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Venue "forgot" to comp our food

hrodbert696

hrodbert696

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#1
Played a new house last night, a bar that just opened recently. Big place, seems like they're investing in doing things right, nice stage, in-house sound guy - good spot for us overall.

One thing sticking in my craw afterwards, though. The compensation was supposed to be $500 for the band plus food and two drinks comped.

At the end of the night we get a tab. I got mozz sticks and one beer, which at the rather inflated prices at this place comes to $17. The singer explains that the owner forgot our comps so we have to pay it. $20 with a nominal tip.

I'm doing quick arithmetic in my head. As a 4-piece, my share of the pay is $125, and should have been a total of $145 compensation with the food and drink comped. But with that getting deducted rather than added, now it's $105. So by "forgetting" to comp the band tab, the owner effectively just cut our compensation by about a third - would have been more for my bandmates who ordered actual dinner and the allotted two drinks.

As I said, it's a good room and I'd like to play more dates there, so I don't want to raise too much of a fuss, but doing this on our first gig in the place is putting the owner on my "do not trust" list.

Am I overreacting, have you guys seen similar, or what do y'all make of it?
 
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#5
Depends on the place. I played a decent sized venue (large raised stage, PA, sound person). There was a tip box at the door with a sign to support the band. At the end of the night, they grabbed the box and kept the proceeds (last time I played there).

I would have a civil talk with the owner, and remind him of the agreement. If he balks, you know where you stand with them.
 
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#6
buldog5151bass said:
Depends on the place. I played a decent sized venue (large raised stage, PA, sound person). There was a tip box at the door with a sign to support the band. At the end of the night, they grabbed the box and kept the proceeds (last time I played there).

I would have a civil talk with the owner, and remind him of the agreement. If he balks, you know where you stand with them.
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Same. Once may be accidental, twice is deliberate. Do they not have a known policy? Seems like the employees should know whether or not the food is normally a comp and should not need a specific approval for each band. So that right there is a red flag for me.

I'd talk to the owner and explain that you did not receive what you had agreed to. Let them know you'd like to play there again and you're willing to chalk it up as a mistake. But if it happens a second time (and I bet it will) I would not play there again.

An alternative is to raise your rates to cover the cost of food and tell the owner not to bother with the comp because it is not a policy that's being implemented properly.
 
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#7
Sounds like the BL & manager had an agreement but the servers didn't get the memo. It happens a lot. (I am pretty used to explaining that I'm in the band when I get a beer, then watching the bartender get a little confused.)

I might chalk it up to growing pains one time, but I certainly wouldn't want to let that keep happening.

No comp of any sort is unusual. I'd be OK with it, so long as I know in advance. I also might need a few more $$$ to feel good about coming back to such a venue.

IME most places wind up doing some sort of tab or comp or discount. It makes sense for them to provide an extra $## worth of perceived compensation at ##% cost. And I usually enjoy having the perk. So it's really a win-win.

It is usually a set policy - much easier than negotiating a different deal with each & every band then having to coordinate that with the staff.

They'll figure it out eventually - or go out of business.
 
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#8
Just to be pedantic, you double dipped on counting your losses: You were expecting go home with $125 and a full stomach. You went home with $105 and a full stomach. Or if you prefer you expected a $20 meal for free and dint' get it. Either way you're $20 out, not $40.

If $125 is a good gig for you then no point in burning a bridge for $20, but get them to send you an email next time confirming. Don't get mad, but be careful next time.
 
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#9
Oddly said:
Can't you just contact them and ask them to correct their error?
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The singer is the contact for the venue and I didn't want to cross channels and muck things up. I figured I'd see what the TB reaction was before bringing it up with the band, to see if I was overreacting.

LBS-bass said:
Same. Once may be accidental, twice is deliberate. Do they not have a known policy? Seems like the employees should know whether or not the food is normally a comp and should not need a specific approval for each band. So that right there is a red flag for me.

I'd talk to the owner and explain that you did not receive what you had agreed to. Let them know you'd like to play there again and you're willing to chalk it up as a mistake. But if it happens a second time (and I bet it will) I would not play there again.

An alternative is to raise your rates to cover the cost of food and tell the owner not to bother with the comp because it is not a policy that's being implemented properly.
Click to expand...

The venue is pretty new (opened end of October) and I think that things may still be a little ad hoc. From what our singer said, it was the owner who forgot to comp the checks, which makes it sound like they were supposed to go through him at the end of the night, whereas normally I would expect that it would already be arranged with the servers. I don't know what was up with that. Probably next time I'll confirm the comp with the server before ordering. I agree with you that once is an accident, twice is a pattern. Manchester is a modest-sized city with a limited number of good clubs for a band to play in and this place seems poised to become one of the major ones, so I don't want to raise an unnecessary stink and get us shut out of it right away. But I also don't want to just roll over and let them ignore hiring agreements.

IanStephenson said:
Just to be pedantic, you double dipped on counting your losses: You were expecting go home with $125 and a full stomach. You went home with $105 and a full stomach. Or if you prefer you expected a $20 meal for free and dint' get it. Either way you're $20 out, not $40.

If $125 is a good gig for you then no point in burning a bridge for $20, but get them to send you an email next time confirming. Don't get mad, but be careful next time.
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Yeah, I was debating how to do the accounting on that. I realized one could also get into what the food/drink costs the venue vs. what it costs us retail, whether I would have ordered anything regardless if it weren't getting comped, the fact that I DID get food and drink for my money, etc. I figured one could "double dip" accounting that in the sense that the venue took an amount that should have been part of our compensation and turned it into a charge on us.

And yes - I don't want to exaggerate this. It's a great venue for us to have gotten booked into on the ground floor as they're launching, we got two more dates there and I definitely don't want to burn bridges there. But like I replied to @LBS-bass above, I don't want to just roll over either.
 
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#11
If you had a deal with the owner, but the workers didn't know about it, a gentle conversation with the owner is in order. You're talking about $20, don't turn it into a bigger deal than it is. It's a new place, if you're nice about it, the owner will probably apologize, and you'll likely get another booking, and the crew will be updated on the policy.

Start with the assumption that it's an honest mistake, and you'll make allies. Go in accusing, you'll make enemies. Your call.
 
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#13
I once had a gig in a small bar attached to a very good diner, and part of the deal was we could eat and order anything off the menu, on their nickel. Of course I tipped the girls well, the least I could do.

I tried not to be a jerk and usually ordered breakfast or a cheesburger, but the owner stopped by the table and said, 'you know, you really can order anything, it's fine'. Steak and eggs is just better than bacon and eggs . . . although these days, not really any more expensive. Friday was shrimp night !
 
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#15
I played a room every week for about 20 years where we were comped beers and then after about 10 years, comped food as well. I always was conservative with the food, sometimes I would just get a bowl of curry french fries, maybe a burger now and then. I also played there for a few months with another band, and we all were fed, too.

One night in the last year of the gig, the waiter hands me a check. I'm confused because he's served me many times before over the years. He has me talk to the night manager, a recent hire whom I hadn't met before. She said she didn't know anything about comped food. About a week later I got an email from the manager flaming me for insulting the night manager and we had never been comped food there, who do I think I am, blah, blah.

I told the bandleader that if this was a problem that would cost him the gig, fire me and tell the manager He told me to forget about it. I dropped by the place and apologized to the night manager who said she hadn't felt insulted and wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. I never ate anything there ever again.

Maybe six months later we got fired. The manager was fighting with the owners. They had been telling him to back off, we had made them money for many years long before he was hired, drawing people on what otherwise would be a totally dead night including holding a drinking crowd up to last call. I heard later that he got the boot himself within a year. C'est la vie...:whistle:

Another room I played once was just reopening under new management. The bartender said we would get drink tickets but the manager was off looking for them. While waiting for the tickets she mentioned the old management had beenlosing money comping drinks. She said the last band to play before the place changed hands had run up a drink tab of almost $500. I asked her large the band was and she told me it was a trio :laugh:
 
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#17
hrodbert696 said:
Am I overreacting, have you guys seen similar, or what do y'all make of it?
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IanStephenson said:
If $125 is a good gig for you then no point in burning a bridge for $20.....
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per the OP: i'd get it squared away so that everyone's on the same page and that it doesn't happen again, but i'd let it go and chalk it up to the price of doing business in a place where i'd like to do some continued business. good luck with your gigs and the venue! :thumbsup:
 
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#19
Probably just a mistake with the staff. I think it's an easy one to fix if you just ask if food was supposed to be comped. If so, just say you thought so but weren't. No big deal - just ask if the band leader can reconfirm with the manager and his staff next time. I wouldn't worry about being comped for the meal you bought - not worth the hassle.
 

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