The Restaurant Doctor

SING ALONG, MOVE ALONG <princess@CustomNet.Net>

On Friday evenings at 9pm, we have been hosting a Dick Clark Karaoke contest at my restaurant. As we get closer to the finals, I've noticed many new faces coming in at that time. The singers are so good, I will hate to see this event end! The only problem is, some of my diners, who are already finished eating, by that time, just sit there with their food boxed up, and listen to the singers. These are customers who ate at 7pm are still there at 10pm or later, while I have customers anxious to have their seats to eat, and also enjoy the show. By the way, my normal dining time is about 1 hr and 20 minutes or so. We are not fine dining, just Italian menu, pizza, kids meals, etc.

I have my karaoke finals coming up on June 11th, and people are making reservations for that dining room to be there that evening. How may I gently and kindly ask these early patrons who are done eating to leave by 9pm? Do I give them a card to say we are closing the dining room at 9pm, and they will have to be done by then?

This is a new situation for me. I don't want to offend anyone, but I will need to put my reservations somewhere. Do you or your readers have any suggestions? Help!

From Gilbert Lucero:
You know your clientele best. The card notice idea might be effective. An alternative which you may consider is to establish two to three seatings for that evening. For instance, 5:00, 7:00 & 9:00. State this to each guest as they make their reservations, when you later confirm their reservations, inside the restaurant (small flyer on tables and upon other highly visible spots like restrooms) and of course in all ads. This will minimize the potential for guests not knowing, in advance, what the policy is for the evening.

From Claudia Carr:
Have you considered a "bubble" tent adjacent to the restaurant for that evening? That way he could take the same amount of dinner reservations then shove all the karaoke lovers into the tent. If it's as popular as you say, and also the final night, I think it would be worth the cost of the rental.

From Bill Moore:
Why let it end? You built up a prime time sale that your customers are reluctant to end , just as you are, but for different reasons.

Idea: Voting system/ comment cards recommending whom should be invited back and on what night (excluding prime night.) That's for new talent or those trying again.

If the few best talents are a draw then use their abilities to pull up other night's sales. It would allow the better talent to make money on your off nights yet let them pursue their potential on prime nights. If your house is in order then you have more than their Friday night one shot draw to offer.

The new faces? Spend some time meeting them. They and those like them may just be your future. Karoke flies for awhile, but is this your whole offering? What happens when its cheap enough to add video with editing?

From Stanley Sackin:
There may be a way to make lemonade from the lemons, so to speak. Why not set aside a section of your restaurant where you have 2 or 3 rows of chairs and ask patrons who have finished eating to join you from this section. Offer them refills of coffee and tea and fountain drinks which cost very little and have a server cover the area for wine and beer requests. I think it would work very well and it would open up your table service to new patrons. I believe that the "displaced" patrons would understand . . . but if it's a problem, why not offer them an after dinner drink "on the house"?

From Karen Cooley:
We have occasionally encountered similar problems when hosting a concert with two seatings or an evening with continuous musical entertainment. We have found a couple of ways to avoid the problem of guests arriving at 7:00 and staying all evening:

1) We ask our entertainers to take a break of 30 minutes at 8:30. This way our guests who were seated at 7:00 have enjoyed an 1 1/2 show, had dinner and with a 30 minute break in entertainment will probably not choose to wait for the 2nd show.

2) We are specific about the length of time that tables may be occupied as we take reservations. Our spiel goes something like this: "Mr. Smith, we look forward to seeing you at 7:00 with your party of four, we have reserved this table for you for an hour and a half because our next show begins at 9:00. If you would prefer a table with no time limits, perhaps you would rather come for the late seating at 9:00." (For certain occasions, we charge extra for our late seating tables - New Year's Eve, etc.- but usually there is no additional charge) If Mr. Smith desires the table for longer, but doesn't want to come at 9:00, we suggest he come at 6:00 or 6:30.

for more information contact:
Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor
EFFORTLESS, INC.
PO Box 280 - Gig Harbor, WA 98335 USA
(800) 767-1055 - (253) 858-9255

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