Karaoke Forums

What is the least a customer should spend at karaoke in order for a venue to afford karaoke. I know this has a lot of variables attached to it, but say the place can hold 100 people. My venue claims that they don't make any money on karaoke nights even when the place is 100% + full all night as shown in the picture. On top of this is that this place is a restaurant and a large percentage eat dinner there. The wait staff is very happy at nights end. Are the owners blowing smoke?

100 people x $10 = $1000
100 people x $15 = $1500
100 people x $20 = $2000
100 people x $25 = $2500
100 people x $30 = $3000

I don't think my wife and I have ever attended a karaoke show ever where we didn't have a $100 tab though. We eat, we drink, we support, we have a good time. For a couple years now, I have made a conscious effort to "pay the KJ fee" at places where there host and show are really good. That means my tab is usually $150 or more.

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-Chris

Chris, we all need a LOT more of you in the venue. My usual tab is around $50 bucks with a tip. I am not a big drinker (2-3 beers) and my wife has zero to 1 cocktail, and to add to that we are pretty light eaters. We always go to karaoke at least once a week so it can really add up to a lot of money at year's end. I have a very large group of regulars that have similar spending habits, and a few spend like you do.

I always support the venue that has karaoke..

And if the host does not have the disc/song I request, I buy it and give it to him/her.

GF and I usually 4 to 6 drinks a night between us + tips to the bartender and minimum $5 ea to the KJ (More or less - depending on quality of drinks and #songs sung and KJ professionalism)

I go to karaoke about once a month these days with my schedule. The exception being that I attend our own shows more regularly but usually just to check things out and do relationship management and in those cases I don't drink.

I am hoping that will change though with my new day job..... (separate thread).

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-Chris

Chris:it's too bad for me you don't live in Alberta. I would love to pay you to be my agent *lol*


As it stands I pay what I can afford, which usually works out to a pitcher of cranberry juice mixed with club soda for $8 plus tip.

At the beginning of the month when I get most of my money, I usually get something to eat as well. Very rarely will I order nothing, but it does happen.

-James

Two years sgo at the Mobile Beat Karaoke Summit a presenter (from Milwaukee I believe) presented the formula he uses to justify his price. Hal correct me if I got this wrong...

Count the singers using your hosting software. Multiply singers X 2 (allowing for fact some bring non singing friends.) If Bob sings 4 songs or just 1, Bob counts as 1 singer.

Multiply that number by a dollar amount based on day of the week. Obviously more drinking gets done on the weekend.

Sunday $10
Monday $11
Tuesday $12
Wednesday $13
Thursday $14
Friday $15
Saturday $16

Divide result by 3 to allow bar its profit margin.

e.g.
20 singers x 2 = 40
Friday night $15/singer
40 x $15 = $600
$600/3 = a fair price of $200 on a Friday night.

Now whether you like his method or not count your unique singers and it's hard for the bar to argue people aren't coming for karaoke.

If the drinks are unusually cheap or expensive then adjust your dollar multiplyer accordingly. Those numbers came from $3.50 beers and $7.00 mixed drinks.

So how many singers did you have?

BigJer, During season (Dec 1 to April 15~) 30 to 40 guaranteed and that's almost before I start my show.

I don't think $10-15 per person should be an unreasonable amount.
But I also have people that come in and could spend $20-25 or more one night & come in the next night & spend maybe $5. It's the ones that come in regularly and never spend a dime (which I put blame on the bar for allowing them to stay in the first place) which are the problems. A packed house of non-drinkers (I say drinkers because most bars expect to sell drinks more than anything else) isn't going to make a lot of money.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Well if they don't want to pay you, just show another bar in the area how many singers you bring in and use that formula and see if the other bar wants to pay you better...

In answer to your question- going by the picture- your bar manager IS blowing smoke, unless you charge a HUGE fee for that size venue.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

No problem getting paid, but it would be nice to hear something positive.That is what I am thinking It is just like that week after week. It just doesn't add up. My fee is high end average.

Questions for cheap (@$%&#!) bar owners to answer:

Who is responsible for marketing food and drink - the bar or the entertainment?

Who should be up selling well drinks to drinks with premium spirits? Who should be evicting dead beats?
Who should be developing an irresistible food program and pushing it?

Your job is to help fill the bar. Looks to me like you're doing it and I assume you are plugging the specials already.

Yet, the people who aren't doing their jobs up to snuff are probably walking out of there with more money than you are. Does that work for anybody here?

I would hope you are taking at least $225/night and $300 wouldn't be out of line in some markets.

i think it also matter what they are drinking. in that picture i see more red wine than anything else. most of those drinkers will have two at most. also a lot of much older folks there as well and they tend to drink much less than the younger ones. they DO however go for a higher end cocktail.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

You never know what the owner's overhead is. What if he has a $5500/month lease, a $400 power bill, a $200 water bill, $2000/month in payroll, etc. Overhead adds up quickly.

Now, if the owner isn't making any money with a full house, then he has a horrible business plan and should close his doors, and he's probably a bad business man.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I have a friend that owned a restaurant where Karaoke was sung once a week. He complained to me that the Karaoke customers were not eating or drinking like regular customers. They were there to sing and many ordered water and few ordered food. If everyone in the picture is ordering food and drinks, then the restaurant is doing well.

I spent $38 last Saturday night. Two of that was shots for others and eight of it was the tip. The couple that sat at my table spent $72 I believe. We were there three hours.

The problem with bar tables on entertainment nights: They do not have the turnover a restaurant will have. A 100 top restaurant could turn a table over two or three times a night. I doubt they turned our table over when we left Saturday night.

Owners are supposed to control their costs in accord with their revenues and to adjust prices as necessary. Note entertainment cost isn't one of the owner's big three.

http://www.nightclub.com/bar-management ... -big-three