The chef's table table dining experience is rapidly becoming a "performance" on par with live music concerts as restaurant owners look to increase per guest revenue. The chef's table as "rock concert" examples have something in common - restaurant ticketing software.
3 Hour "Performance" Chef's Table
After buying tickets, the audience waits in anticipation. The rock stars appear on stage. The performance last for hours. After the show is over, a lucky few get to go backstage for the after-party...
No this is not a description of a Bruce Springsteen concert. It is a description of the chef’s table as “rock concert.”
As seen in the video above, Brooklyn Fare has created a new dining experience centered around the chef’s table. Guests are seated just a few feet from where the food is prepared, in an immersive experience for which dining at the chef’s table is known. But Brooklyn Fare has put their own unique spin on the chef’s table experience, making it more like attending a rock concert. Brooklyn Fare owner describes the event as a “performance” which takes nearly three hours. The prix-fixe price is $255 per person.
The chef’s table as rock concert experience isn't just a hot new (and profitable) trend in Brooklyn.
Backstage guests with "rock stars" Jacques and Hasty Torres
In Jackson, Mississippi, The Viking Cooking School will soon be host another Eat Jackson chef’s table event. The concert analogy runs deep for Eat Jackson dining events, with “One night only!”, “Tickets on sale now!” and “SOLD OUT!” graphics shown on the official event website.
Back in July, the chef’s table as rock concert experience went so far as to have an official VIP after party where a lucky few diners met with the celebrity chefs after the “performance” was over. CS Magazine hosted the special event in conjunction with high-end kitchen appliance maker JENN-AIR in the penthouse of the Reid Murdoch building in Chicago. The event featured a multi-course meal and culminated with diners going “backstage” to meet celebrity "rock star" chefs Jacques and Hasty Torres.
How-To: Chef's Table As Rock Concert
The chef's table as rock concert events have one thing in common - restaurant ticketing software - a logical practice since advance ticket sales are part and parcel of all live music concerts. Another commonality is that the restaurant has not forsaken telephone reservations entirely, selling tickets only to the separate chef's table experience. This is important if you think that restaurant ticketing software is an all or nothing proposition. A restaurant owner can match the rock concert performance of their chef's table with actual rock concert ticketing technology. Here's how....
Basic
If your restaurant already has some form of chef's table experience, but you are making it available only by telephone reservations, consider the amount of up-front revenue ticketing software could bring in. Liquidity from advance tickets sales can fund an expanded "performance" like at Brooklyn Fare. A chef's table may be grossly under performing if the experience is being left to haphazard walk-ins or the brittle telephone reservation. Rather than let pure chance dictate your business revenue, you can block out a full three hour dinner service period as one long "concert" that can generate get three to five times more per guest. Selling tickets can be done only for the chef's table experience, leaving all other tables for telephone reservations and walk-ins. The best restaurant ticketing software gives you the ability to set a date and assign a price, with little effort. And once you have created an event, you can set it to be "one night only", or a limited engagement of a few weeks, or recurring indefinitely. Next restaurant in Chicago sells tickets on a limited engagement basis, as they have a unique theme for each month-long series of "rock concerts."
Advanced
Selling tickets for a dining experience can be simple or more advanced methods can generate a pronounced increase in revenue. Designating the entire restaurant seating as a ticketed event for one or two nights a week requires less of a commitment than one may think. If on the busiest night of the week, reservations are in such high demand, some guests are being turned away, that is an excellent candidate for selling tickets. Rock concerts promoter know that high demand events are made more profitable when tiered ticketing prices are offered in progressive chronological stages called "pre-sales." The first round of concert tickets go on sale to an exclusive group of people, known to pay a premium price for privileged access. These early adopters are sometimes fan club members, or a part of a B2B partnership like the one between Ticketmaster and American Express. A restaurant can easily adapt this privileged access for it's busiest night of the week, including the tiered pricing, using restaurant ticketing software.
ThunderTix Restaurant Ticketing Software
Making your chef's table or entire restaurant a ticketed "rock concert" event starts with choosing a ticketing technology...
ThunderTix restaurant ticketing software is built with the same technology that powers some of the most popular rock concerts in the country. Plus, we make nightly deposits of your sales dollars directly into your bank account, giving you the liquidity to buy only what you need for the menu – no waste.
Chef and TV celebrity Ludo Lefebvre’s new restaurant Trois Mec gets $2,160.00 in up-front liquidity (twenty-four $90 tickets sold in-advance). Trois Mec co-owner says “the decision to operate on a ticket system allows the chefs to plan accordingly each night.”
When you say “table d’hôte” we know what you mean. In addition to being the most restaurant friendly ticketing software available, know that ThunderTix has years of experience in enabling venues to sell tickets online. You will inherit all that expertise when you decide to make the move from telephone reservation to selling tickets, either all-at-once or gradually.
Be sure to take a look at our other features and sign up for a free trial today!