musicians to play,” Harry said. “We’ve just celebrated our five year anniversary, and the music has just evolved in that period of time so now we’re seeing people coming from all over to play here.” Harry says the music, which takes place on Saturdays, usually draws 65 to 75 people to their restaurant, who normally wouldn’t be there without it. “We advertise in a lot of publications around the community because people are always wanting to know what’s going on since it’s a small town.” Harry said the town of Julian only has about 3,000 permanent residents, and that business is hard. “We cut out the entertainment for a short while last year, and the restaurant just seemed dead. There’s a vitality that doesn’t always translate into dollars and cents in having live music—it’s an advantage,” he said.
How To Find Entertainment
There are endless routes to finding musicians, comedians, magicians, hypnotists, and any other kind of entertainment you can think of. For many pizzeria owners, such as Steve Carey at the Pizza Place in Lafayette, Colorado, it has been a cinch. “They find me,” Steve said. “We have a website, we advertise in newspapers and around town, many of the bands put flyers out, and we’ve become established as a local place with good music. We’ve been opened for two years, and have had live music and entertainment since the beginning,” he said.
Harry, of Wynola Pizza Express, also said, “The musicians come to me. In the beginning you just have to sift through, but with the advent of CD’s, many musicians already have their own music recorded and it makes it easy to find good music,” Harry said.
According to Eric of Bambino’s, they’ve taken the initiative to start a MySpace music page (www.myspace.com) where, he says, they’ve had no problem finding entertainment. “We’re not even paying these guys, and I’ve had over 400 different bands contact me about playing at my restaurant. They’ve been hunting us down like crazy,” he said.
If MySpace isn’t your niche, then there are many other ways to help you find entertainment for your restaurant, such as www.GigMasters.com, an online booking agency available across the country to every restaurant, club, bar, and individual who may be looking for entertainment. “We offer memberships to professionals, restaurants, or anybody who would repeatedly take advantage of our services,” said Kevin Kinyon, founder and President of GigMasters. Gigmasters offers all types of entertainment, from acoustic guitar players to jazz pianists and bands, to magicians and comedians.
What You can Expect to Pay
A good musician will often times have a good price. The price of entertainment can range, depending on the distance of travel, the area of the country (eg. A musician in New York may make $150 an hour while the guy from Arkansas only makes $50 an hour), and the size of the act. Kevin said a pizzeria would probably do best with an acoustic guitar player—ranging from $150 to $200 for two to three hours of music, on average. “Some musicians are anxious to get out and gig, so they may do it for less,” Kevin said. “I think the best thing is if you can find a night that’s good, keep it consistent (say, only on Thursdays or Fridays and Saturdays) and advertise in local publications and use your website and all the available websites out there to publicize what’s going on in your restaurant,” he said. Bambino’s doesn’t pay anything for their musicians—”They get free food and drinks and get to come out, play their music, and have a good time,” Eric said. Harry said their musicians make anywhere from $50 to $150, depending on the size of the group. They always get free dinner and drinks, but Wynola Pizza Express doesn’t charge a cover. “Sometimes, not charging a cover is frustrating because some people will come out to hear the music, and only order a soda,” he said. “But, that’s usually with the more popular groups because the local people always invite their friends and family out, and they always eat good.”
In Closing
So, we’ve investigated what you can do with your restaurant and entertainment: 1. It can raise profits up a thousand dollars a week or more. 2. Finding entertainment is easy 3. You can expect to pay between $50 and $200 for entertainment (or as Bambino’s has done—free food and a place to play) 4. How to go about turning your pizzeria into a fun, energized venue where people can come out and enjoy the ambiance of entertainment and food combined—a sure fire hit with any town that’s in need of something fun to do.
