# Liquor Sales



## Footer (Apr 11, 2010)

One of our long time directors (who is playing sound designer) and I were talking during tech tonight and the topic of liquor sales came up. We have a concession stand right now that serves soda, coffe, tea, cookies, candy, etc. It pulls in a few hundred a night, nearly all profit. 

I have worked at small theatres that make 1-2k per show on beer and wine sales alone. The only issue with this is obtaining a liquor license. To add to that, we are in a State Park so that makes things a bit more difficult, but is doable. We have brought in caters that have a license and served without issue. 

So, for those of you that work in theatres that have liquor sales, how well do they do? Do you see the profits? How does the audience handle it?


----------



## DuckJordan (Apr 11, 2010)

what i find funny, is i almost worked for a place that did liquor sales, they are in an old high school retro-fitted as a science museum. what was really funny is that yes they do serve alcohol at performances but guests are required to drink them in a 10 minute intermission. no beverages allowed in the hall. It seems to sell very well as they had a line during every intermission when i went to see a show.


----------



## Footer (Apr 11, 2010)

DuckJordan said:


> guests are required to drink them in a 10 minute intermission. no beverages allowed in the hall.



That is very common. Many theatres allow you to make purchases before the show and pick up your prepared drinks as intermission. Makes the bar move much faster and you do not have to inhale your appletini.


----------



## Kelite (Apr 12, 2010)

One of our small, local community theaters offers dinner as well as a full bar, open prior to curtain and during intermission. I have a very strong hunch the revenue brought in from the sale of these beverages keeps the place open. As some of you may agree, the best-kept secrets of theater are often the smallish dinner theaters using regional talent and offering outstanding quality.

Arena Dinner Theatre - Fort Wayne, IN

Kyle, you may be onto something worth pursuing here. How much red tape and whose time must be invested to get this off the ground?


----------



## MNicolai (Apr 12, 2010)

Depends on your audience. One venue I work at has an average audience consisting of working class people, usually 50+ years of age, and I've been told that while concessions do bring in some money, it isn't sizable at all.

Another venue I used to work at it has a much higher class audience they bring in, who expects to be wined and dined. They bring in caterers who hold their liquor license and while I'm sure it brings in something, by the time you hire in a caterer I don't know that profits are going to be very high. It helps that there's less setup/tear-down time because the caterers have their own cage to lock their booze up in so that they don't need to transport it in and out for every event, which does keep overhead costs a little lower.

My experience has been that there's usually a way to do concessions that brings in profits, but they aren't very sizable. Any economist would point out, though, that money is money and so long as it's increasing your profits, it's probably an economically appropriate decision.


----------



## Footer (Apr 12, 2010)

Kelite said:


> Kyle, you may be onto something worth pursuing here. How much red tape and whose time must be invested to get this off the ground?



We would have to have someone on our staff be our liquor supervisor. I don't know what we would have to do with the state park office, but that could be overcome. They like having the theatre in the park. 

This would be a good project that hopefully a board member could grab and go with it. That would be at least my idea of how it should go.


----------



## Van (Apr 12, 2010)

Here I thought you were advertising a Licquor sale ! 
We make a ton Beer and Wine. one reason is that we have several local wineries and a couple of distributers that supply us at no cost. it's a dontaion / tax write off for them, we make nothing but profit, < after wages of course> . The major issue is that you open yourself up to several Liability issues not the least of which is the possibility of getting stung by Johnny Law. Don't ask me why but a year ago OLCC < Oregon Licquor Controll commission.> Got a hair up thier... well they started running stings for licquor sales to minors..... in theaters. Imagine a stressed out concessions chick with 3 million customers wanting stuff NOW and this kid comes up and orders a drink. she does the math, it says he's 21. They nail us. The kid was 20years and 6 months. in the crush she miscalculated. Not like kids are comming to the Theatre to get wasted but Oh well. Anyway. it's a potential Liability that must be addressed.


----------



## museav (Apr 12, 2010)

Kyle, I believe that some of the other facilities in the park already have bars and restaurants serving alcohol so on the one hand they may be able to give you an idea of what they have to do but on the other hand they may see your selling alcohol as potentially taking business from them.


----------



## Footer (Apr 12, 2010)

museav said:


> Kyle, I believe that some of the other facilities in the park already have bars and restaurants serving alcohol so on the one hand they may be able to give you an idea of what they have to do but on the other hand they may see your selling alcohol as potentially taking business from them.



Tis true. The golf course, hotel, 20k seat amphitheater, ballroom, and poolside restaurant all do. However, the only thing that is open during our season is the hotel.


----------



## masterelectrician2112 (Apr 12, 2010)

There has been free liquor and alcohol offered on opening night for some shows at my community theater. No drinks allowed in the theater though. The audience seems to find a lot more stuff funny during the show!


----------



## ruinexplorer (Apr 13, 2010)

The non-profits I worked for contracted with someone to provide all of the concessions. One theater was part of a University, so it was mandated that they couldn't do the sales. Another was run by a non-profit organization, but by having an outside company responsible for all the concessions, they were able to avoid many of the headaches that came along with it. Other venues didn't feel threatened since sales were limited to preshow and intermission only. 

I would check and see if that's how any of the other businesses do it. Maybe you could contract the same vendor (or contract that business to do it). At that point all you do is get a pecentage of sales, essentially 100% profit.


----------

