Thread: Restaurants

Restaurant A: Dancers start out at $75 per 20 min. set. After a series of dancers undercutting, currently at $35 for 3 HOURS. 10 minute sets, but you have to be there for 3 hours. Essentially wallpaper.

Restaurant B: Has 2 pro dancers, pays at $25 per 20 minute set, several non pro dancers each night they have bellydance, rates have increased, and as I recently learned gone from $0 to what it is now (still not good) but dancers are treated well, tips collected, etc.

Why is Restaurant B a flourishing and thriving belly dance place, while the other has gone from well paid, excellent dancing, to, um, not so much?

It's driving me nuts.

Different Management?

how is it from a customer perspective?
good food?
good service?
parking?
decor?
location?
there are so many variables that have nothing to do with the dancing. it is really hard to guess.

Originally Posted by kina

Restaurant A: Dancers start out at $75 per 20 min. set. After a series of dancers undercutting, currently at $35 for 3 HOURS. 10 minute sets, but you have to be there for 3 hours. Essentially wallpaper.

A common enough side effect of undercutting.

Restaurant B: Has 2 pro dancers, pays at $25 per 20 minute set, several non pro dancers each night they have bellydance, rates have increased, and as I recently learned gone from $0 to what it is now (still not good) but dancers are treated well, tips collected, etc.

They know that the pay is low, but want to keep who they have. I seriously doubt this restaurant will increase the pay to a reasonable rate whilst there are dancers performing for free. They are obviously management with some kind of conscience but not enough to offer decent pay. $25? That equates to £12 in sterling. They are taking the piss for sure. In the UK, the average lowest pay is around £50 which is $102. I won't take less than £70 which is $150. I'm aghast you guys dance for this amount.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

how is it from a customer perspective?
good food?
good service?
parking?
decor?
location?
there are so many variables that have nothing to do with the dancing. it is really hard to guess.

One difference is that restaurant A focuses on giving American audiences a fantasy Middle Eastern experience, hookah pipes, belly dancers, cushions on the floor, carpets on the walls, etc. It's largely passive entertainment, somewhere people go for something a bit different. Restaurant B, on the dance nights, focuses on providing a party atmosphere for the customers, so it's very interactive entertainment with a large number of regular customers and a lot of repeat business.

Originally Posted by badriya_al_ahmar

large number of regular customers and a lot of repeat business.

add the lower entertainment costs and you have your answer...imo

What Badriya said. Restaurant A is where you go ONCE, for a special occasion. There's no support from the BD community at large, especially if there's been undercutting involved. Restaurant B has a large following in the BD community. Why? Couldn't tell you since it's well known that the pay is crappy. If all the BD'ers who patronized that place refused to dance there or eat there until the rates were raised, I think they'd increase pay pretty quickly.