Looking for feedback

[driveby]

Well, for starters, you picked the wrong day. You can't even get in for 2 that day unless you're prepared to come at 5:30 (1 table left), 8:30 (1 table left) or 9:00 (come on down, plenty of room for now).

 

Secondly, our open table is not geared to allow parties of 8 to be reserved on-line.

 

Edit to add: Sorry, scratch that. 5:30 and 8:30 are now gone to. Can I interest you in 9:00?

I thought week days were slow?

[Caveman_Nick]

Well, that's why I ask these questions.

 

I suppose I assumed people would prefer to have their money's worth.

 

 

I think this is where you are falling down a little bit.

 

Most people understand that if they want to monopolize a part of an establishment for a night that they might have to pay for it by renting a room. Not all restaurants do it (Vinny Testas doesn't charge a room fee, but most people can also differentiate from a privately run fine dining establishment and a chain italian place), but it's certainly not a foreign concept.

 

So people are getting their money's worth...they are getting the area for the night. You get free profit, and can worry less about how much time they are their. And they will probably order a lot of beverages....so the server(s) will still benefit. Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

[Caveman_Nick]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but you should charge a flat fee for renting the space. One for weekdays and a higher one for weekends. Then the food would cost what it costs and the tip would be what it would be. You are just covering your arse by charging enough of a fee to cover the amount of space being lost to opportunity while providing your guests with enough privacy to have a good time and conversation. Anyway...that is how they do it where I am from.

 

[Big Country]

You need to understand that my strip club is such that experience has shown me that, if left to his own devices, dude is not going to spend $500 and I'm completely convinced that, should I not let him in, I'm assured of somebody else spending $500.

 

If you leave twiley to his own devices, he'll drop 10 times that much in the first 15 minutes for the first girl he sees with tassels on.

[detlef]

its not what you say but how you say it...Billay said it in a much more palatable manner

Well of course, Billay isn't an a-hole and I am. That has a lot to do with it.

[KevinL]

One last shot here in terms what I mean when I say, "yes but it will cost you"...

So, does this piss you guys off?

 

Honestly, just curious here.

 

I don't like the part where you say "I can't afford ..."

 

Here's a suggestion. Have a "room fee" but waive it if the total check is above whatever amount it needs to be above.

[detlef]

I thought week days were slow?

Believe me, I'll be hearing that very thing this time next week.

 

"Do you think I need reservations for Thursdays?"

 

"Well, it never hurts. What day were you thinking about?"

 

"Oh, this Thursday."

 

"Do you mean Valentine's Day? Well then, yes, I would certainly recommend them. How does 10pm sound?"

[twiley]

If you leave twiley to his own devices, he'll drop 10 times that much in the first 15 minutes for the first girl he sees with tassels on.

Hells yeah.

[Gonkis]

That's a lot of reading, so I skimmed. I definitely don't agree that your customers should be charged 10 cents a copy just because they eat in the big room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Luck. I'm heading to Charlotte/Greensboro on business soon, I'll try the place out if time permits.

 

No effin' pop rocks, though.

[detlef]

That's a lot of reading, so I skimmed. I definitely don't agree that your customers should be charged 10 cents a copy just because they eat in the big room.

Good Luck. I'm heading to Charlotte/Greensboro on business soon, I'll try the place out if time permits.

 

No effin' pop rocks, though.

 

What if I promise not to serve them to you with a soda. There's no threat of getting killed that way.

[H8tank]

Here's a suggestion. Have a "room fee" but waive it if the total check is above whatever amount it needs to be above.

 

 

I guess you missed the name of his place!

[detlef]

 

I guess you missed the name of his place!

H8tank's Nazi Emporium was taken. What can I say?

[TimC]

Can't you just hold their credit card and then decide how much they'll pay afterwards? Seems to be the most logical answer.

[driveby]

Believe me, I'll be hearing that very thing this time next week.

 

"Do you think I need reservations for Thursdays?"

 

"Well, it never hurts. What day were you thinking about?"

 

"Oh, this Thursday."

 

"Do you mean Valentine's Day? Well then, yes, I would certainly recommend them. How does 10pm sound?"

 

I just randomly grabbed that date.

 

Thanks for the heads up tho.

[wiegie]

You need to understand that my strip club is such that experience has shown me that, if left to his own devices, dude is not going to spend $500 and I'm completely convinced that, should I not let him in, I'm assured of somebody else spending $500.

Again, if you are assured that somebody else will come in and spend the $500, then this whole question is stupid. Don't allow parties on weekends and be done with it.

[detlef]

Again, if you are assured that somebody else will come in and spend the $500, then this whole question is stupid. Don't allow parties on weekends and be done with it.

Quite simply because if I can get a table of 20 to spend as much as several smaller tables adding up to, say, 30 people, I make more money than I would if I turned away that large table and took the 30 people broken into smaller parties. Hence setting the minimum at 150% of my check average.

 

None the less, as I eluded to above, experience has shown that nearly all parties that size barely spend even the standard check average so would likely balk at something fancier, so it probably isn't worth even trying to sell them on it and just tell them we can't do it before 8pm.

[wiegie]

Quite simply because if I can get a table of 20 to spend as much as several smaller tables adding up to, say, 30 people, I make more money than I would if I turned away that large table and took the 30 people broken into smaller parties. Hence setting the minimum at 150% of my check average.

So now it's not a matter of breaking-even with a large party (as compared to taking several smaller parties), but of doing even better than breaking-even when you take a large party?

[detlef]

So now it's not a matter of breaking-even with a large party (as compared to taking several smaller parties), but of doing even better than breaking-even when you take a large party?

Why wouldn't it be? The only reason for not just turning away every large party is the fact that you are keeping the possibility open that a large party comes in drops big money. Well. there's that and the loss leader theories people gave but I really don't think the payback justifies the price on those.

 

None the less, not turning my back on an opportunity to make good money on a large party was the primary reason for contemplating option #2. However, realizing the margins are higher on a large party spending a bunch vs. several small parties spending normal amounts is why I would not set the price per person at double my check average even though I'm just as likely to be able to serve 40 people in the party area as 30 should I turn away that 20-top.

 

Tell me you're not implying that there's something wrong with this.

[Atlanta Cracker]

Why wouldn't it be? The only reason for not just turning away every large party is the fact that you are keeping the possibility open that a large party comes in drops big money. Well. there's that and the loss leader theories people gave but I really don't think the payback justifies the price on those.

 

None the less, not turning my back on an opportunity to make good money on a large party was the primary reason for contemplating option #2. However, realizing the margins are higher on a large party spending a bunch vs. several small parties spending normal amounts is why I would not set the price per person at double my check average even though I'm just as likely to be able to serve 40 people in the party area as 30 should I turn away that 20-top.

 

Tell me you're not implying that there's something wrong with this.

 

So basically you want your cake and you want to eat it too. This could lead you down a very dangerous path arriving at the point where you wish you had the problem you currently have again. My advice would be to come up with a straightforward policy that's easy to explain and uderstand that you can apply consistantly. Whatever works 90% of the time is your best bet (ie. no big parties).

 

If you told me no big parties on weekends and then I returned a week later and saw a hugh party stuffing their faces I'd never come back. If you establish a minimum for a large party before 8:00 please drop the explanation - I don't care and frankly any way you have tried to word it sounds greedy. Just tell me there is a $xxxx minimum for parties over 8 on weekends before 8PM and be done with it. I don't give a crap that you only have one area to accomodate that party and that you're trying to squeeze as much $$ as you can from that area. Most people are smart enough to figure that out busineses have to make business decisions.

[keggerz]

So basically you want your cake and you want to eat it too. This could lead you down a very dangerous path arriving at the point where you wish you had the problem you currently have again. My advice would be to come up with a straightforward policy that's easy to explain and uderstand that you can apply consistently. Whatever works 90% of the time is your best bet (ie. no big parties).

 

If you told me no big parties on weekends and then I returned a week later and saw a hugh party stuffing their faces I'd never come back. If you establish a minimum for a large party before 8:00 please drop the explanation - I don't care and frankly any way you have tried to word it sounds greedy. Just tell me there is a $xxxx minimum for parties over 8 on weekends before 8PM and be done with it. I don't give a crap that you only have one area to accomodate that party and that you're trying to squeeze as much $$ as you can from that area. Most people are smart enough to figure that out busineses have to make business decisions.

and the bolded word is also very key

[detlef]

So basically you want your cake and you want to eat it too. This could lead you down a very dangerous path arriving at the point where you wish you had the problem you currently have again. My advice would be to come up with a straightforward policy that's easy to explain and uderstand that you can apply consistantly. Whatever works 90% of the time is your best bet (ie. no big parties).

 

If you told me no big parties on weekends and then I returned a week later and saw a hugh party stuffing their faces I'd never come back. If you establish a minimum for a large party before 8:00 please drop the explanation - I don't care and frankly any way you have tried to word it sounds greedy. Just tell me there is a $xxxx minimum for parties over 8 on weekends before 8PM and be done with it. I don't give a crap that you only have one area to accomodate that party and that you're trying to squeeze as much $$ as you can from that area. Most people are smart enough to figure that out busineses have to make business decisions.

Actually, basically I was test marketing the notion that I may be able to have my cake and eat it too and, thanks to you all, have realized that I pretty much can't. Hence the "no large parties before 8pm on weekends".

[driveby]

Here's an idea.

[billay]

Here's an idea.

That's awesome. I'll never believe that was the waiter communicating with the kitchen. (although there is a lot of foul mouthed banter between fron and back of the house) Those people complained, and the server fired back. It would have been better if the little diatribe was lower down on the ticket.

[detlef]

That's awesome. I'll never believe that was the waiter communicating with the kitchen. (although there is a lot of foul mouthed banter between fron and back of the house) Those people complained, and the server fired back. It would have been better if the little diatribe was lower down on the ticket.

A bartender doing something like this (assuming that it would only be seen by the kitchen) was among a short list of things that added up to me firing them. It was actually a really, really good friend of mine (though nobody there knew that) who got the ticket and was completely cool about it. He only brought it to my attention to save me something like this.

 

When I confronted them, it went something like this, "Oh, I didn't think it would print on the customer's ticket"

 

"Did you have any reasonable reason to think that only the kitchen would see it?"

 

"I guess not, I just figured it wouldn't."

 

"Did you bother to actually look at the freaking ticket to make sure it hadn't before you gave it to them?"

 

"I guess not"

 

"So sending some stupid message to the kitchen was so damned important that you were prepared to risk pissing off one of my customers?..."

 

That's where a just about strangled them.

[billay]

A bartender doing something like this (assuming that it would only be seen by the kitchen) was among a short list of things that added up to me firing them. It was actually a really, really good friend of mine (though nobody there knew that) who got the ticket and was completely cool about it. He only brought it to my attention to save me something like this.

 

When I confronted them, it went something like this, "Oh, I didn't think it would print on the customer's ticket"

 

"Did you have any reasonable reason to think that only the kitchen would see it?"

 

"I guess not, I just figured it wouldn't."

 

"Did you bother to actually look at the freaking ticket to make sure it hadn't before you gave it to them?"

 

"I guess not"

 

"So sending some stupid message to the kitchen was so damned important that you were prepared to risk pissing off one of my customers?..."

 

That's where a just about strangled them.

Oh, don;t get me wrong, as an owner or manager, it's completely unacceptable, and as you said, grounds for immediate termination. Now that I'm on the outside looking in, it's pretty damned funny.