18 and Over Clubs

[David]

There is a new 18 and over club in our market. It is the only 18 and over club at this moment. I decided to check them out Saturday night and I was suprised how many people they had in the club. The way that they differentiate the of age people is with a wrist band. Even though they feel that this works, I can tell you that it doesn't. I saw at least ten to twelve underage people with an alcoholic beverage in their hand. When I asked the Manager about this he said "We are doing everything that we can to keep them from drinking. IF one of their friends buys them a drink, they will drink it. I don't have enough people to monitor this right now".

How do the other markets do this type of promo? The ratio of under 21 to the ones that were over 21 was about 75% under and 25% over.

[Scott]

My guess is they don't try to enforce it very hard. (At least the 3 markets I've seen clubs that had 18/21 nights didn't). One of the spring break clubs I recall going to worked it backwards from common sense. The under 21 crowd got a wristband, the 21 and up got some balck light sensitive stamp on the hand. Needless to say, most wristbands were on the floor within minuets.

Given the split (the difference between ammount they charged the over 21 and that which they charged the 21) was only 2 bucks (12 vs 10) I imagine that was done on purpose. The average drinker HAS to be worth more than 2 bucks over a non-drinker.

The other two states where I've seen this done, used the standard wristband deal, and cover usually was 10 bucks for the unders and 3 or 5 for the over crowd.

Most places I have been to have been about 75/25 as you have witnessed. Some clubs will be 21 and up on the weekends, and use the 18-up to create a weeknight full of college kids. Any club like that I have seen like that is actually moving MORE booze on those nights than they are on the weekends.

That should tell you how often the policies are getting enforced. If you do it, and plan on enforcing the wristband rule zealously make sure you're selling bottled water, and jack up the price on soda/juice so you're making money of the youngsters.

[David]

Thanks Scott:

I would never do this type of promo. The risks are too great. I'm sure that they are making a fair amount of money now, but it won't last. I found out last night that the Minor Alcohol Inforcement Agency is taking a serious look at how they do business. They will probably be cited and shut down. This was a last ditch effort to stay in business.

[steffen]

What you could do... If you wantetion to work...

Make it like a Beer Garden at a concert. You got to show ID to get into the area where the liquor is. You can't take Liquor out. No minors are present drinking the clubs liquor, making them (hopefully) safe.

Washington State (as I'm sure many others) require tht liquor and minors are kept completely seperate.

Cheers!

[David]

That's a good idea. The only problem is that this is a large two story club. They have bars on each floor. They don't seem to care if they are underage and it would be very hard to police.

Update: Since my original post, another club in my market has decided to do the 18 and over concept. A few of us from our club visited this club on Friday night. The same thing is happening here also. Their Doormen are doing a terrible job of checking ID's. I saw and escorted out two of my daughters friends. They are 15 years old.

Back to the club that I talked about in my first post. This past weekend might be their last. They had a fight that broke out between two groups of underage people. The Doormen tossed them out along with all of the others that were involved. The first group took off and headed towards the downtown area. The other party involved started to chase them. The first group missed a turn and wrapped their vehicle around a light pole. There were five people in the vehicle. Two are in critical condition, one is in stable condition and the other two are in a coma. They all tested positive for alcohol in their blood stream. The victims said that they were at this club drinking. They also said that they were openly served by the bar staff, even though they didn't have a 21 and Over wrist band. The City Attorney, the Chief of Police and the parents of these kids are going after the club.

I feel that as Owners, Operators and Employees of liquor serving establishments, we need to do what ever it takes to keep the drinking age and the club cliential 21 and over. Sure this kind of thing could have still happened, but I feel that that chances are less with the older more mature crowd.