Im getting customers after 12:00

[salonikios]

I need magor help here. i own a small night club in a 20.000 people town. my proplem is that i open up at 8:00pm and my customers dont realey walk in until 12 oclock and closing time for bars in my state is 1:30am. what can i do to bring them in earlyer. can you help me ????
thanks mike

[grachuss]

Do you charge a cover? If so the club I work at dosen't charge a cover if you come in before 10pm.

[salonikios]

i actully open my bar / night club at 5:00pm free of charge untill 9:00 pm. after that we only gharge $ 2.00

[Jackrabbit]

You have to decide which is more important, getting the crowd to come earlier, or keeping that midnight bump. From what your saying, it seems like other places around you are taking that earlier crowd and closing earlier. This leaves you on that hour and a half hole. It's either that or people just don't go out till real late there :)

You might want to try this. First, pick one night that your going to use as beta night as we called it. (A test night). Don't make it your busiest night, but make it your second or so. Try doing drink deals (ladies buy one get one for a penny-well mixers, or $1 each) or deals on beer. Have those deals end by say 10 or so. This worked quite well a bar I worked at here in providence, until they found we can't do that due to state laws.

Another thing we tried was doubling the cover charge after 11. It works, but then you get those people who are in line from 10:30 till 11:15, and thenyou have a mess. We ended up having to walk down the line outside at 11 to stamp hands for the reg. door charge. Like I said, just make sure you advertise the change ahead of time so people aren't shocked when the show up 30 min late.

Hope that helps and good luck to you.

[The Event Guy]

I think Jackrabbit is on the right track, however, I don't necessarily agree that you need to decide what's most important in this case. I think that you have options because there are always options, you just need find the one that works for you at this particular moment for this particular instance.

Start off by identifying what you may or may not be doing at 12AM that makes your customers want to be there at that time.

Do you have customers there before 12AM? Why are they there at that time? Why do they leave? What will make them stay longer?

You need to research you market a wee bit. Find out who you aim to please and find out their interests, hobby's, likes, dislikes...it's up to you to know your patrons. Just go up to them, introduce yourself and ask.

You should also check out the other bars around you to see what they're doing prior to 12AM.

Be curious. Be ambitious. Don't just open the door and expect people to come in because it's a bar, they need to feel invited.

There's many ways to overcome this challenge, you just need to figure out what will work best for you. There's no miracle solution except doing the necessary research.

Again, decribe what the the situation further and then we'll all have a better understanding of the potential options as Jackrabbit has already stated a couple.

[Jackrabbit]

I am merely a squirrel in The Event Guy's world.... :)

[Kansas City]

Where at in MO.?

I just opened a club adn here is what I did to try to beat that old problem of late nigth crowds:

I came up with the things for people to do to motivate them to come early:
In rear of main dance club (with own name and entrance) we have a video bar. Peopel love to come early to watch videos and hang out with friends and wait for dance side to open at 10:00. Then they can walk over to high energy side and dance.

Roof top bar: This spring and summer it will be a draw to come early and get some sun and enjoy views before moving down to club.

1/2 price martinis 4:30 to 8:30. Thee is still a huge profit to be made.

Good luck

Something else to consider:

Drag Queen. They arent just for gay clubs. They can be very funny on stage (or roaming around with mic), cheap to pay for, and your guest will go home and call their friends to let them know what a crazy night they had at your place.

What are your thoughts on that?

[Andrew]

A bit off-topic, but we have Drag Kings, as well...

[Mobster600]

You know sometimes you need to use a litle psychology... Make Deals and Things like that but make sure they will come and be happy... Like a Scale.. Weigh the Bad Things and The Good Things.

Bad:
- People coming in after 12Am
- Bar close at 1:30 AM

Goods:
- Opens early at 6Pm rite?
-
-
-
-

Double from the bads. I see 2 Bad things I wrote so.. Double that to the good things. Now u just need to add something.

[Kansas City]

What???

So what can you add to answer teh question of late nighters?

[Mobster600]

You need something to attract the late niters to come early. your paying the bardtenders for 7 hrs of work when really they should get paid 1 hr of work. theres money going down the drain already! You need to find something attractive and motivational that can give a reason why to come early.:cool:

[Kansas City]

Yes, we know that , but what is the answer?

[mix]

check out a venue that caters to the older demographic... generally, they are early starters and start checking out of the clubs at 12:30..... that should give you 2 different distinct crowds.

try to grab a live act that usually brings a following. its gonna take a week or two to get the thing off the ground, but if it works it will be worth it.

if you can get a band that usually brings 100 people with them, that will give you 100 patrons that will show up early and stay until they are ready to fall asleep....

have your DJ ready to spin from 1130 until whenever you guys close.... maybe that will even save you some bread from only having to pay your DJ for 3 hours or so....

[David]

A lot of clubs are doing live comedy in the early hours to attract the crowds. You can also target the people from the businesses in your area. Try and get them in right after work by offering them something that entices them.

[Kansas City]

How about a free (or cheap) taco bar or free chips and salsa. This might work well for the after work crowd.

[that_rock]

salonikios, with a pop of 20,000 I am betting that you are in a small college town. If you aren't then don't listen to what I am about to say.

Down here in po dump Kansas I run into the problem of people not coming out until about 11:30 or 12. We have a full kitchen so we open at 10am but cater to a different crowd at night time (which is college kids.) In KS we can't run a happy hour or gender based drinks so I had to think of another scam or to be PC a "marketing device."

One or two nights a week I pay about 20 people $5 to come in and drink or play pool or sit and watch TV. I ask them all to drive separately to give the illusion of lots of cars. What they get is 5 bucks and no cover. It works as crazy as it sounds.... oh yeah; it helps if its girls and they are hot.

Hope that helps!

[mix]

20 hot girls in your club alone before the crowd shows up ?????

im sooooo there. put me on the list!!!

i know the DJ !!!!

[Mobster600]

How about... 20 Hot Girls, Free Alchol Use for the first 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Now to keep them from leaving after that first hour? I know... 10% Discounted if you bring up to 5 to 10 Friends or a group fee and not get charged per person...?

[castlepr]

I always double my cover after 11 for my promotions and people pay it as long as the club is filling up .. give drink sepcials to ladies before 11 or open bar from 10-11 to ladies. If the ladies come the guys will follow