Throughout the year, our core team meets weekly to plan and discuss events.
The vast majority of our events are planned the year prior, but as the year progresses, opportunities and new events emerge — sometimes with very little notice.
On a random Saturday in June, during a “Themed Trivia” event, our taproom received a call from a booking agent who was interested in booking a certain musical act. Our bartender, Joe, took the call and walked into our walk-in to be able to listen to the caller.
I was sitting at our bar with a group of friends playing trivia when Joe walked out saying he thought the caller said “Afroman” — you know, the unique rapper from the early 2000s?
The time was about 9 p.m., and within minutes, I had an email from a person who was actually looking to book Afroman. I retreated to my office to place a phone call, and the 24-hour whirlwind ensued.
Earlier in the year, we had hosted a comedian on a Sunday night. This was our first foray into ticketed events. I’ve wanted to explore the ticketed strategy for years, but limiting taproom sales felt like the inevitable outcome of locking the doors to anyone without a ticket.
The comedian sold out on a Sunday in April and increased our Sunday sales by 30%.
For Afroman, we had to place a deposit of $2,000, which felt unstable at the time. However, we received the first 40 tickets at a $50 value to ensure we made back our deposit, which was completed in about two hours.
We utilized Eventbrite for our ticket vendor, which assisted in the proper taxation and other liabilities. We posted the tickets on social media from Sunday until the show on Monday evening, with the online sales ending at 6 p.m.
To boost the enjoyment, we devoted another $300 on the day of the event to a DJ to hype the crowd.
At this point, we’ve sold about 80 tickets in less than 48 hours.
Why I jumped at this unique opportunity is a fair question. The first reason is the tremendous feedback we quickly received on Facebook over whether people would attend the event. Secondly, the event was to be that Monday, which is typically a slower evening for our taproom.
Every ounce of this event was set into motion and secured between Saturday night and Monday. Once the ticket sales ended online, we sold an additional 40 or so at the door.
In full transparency, after we recouped our deposit on the tickets, all future tickets went to Afroman, which included all tickets purchased at the door.
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We benefited by having a nostalgic artist draw in a slew of GenXers and Millennials on a Monday night and improving our sales by more than triple that of a traditional Monday night.
Are last-minute events worth the effort? In this case, it was. We were able to explore ticketed events for future opportunities and increase our weekly profits by targeting a slower night.
Our plans for future endeavours will definitely be on Sunday and Monday evenings. Ticketed events will surely be utilized within Eventbrite and promoted through social channels primarily.
In a perfect world, all events would have months to sell tickets. However, pivoting and moving quickly is the experience of almost all owners. When a profitable strategy falls into your hands, you sometimes need to move swiftly to ensure uniquely profitable nights.
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