Thread: Gaging the rate

There are a couple of threads here discussing pay and demand at restraunts...

While I agree it's difficult to gage how much additional sales/patronage a dancer contributes - they DO bring extra $$$ and clientele to an establishment. Simple proof being that the restaurant keeps dancers on.

I know this because I used to own a restaurant - and if entertainers weren't a good draw, they didn't get asked/kept on... And sure, some of those patrons returned other nights (great food/atmosphere/location/etc) but I def noticed that I had higher $$$ nights anytime I had entertainment (so it was worth it).


A simple way to gage the draw of a dancer (provided it's not an every night thing) is to ask to view/compare their numbers for nights that have dancers vs. night that don't.

Another simple way would be to place comment cards on tables...
these cards can ask a customer to either check a box (multiple choice) or write why they came in that night. The multiple choice would offer
Came in because of food
Came in because of prices
Came in because of entertainment

and perhaps a yes/no/maybe selection on returning another night that did not offer entertainment


You could also place a grading system (like circle 1-5 with 1 being not likely, and 5 being absolutely) asking:
Did they enjoy their experience at the establishment
Were they satisfied with their meal
Were they happy with menu selection
How about entertainment


Just a couple of ideas here...

Originally Posted by Chandra

There are a couple of threads here discussing pay and demand at restraunts...

While I agree it's difficult to gage how much additional sales/patronage a dancer contributes - they DO bring extra $$$ and clientele to an establishment. Simple proof being that the restaurant keeps dancers on.

I know this because I used to own a restaurant - and if entertainers weren't a good draw, they didn't get asked/kept on... And sure, some of those patrons returned other nights (great food/atmosphere/location/etc) but I def noticed that I had higher $$$ nights anytime I had entertainment (so it was worth it).


A simple way to gage the draw of a dancer (provided it's not an every night thing) is to ask to view/compare their numbers for nights that have dancers vs. night that don't.

Another simple way would be to place comment cards on tables...
these cards can ask a customer to either check a box (multiple choice) or write why they came in that night. The multiple choice would offer
Came in because of food
Came in because of prices
Came in because of entertainment

and perhaps a yes/no/maybe selection on returning another night that did not offer entertainment


You could also place a grading system (like circle 1-5 with 1 being not likely, and 5 being absolutely) asking:
Did they enjoy their experience at the establishment
Were they satisfied with their meal
Were they happy with menu selection
How about entertainment


Just a couple of ideas here...

If you're comparing nights w/entertainment vs nights without how do you factor marketing in? How much is the restaurant doing to promote the entertainment and then how much time to allow for that marketing to take hold?

~~Kimahri

I initially read the title of this thread as "gagging the rate" and was expecting it to be something more along the lines of someone choking off rate increases or something.

Anyhoo...yeah, you could do something to try to gauge and quantify the effects of the entertainment, but a couple things:

* Kimhari's point is a very good one--you need to give time for marketing of the entertainment to take hold. Entertainment may be successful the first day (because the person/group's friends all come in to the new venue) but overall, it won't be successful right away--takes a little time for the marketing to work with the GP.

* It's not strict cause-effect. Dance dorks like us and our students will come specifically for the dancing, but you can't lose sight of the fact that people go to a restaurant for a dining experience...which may include dancing, but that's almost never going to be the leading thing. If the food absolutely sucks, or the prices are just untennable, or the service is awful, people aren't going to go no matter how much they love the entertainment.

* You also may need to consider...sometimes a somewhat well-known dancer or dancer with reasonably good local marketing vehicle of her own can be, in and of herself, good marketing for the restaurant and not just on the nights that the restaurant has entertainment. For example...dancer A starts dancing at a new restaurant...she appears in ads for the restaurant and she puts the restaurant's info on her website. People who recognize her face or who know her from other experiences take more notice of the ad among other ads (because they see a familiar face) or they see info on her web and take the fact that she's dancing there as something of an endorsement, so they go check the place out for lunch or dinner sometime, even if it's not at a time she's dancing.

* Dancing and entertainment --the increase in business isn't always numbers of bodies in the door; often it's ticket amount. (I.e., the table sits down to dinner, they're enjoying the show, so they have another drink or order another appetizer or maybe decide to get desert and coffee or a hookah after dinner to hang out a little longer.) Your survey isn't going to get at that at all. Even if you ask--your average customer isn't aware that he or she changed behavior based on the entertainment, it just happened.

I think you can potentially survey people to see if they like the dancing/entertainment, whether they realized you had dancing/entertainment, whether they'd recommend it to others etc., but you need to be very carefull about making the correllation/causation error.