CHAT ROOM

Yes, perhaps you have misunderstood my previous statement.

Look, IMHO it's very simple good business sense. You cannot dictate what anyone buys or doesnt buy. Unless you do as I have seen in some countries where the door charge included a "free" soft drink - so, for example you get them to pay £10 instead of £7 and then you pay £3 towards a drink at the bar and they simply exhange the ticket you hand them for their drink.

If you started barring people because they didn't buy enough drinks then your competitors would soon gain a few extra customers without any effort and at your loss.

The ideal situation would be that Salsa dancers were made aware that if they want a venue with luxurious wooden dance floors, plenty of space, air-con, good sound system etc then they will need to pay a premium price. Then promoters would simply have to find a superb "stand-out" venue and then set about putting in place good teaching team or other attraction. In this way, with all these boxes ticked the dancers should be guaranteed to turn up.
However, even then this may not work. I know at least 3 venues in London that can only be described as s***holes, lacking ventilation, air-con, a decent sound system or even a wooden dance floor (and, in one case, any of these), but, because they are cheap enough or better still FREE entry people turn up in numbers.

Even rich dancers find that their bank accounts soon feel the strain under the weight of their dancing obsession which is why even City bankers and friends of mine who drive Mercs and Ferraris seem cheap when out dancing.

I remember back in 2000 when I ran the first ever London Salsa Congress (sponsored by Bacardi). Despite having Eddie Torres, Duplessey Walker, Johnny Vasquez (making his UK debut), Francisco Vasquez, Joby and Luis Vasquez, Papa Tambor, Jayson Molina and Brenda Byrd (and even Tropical Gem making their Uk debut) on the bill, people complained because the price of the party night had gone up from the £12 I charged for my usual monthly clubnights to £20. Nowadays, this would be a cheap night at a congress, but back then it set the precedent and numbers dropped from 1000+ to just over 500.

Nowadays, as time has established the idea in peoples minds that they may be paing upwards of £30 for a congress party night, my prices seem very cheap. This is how I pay for my venues in most cases. I rely upon numbers through the door at a very carefully priced ticket. Not so expensive that people choke at the idea, but not so low that I end up in debt before I have started. Then I just hope to make a bit over and above this.

Anyway, I used to run bars for about 6 years. Salsa drinkers drink on average £5-£6 per head in a typical night. This seems to vary little if tap water is on offer as long as jugs of water are not just laid out all over the place - which is just plain commercial suicide for a bar. My suggestion is that even those drinking just water actually buy at least one drink and therefore contribute to the overall spend. Plus, there is the added advantage that these extra few people make up the numbers paying through the door. This will not only help you to cover any shortfall and, in some cases, will attract in an extr crowd of drinkers who just want to be where a crowd of dancing people is.

Anyway, rambling now its 2am and I'm tired. Your choice, but I would advise against turning away any potential customers cheap or not.

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