Sounds like the manager went to the Basil Fawlty School of Business Management.
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Oof…my band just got fired!
- Thread starter Bullitt5135
- Start date
No one is pretending the band or music is the most important thing here but 15 mins wait to be served means a lot of missed revenue on food and drink.
It seems that the current staff set up couldn't cope so the decision is do we employ more staff because we expect a bumper pay day or is that extra staff cost too risky.
Whats the typical hourly wage or hourly take for the bar staff?
It seems that the current staff set up couldn't cope so the decision is do we employ more staff because we expect a bumper pay day or is that extra staff cost too risky.
Whats the typical hourly wage or hourly take for the bar staff?
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
I guess I'm spoiled, being here in Asheville, where our local breweries had local music as a focus even when they got started. And when I say 'got started', I mean in the late 90s/early 2000s. Music has always been a part of their models and they have always managed it well. The places I play would sometimes be packed way out the door - and way over fire code (eek) - and no one complained. Everyone was happy to be there, happy to be enjoying the music and the brews. I guess the point is.... it's all about the attitude and desires of the establishment and management to think ahead and do what it takes to make it work. Now, most of them have expanded to bigger facilities and even built proper stages with good sound systems and engineers running FOH. So when the comments roll through about 'no one wants to work anymore' and 'if you haven't run a business then you have no idea', I offer up that there are many of us who see it done well for close to 2 decades now where employees are paid a living wage or above, work hard and are happy, and the model works out well for the musicians and the business.
Had a brewer friend here tell me that his ASCAP and BMI rates will go up if people dance, so he only wants low-key muzac-type acts. Never heard that before, don't know of veracity.
He said he doesn't stop people from dancing, though, if a 2 or 3 pc bluegrass group gets some certain oldie's toes a-tappin'
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
Had a brewer friend here tell me that his ASCAP and BMI rates will go up if people dance, so he only wants low-key muzac-type acts. Never heard that before, don't know of veracity.
He said he doesn't stop people from dancing, though, if a 2 or 3 pc bluegrass group gets some certain oldie's toes a-tappin'
***? ASCAP and BMI only care that you pay the base fee to license the venue... there is no 'dancing premium'. That's hilarious.
Lol, I thought so too but he knows I'm in a full classic rock band and probably just wanted to discourage me from hitting him up for gigs
I don't think anyone said it wouldn't work. If it is set up that way from the outset, as you are describing, it can work very well. If it is an afterthought and only on rare occasions, then it may or may not work so well and in fact may be detrimental.
A lot of rooms like that here in N. Texas where the fit is mostly acoustic solo an duo acts.
When I saw we had a monthly band-booking at a winery in McKinney, Tx, I thought, "super-low-volume, wallpaper gig". Turned out to be the exception to the rule - an actual listening room with a well-placed dedicated stage where an intimate crowd really gets into what the band's doing. It's now one of my two favorite venues where we play.
Given Talkbass is probably America-centric, I don't think most people got your reference. lol
Being Canadian, I did!!
We had that problem at a couple of venues. They were understaffed, the places were packed and they ran out of beer.
The next time we played, they had plenty of waiter's and bartenders and enough beer. We got paid and the bar made a ton of money.
You did your job by getting the people in. The bar failed to properly staff. This is the venue's problem, not yours.
The next time we played, they had plenty of waiter's and bartenders and enough beer. We got paid and the bar made a ton of money.
You did your job by getting the people in. The bar failed to properly staff. This is the venue's problem, not yours.
Yeah, we in the mid continent get it too. It was a popular thing here on PBS.
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I once worked in a bicycle store next to a gas station where all of us would go to buy candy from the station's vending machine. There were usually plenty of Skybars, Charleston Chews, Necco Wafers, etc., but Snickers bars were often sold out. I asked the young guy who stocked the machine why the Snickers were so seldom available.
He said, "Yeah, those always sell out first, but I get tired of opening up the machine, so I wait until all the others are almost gone to restock them." Another great business decision.
He said, "Yeah, those always sell out first, but I get tired of opening up the machine, so I wait until all the others are almost gone to restock them." Another great business decision.
My grandma was bar owner near Chimay in Belgium and a jazz afficionada, probably the biggest trappist ale brewery out there. She learned the hard way as a barmaid in a jazz club in The Hague in the early 50's then worked for a couple of week-end at Auberge de Poteaupré near the Abbaye de Scourmont Chimay that is the official trappist monks products reseller for Chimay: it's a busy and large venue filled with dozens of families on sundays, so there's live music there.
The number of beer taps at the bar is just insane there, if she mainly do her job with bottles and just 1 or 2 taps, of course there will be big problems on live music events ! And only after that my grandma bought her own venue. The Auberge de Poteaupré bar is organized in 2 areas: the bottles area and the taps+coffee espresso area, 2 different staffs of 2 workers are assigned in each area. Only 4 people, then many many many waiters in the auberge and outside of it in summer time. The waiters know how to use the beer taps of course, so they can switch to the bar area if needed on busy live music nights. Nobody complains, of course.
It's an art to own a brewery + a bar + a restaurant + a music venue, there are plenty of different tasks to master, you have to be a "good" leader, the one that truely teach the employes how to do the job in a nice and enjoyable atmosphere and the one that can do ANY job inside, solve any problem.
By the way, I've also worked as a barman and kitchen help for some times, so I know it when a venue owner is messing.
The number of beer taps at the bar is just insane there, if she mainly do her job with bottles and just 1 or 2 taps, of course there will be big problems on live music events ! And only after that my grandma bought her own venue. The Auberge de Poteaupré bar is organized in 2 areas: the bottles area and the taps+coffee espresso area, 2 different staffs of 2 workers are assigned in each area. Only 4 people, then many many many waiters in the auberge and outside of it in summer time. The waiters know how to use the beer taps of course, so they can switch to the bar area if needed on busy live music nights. Nobody complains, of course.
It's an art to own a brewery + a bar + a restaurant + a music venue, there are plenty of different tasks to master, you have to be a "good" leader, the one that truely teach the employes how to do the job in a nice and enjoyable atmosphere and the one that can do ANY job inside, solve any problem.
By the way, I've also worked as a barman and kitchen help for some times, so I know it when a venue owner is messing.
I have no doubt the bar staff there has an easier time making ends meet than their North American counterparts.
Yes I thought that may be the case. Our British bass playing members will get it though. There's a few fellow Aussies here too.
For the last time, we're not that uncultured here in the states, mate.
Fawlty Towers was a regular run on PBS and is currently streaming on Apple TV.
Ok, well maybe Florida.
And Oklahoma.
And Texas outside of Dallas, Houston and Austin.
But other than that, we're not that uncultured.
Geez, Hire a couple of temp bar tenders to sell cans of beer at high prices out of big cooler tubs. Problem solved.
