9 minute read
IN VENUE ENTERTAINING: DRAWING A CROWD
Drawing a crowd
Operators providing entertainment options are finding that they are attracting more patrons who are staying longer in-venue. By Caoimhe Hanrahan-Lawrence.
THOUGH ECONOMIC pressures are seeing consumers reducing their spending, they are still willing to spend money for entertainment. According to CGA by NIQ, 50 per cent of consumers intend to visit a venue for an exciting experience or to watch a sporting event this year. This is especially true among younger generations, with 54 per cent of Gen Z and 62 per cent of millennials expecting to visit the on-prem for these occasions. Offering diverse and engaging entertainment options can set a venue apart and build a community of loyal patrons.
For Brett Strauss, owner of the Chippendale Hotel in Sydney, its twice-weekly comedy nights have provided an extra incentive for people to visit the venue.
“We found that it’s not enough for people to just come in for dinner, we need to offer them something on top of that,” he said.
A chance to diversify
In-venue entertainment can diversify your customer base, as some customers visit a venue just for the entertainment offerings.
Canberra’s The Alby has a downstairs area, The Basement, which offers Canadian bowling, pinball, and live sports streaming. Venue manager Mike Kadinski explained that it draws a wide range of people.
“It has every sort of variety [of customer], from younger to older, to more casual, to more dressed up. There’s even people that walk straight through the ground floor just to go down to The Basement and not really pick up on what we’re serving on the ground floor,” Kadinski described.
This area is generally popular in the evenings and weekends, because customers want enough time to have a bowling game or two, as well as eat and drink.
The Chippendale Hotel, more often known as The Chippo, sees a different crowd for comedy nights. These customers don’t tend to patronise the venue on noncomedy nights, but will return every week to see the shows.
“For us, comedy brings in a great crowd, it gives a bit of culture to the venue, and it helps diversify our offering as well,” Strauss commented.
Kadinski pointed out that in-venue entertainment creates a community in a way that he does not see with poker machines. He also notes that the offering is different to entertainment-focused venues such as bowling alleys.
“Kingpin attracts a lot of kids and people just wanting to hang out and waste a lot of time, not really having the by-product of the food dining part of it. This [pub entertainment] lends itself to be able to eat and play at the same time and not be separate when you come in. It feels like a bit of a community when you come in, because you have your games and your dining and your drinks. It’s very interactive,” Kadinski explained.
The big game
Sports are a major drawcard for the on-premise, and can draw in large, regular crowds of customers. According to Greg Bohlsen, national manager for venues at Foxtel, the quality of a venue’s screens is highly important for consumers.
“A customer goes to their local venue to get a better-than-home experience. They want lots of big screens at all different angles so no matter where you are in the venue, you can see a screen and they want an HD viewing experience with the correct aspect ratio so nothing on the screen gets cut off,” he advised.
Additionally, it is useful to have “sound zones” around key games, allowing customers to hear the commentary and experience the whole game. Bohlsen also emphasised the importance of promoting sports screenings.
“The venues that promote fixtures are the ones that are full on game day. They’ve got posters up inside and out, but they’ve also got a schedule on their website, regular social media updates about what they’re showing and they’re on venue finder apps,” Bohlsen explained.
“Showing the pre-match build up encourages people to come earlier. By promoting food and beverage offers that start around big sporting events can mean people will choose to come earlier or stay later to eat at your venue,” he added.
As well as drawing in dedicated viewers, playing live sports has affected the atmosphere of The Basement.
“For us to try and market the bowling side of it as a kind of gaming, we’ve put sport around it so people can consider it as a sport as well,” Kadinski noted.
Feeding the fans
The entertainment that a venue chooses to offer will affect the type of food and drink customers seek out. During comedy nights at the Chippo, Strauss has noticed that customers do not generally eat during the shows.
“A lot of people will come in and get a drink and then go down there and won’t come back up until after the show or during the break,” he said. Strauss identified QR code ordering as a potential way to increase revenue in this space.
“By implementing something like that, we think we probably double, if not triple the revenue through those shows,” he estimated.
With its diverse offerings, a space like The Basement also requires a broad menu. Originally, the space only served easy-to-eat foods like burgers, chips, and pizza, but there was demand for more substantial meals.
“We had so many inquiries to put steaks downstairs, to put chicken schnitzels downstairs, meals that you can eat with a knife and fork. We find that it’s actually lending itself to having a bit more open menu downstairs. However, they still stick to the traditional hand food like pizzas or burgers, wings, chips, wedges and that stuff. I think those are always the hero items downstairs, even though we offer everything,” Kadinski described.
While watching sports, CGA by NIQ’s March Consumer Pulse report identified beer as the most popular drink choice, with 66 per cent of consumers planning to or having consumed beer during the opening rounds of the AFL. This was significantly higher than the next most popular category, with only 34 per cent of consumers opting for soft drink. Spirits sat at 31 per cent and at 26 per cent, ready to drink alcohol just overtook cocktails at 24 per cent.
We found that it’s not enough for people to just come in for dinner, we need to offer them something on top of that.
-Brett Strauss, Chippendale Hotel
The report also indicated that spending patterns change during the games, as a third of consumers say they order a larger number of drinks, but almost half say they chose more ‘value’ drinks over premium offerings. This suggests that though consumers are purchasing more drinks during sporting games, they are also making more value-conscious decisions.
Making the most of space
Providing entertainment can make use of underused spaces in a venue. When Strauss acquired the Chippo eight years ago, the basement that now hosts the comedy nights was being used as a storage space.
“For us it’s about using our spaces and activating them each week to try and drive as much revenue through the business. Because we pay per square meter for our rent, we want to make sure we’re using every inch of the venue to create revenue,” Strauss explained.
At the Alby, the basement space was an inspiration for the venue owners to try something new.
“The building is owned by Doma Group and when they developed the building, they noticed that there was a ground floor and the basement. The first idea was to do something that’s unique. The owner himself knows a couple of friends in Canada, and they were talking about this whole Canadian pin bowling style that’s popular in the pubs over there, and it doesn’t require as much space as bowling,” Kadinski said.
At the Alby, not only does the smaller size of the Canadian bowling benefit the venue, it also makes it easier for the guests to get involved.
“Unlike bowling where you need to have specific kind of shoes and you need to be able to get the ball sizes, here the ball can fit the palm of your hand, and everyone can have a go without having to change their shoes,” Kadinski continued.
The design of The Basement reflects the offerings in the space, with retro elements drawing attention to the old-school style pinball machines.
For night-time events, it is important to tie them in with the rest of the venue. Cherine Mehasseb, events and marketing manager at the Nettlewood Group, explained how this happens at the Chippo.
“[The organiser] who runs the Wednesday events goes upstairs and decorates the venue to make it feel like it’s a part of the venue and not like a separate event that has nothing to do with the venue,” Mehasseb described.
For Strauss, the most important part of providing in-venue entertainment is creating something appealing for his customers.
“There’s a big sense of community with these comedy shows, which is really great as well, aside from the revenue that they bring in,” he concluded.
Promoting sports screenings
Jono Richards, managing director of FANZO Australia, provided his tips on promoting sporting events at your venue.
1. Post promos the morning of the match
According to FANZO, over half of all fans searching for where to watch the UFC Pay Per View fights, conduct their searches on the morning of the fight.
“Consider pushing out social posts on the morning of big events in order to catch customers at the time they’re making plans,” advised Richards.
2. List on venue finder apps
“FANZO does a lot of work to ensure we’re at the top of the Google results so if you’re on the app, local sports fans are going to see your profile,” Richards said.
3. Consider playing diverse games
“Venues in Melbourne are great at promoting the AFL fixtures they’re showing and venues in Sydney are great at promoting the NRL fixtures. But we see a lot of searches for where to watch NRL in AFL-dominated states like VIC and SA, and vice versa for AFL in NRL-dominated states like NSW and QLD. By promoting those fixtures as well as the usual fixtures you promote, you’re widening the net for potential new customers,” Richards suggested.
This has proven successful for the Alby.
“We have six TVs downstairs and we play every type of game. We subscribe to all the sports channels, so we actually have a different game on every TV,” Kadinski commented.
