CHAT ROOM

Well Andrew I have always thought along these lines...
If there are 100-200 persons at a Salsa Night & we are being told they need to spend £5-10 each at the bar, one would assume a total bar take at approx £750, yielding an average profit perhaps £400-500. So this we are to assume is the minimum amount the VENUE needs to be viable.

The PROMOTER charges you on entrance, say £6-7 each, giving them a total door take between £600-1,400. This we are informed DOES NOT get "shared" with the venue. So it covers the Promoters costs - salsa staff/teachers/DJ's pay for the nights work, Insurances, promotion/advertising/flyers - all of which costs ? (we don't have a clue) leaving hopefully enough profit to keep the promoter in beer money ;0) You can see that the whole model is depending on the numbers of punters attending. I would think that taking £600 at the door may be sailing pretty close to the wind depending on how many teachers you were paying, however, it could be assumed that taking over £1000 would be pretty desirable.

So...
What you & I & many others are thinking is - If the venue need to make min PROFIT £400-500, why can't this be spread among the punters by adding a surcharge to the door take, say an extra £5 each. So if the min numbers attend, they will still reach their required cost + any drinks being bought resulting in a bonus. The GREY area comes when 200+ punters come being charged an extra £5 each. Does the promoter pay the whole surcharge of £1000 to the venue or just the min agreed amount and go on a holiday each week with the surplus? It would understandably be a difficult agreement to draw up, never-the-less, it would seem worth it if a venue is worth keeping and the VENUE OWNERS, PROMOTER & STAFF are all making enough dough!

Question comes down to whether punters will pay £11-12 for a week night Salsa? Also there will be drinks of some sort to buy for those of us who DO NOT want to drink water (tap or bottle). So for those who only drink tap water or nothing - it gets more expensive & for us who buy other drinks - it gets even more expensive!

So is it viable to lump in a charge for the venue at the door, will punters still come - I really don't know. Would you pay up £12 for a night of salsa with lessons & dancing & unlimited jugs of iced water & pay extra £s for any other drinks you need? Probably I would, but would you?

I now that people have told us it won't work with rather sketchy reasons/history on this in the past, but not really EXPLAINED why this can't be explored or why it wouldn't work.

Perhaps some will feel that ours is not to reason why...
but, whenever I don't get a proper answer to what I am wondering, I get to feeling a bit fobbed off instead. I do understand that there not be any promoters willing to share the ins & outs of their business with us, but without stating £figures - can any properly explain??