Karaoke Forums

Per the article: http://www.nwkaraokeguide.net/2008%20Fi ... _Mocha.php
Looks like someone is starting up a coffee karaoke place. I wish they had that near where I am. There's a closed coffee place in dowtown Renton called Sleepless in Seattle (presently closed) that would probably make the perfect coffeeaoke place.

[schild=11 fontcolor=000000 shadowcolor=C0C0C0 shieldshadow=1]There's an awful lot of coffee in Brazil....Sluuurp![/schild]

There are a couple of unassociated local KJ's who look for the unusual place to start a new karaoke gig. They go places that other KJ's overlook. They go to places that are not primarily bars. And they like places where they can get started early and finish early. It's a model that works.


We had a long-running show in S Florida at a donut shop that actually has just come to an end, and no one is sure as to why? But the point is, for us in S Florida karaoke isn't necessarily about drunks and bars!

Ive come across a couple of fast food places that had Karaoke for awhile---both were Burgerville fastfood places. Had it on a weeknight. Also Denny's in Canby and Albany, Ore have a karaoke lounge with weekend Karaoke.

There's a topless dancer bar a couple blocks from my house that has Stripaoke on Sunday nights where the topless dancers will dance around you and slither about you as you sing on an elevated stage with the dancer pole right behind you. They used to have a dancer who would come out on stage and pole dance and grind on you wearing a GASMASK!!! NOW THAT'S WAS A GAS!!

In the pic--the girl singing is the KJ. The dancers are on the pole.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

Well, I went to Pizzaoke for the first time Friday night:)

Not a place I would normally go, it was out of town for me and a pizza parlour would not be my hangout of choice for karaoke. But I sure didn't come home smelling like ciggy smoke, and my daughter and 2 grandkids were able to go with.

(i only went cause the KJ is a client and has asked about 4 times... as i said, i wouldn't normally say "hey, let's go karaoke at the pizza parlour")

But for people who don't like the bar scene, or who have kids under 21 who want to tag along, places like that are cool.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Hi Blue, where've you been?

Anyway, one of the gals I alluded to in my previous post who seeks karaoke jobs where other KJ's don't go, started a very successful show at an Italian restaurant. The owner of that place was a "friend", and that's how I first came to meet that KJ. Ironically, that KJ's partner became my mentor as I started to prepare for becoming a KJ myself!

Nice things about that environment
As you said, no smoke
Children friendly and I just get a kick out singing kids
No freeloaders; people are at a table and have to spend money
No drunks
Closer interaction among the customers due to a small size of the venue
Show starts early and ends early

That show became so successful that my friend had to start taking reservations and people were lined up waiting for tables.

i have said this several times here in SS that I have a friend who has one of the most successful shows I have seen. She does her show in a mall. The mall pays her to provide entertainment for shoppers. She starts at 6 and does her show till the mall closes at 9, every Saturday night. She does not have to deal with drunks or bars unless she wants to do shows in a bar once she is finished at the mall. She normally has around 150 people show up for the show. Many of them come every week just to watch and listen.

She has a steady group of singers and anyone who wants to sing in the mall can sign up to sing. Her show has become a major attraction to the mall on Saturday nights. The mall hires local talent to perform during the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday all day long. I have a contract for my band and I to perform there weekly. I really enjoy the crowd we play for and we all really have a lot of fun. Sometimes, if I am lucky and do not have to rush off to play another gig after the mall show, I get to stay at Pams show and enjoy what she does with karaoke. It has become a major meeting place for people who want to make new friends, or visit with current friends.

People actually go to the mall and take their lawn chairs because the mall's chairs fill up early. Stages have been built thoughout the mall for performers to use. The karaoke show as well as my show is always on the main stage (largest stage and greatest seating capacity). All of the stages are set out in the open areas of the mall, not hid in rooms. The singers at karaoke know the stage is used for the paid performers like myself to do our shows on so when they get the chance to go up on the stage, and look out at a crowd of people who are their to listen to them, they get to feel fame for their 3 to 3 and a half minutes.--Mike

Oh, uhhh.... at county. They just let me out;)

True, true about the good reasons for "other than a bar" karaoke.

Denny's used to do a sunday kid's karaoke outdoors on the patio in summer months, it was kinda cool. Always amazes me how good some kids are (tween to teens), better entertainment sometimes than the adults you hear in the bars. (but then again, their not drunk) I think in the next 5-10 years, when all those kids come of age, karaoke is going to get slammed with a lot of really good singers.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I can't see how a COFFE house can have a profitable Karaoke Show.
How many cups of coffee can 1 person drink in a night? I guess if they're $4 cups of coffee ??

That was my thought too. I love the idea because I don't drink, but I just don't see how a place can stay profitable with just coffee being sold.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Regarding coffee houses and profitable karaoke.

Coincidentally, the first place I was going to do karaoke was at a coffee shop. It closed down the week I was going to start. It had been running karaoke two nights a week and one of those nights was its most profitable night of all.

Now, as what happens with many of the topics on this forum, people often get stuck at their personal reference points.

So, let's get beyond that for, at least, "coffee shops". Lonman can tell you how much a coffee shop can make on a large cup of simple coffee as well as on cappuccino and the like.

The coffee shop by me offers:

Tea
Bottled soft drinks and water
Desserts
Green Salads
Panini bread sandwiches
Soup
Salad platters such as chicken, tuna and egg
Wine
Beer
Fruit platters
Cheese and crackers trays
Bagels

These are all simple things to prepare and do not require much of a kitchen. I would call it all "light fare", except for the desserts (if you know what I mean). So... even for those who aren't very hungry there's something anyone can find to nibble on.

Yes, it can work for karaoke and you don't have to get involved with alcohol to partake!

Unless I swing through McDonald's or run in to 7-11, I pay about $4 per cup. Your typical "coffee shop" is not going to be serving your typical "black coffee" drinker. It's more the latte & mocha crowd. (or protein yogurt smoothies, or italian sodas) ... and as ericlater said, usually a panini or atleast a big ol' $3.50 muffin to go along with the cup-of-whatever.

(is it any wonder America's getting fatter? Lol)

We have a recently new coffee shop in town. They have a stage area with open mic night every thursday and a live band once a month. I hang out there from time to time, and from what I can see, business is picking up very rapidly. On music nights, the ladies at the counter are kept hopping.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Even then, I envision people hanging out and tables full. I wouldn't imagine those $4 - $5 blended coffee drinks would be ordered multiple times by the same people. Although the coffee house would serve more drinks and bring in more people than normal, I don't see how throwing a KJ fee into the mix would be worth their while.

Perhaps a mandatory Pay-Per-Song would be a wise scenario for these types of establishments? That way the KJ is paid by the people, instead of eating all the would-be profits. Interesting concept, though. Perhaps a good gig for those KJ's wishing to complete their community service obligations.

Or they could just hire Dr. Fred!

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

No kidding, huh? He would probably make the drinks too.

Yeah, paying a KJ may not be very beneficial to the coffee house.

The place I mentioned, the new music store in town is doing the open mic night (works for them as well as the coffee shop, so that's free)

The bands, I'm thinking, are playing for exposure only. (it's newbie bands)

So, while it's making them a profit, I don't know that I could say it's making enough for them to "pay" for entertainment. But maybe.

And again, we're a small town... and in this day & time lots of small businesses are folding. So, if he's staying afloat being a new guy in town I guess he's doing alright. Like I said before, he is busy on nights he has music there. (both bands and open mics)

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Makes sense. Bands have been playing at coffee houses out here almost since their inception. It works for bands because they can:

A) Practice
B) Promote upcoming shows (of which they usually have to sell a % of tickets)
C) sell CD's and other swag
D) get free coffee!

Not to mention...it's not a bad way to meet chicks. Groupies will follow them anywhere, including coffee houses.

KJ's on the other hand would be hard pressed to find a reason to do this. I don't think I would promote my type of karaoke show at a coffee house. I may end up with 15 different versions of "The Rose".

To the contrary, I'll say once more that there is potential for the coffee shop to offer karaoke, and the one by me most definitely did make money during karaoke!
And, again, we had a donut shop offering karaoke.

It's interesting, how in spite of my two posts on the subject, that some still believe that karaoke cannot work at a coffee shop.

So, truly, how is a coffee shop different from a restaurant? In fact, I grew up in New York, where coffee shops existed long before anyone heard of Starbucks. New York coffee shops, however, are quite different from Starbucks and have full kitchens!

If the coffee venue is big enough and charges appropriately, it can work. Sandwiches have to be priced at $7.95 or more. Bottled beverages have to start at 2.50. Beer has to be at least $4; wine at $6.

The place I am speaking of also had outside seating and provided hookah pipes. I have a harder time figuring out how beer joints charging $2.50 a draft can present karaoke?

It's a simple matter of mathematics, particularly a quantity ratio. How many Latte's is a person going to order?? I don't know of too many people that will sit and sip a beer for 45 minutes. Although there is a good profit margin in coffee, draft beer has an astronomical markup...plus you sell a LOT more of it. It takes me 10 seconds to pour a beer, how long does it take to make Miss Priss' her Non-fat sugar-free mocha frap light on the whip cream with half a scoop of chocolate chips?

I'm not saying that they aren't getting more customers. Clearly if you offer some type of entertainment, you will have people that will stay longer than they normally would have otherwise. I just didn't see how they would be thriving, as you say, while still paying the cost of having a KJ. More importantly, is the amount that the KJ is making enough that most people in this forum would want to do it. I would venture to guess that it is not.

Unless I'm missing something, I would say that karaoke attracts people there, and they are repeat business even when karaoke is not there. Much like a loss-lead mentioned in another thread. I'm still not convinced that they make a lot of money strictly when karaoke is there as opposed to any other night when it would be one less overhead to subtract. I'm in agreement, however, that the karaoke gets people in the door, and those people will return.

It's like a person that opens a stand on the corner that gives everyone $1 for $.90 in change. When asked how they make money, they will tell you it's because they do it "in bulk". They will get lots of customers too.

I think it's cool that the owner of the coffee shop trusts you enough to let you do his books for him! You guys DID pay the KJ with Earth money, right??

I've been to empty lots where some packed restaurants and bars used to be. They are closed now, but boy were they busy! Crispy Cream used to be packed every day too, now I can't even find one.

Man, and book stores, too! Now THAT'S the place to get a karaoke gig! Lot's of people would hang out there! I see them all the time reading for free. We could get even MORE people in there reading for free. Perhaps someone might even get nestalgic and actually buy a book. I can't remember which one is closing half their stores...Borders, or Barnes & Noble? Karaoke might save them.

Okay, Mike you're right. The guy had karaoke at his coffee shop twice a week and never knew how much money he was losing every time he did!