So, you are considering hiring entertainment for your bar and restaurant? And the crazy idea of hiring a magician has come up.

Well we're here to tell you why that idea isn’t so crazy after all. In fact, having a magician in your facility is one of the smartest entertainment decisions you can make.

You may see your competitors hiring bands and Dj’s and think that’s the way to go, and you’d be correct...........if you want to do what everybody else is doing.

Lets take a look at this scenario;

It’s Saturday night, your DJ begins his set, or the band is playing, and it keeps the customers happy, it creates a fun, energetic vibe in the restaurant and will even bring in some new customers....

......And thats it.

    

So whats the problem? Nothing right? There is good atmosphere, the punters are happy, the staff get a change of pace with the live music and you feel like you are doing something to give you a competitive edge, all is well...

Or so you may think.

But if you’re looking to really gain a competitive edge and spend that entertainment budget correctly. Then we suggest:

Hire a magician!

Well, let us re-phrase that,

Hire a GOOD magician! (That word “good” is very important).

What’s the difference between a ‘magician’ and a ‘good’ magician?? You see, any kid today can learn a trick or two, but that doesn’t make them a good magician, it doesn’t even make them a magician.

But the biggest difference is a magician is going to COST you money by having them perform...

But a “good” magician,he’s actually going to MAKE you money by having him perform.

We’re not talking about stealing and pickpocketing here, we’re talking about stepping away from the magic world and entering the restaurant world.

Let’s weigh it up:

Your aim as a restaurant owner is very simple. You want to increase profit!

You want your revenue high and your expenses low.How do you do this?

You increase profit by;

▪ Increasing the number of repeat customers

▪ Generating new customers

▪ Upselling items

▪ Building your brand awareness.

▪ Maintaining as many customers as possible i.e. not letting customers leave on busy nights due to wait times for tables).

 

You keep your costs low by:

▪ Less turnover of staff; less training costs, the longer staff are in the company the better they will be at their job due to experience.

▪ Reducing the amount of mistakes made by servers and the kitchen e.g. if Food is late, wrong items, mistakes with food that lead to discounted bills.

So, with these goals in mind let’s go back to the band and the DJ and let’s see how they can help;

Repeat customers?

Absolutely! There is no arguement here. If you’ve got a good band or DJ and they’re putting on a good time, then yes, you 100% will have repeat business from the customers you had tonight.

Generating new customers?

You better believe it! So many times customers choose a place to visit simply by hearing a band playing and deciding to go inside. Its like the impulse buy at the supermarket.

But what about the rest of the goals?

Not really, a band may get you a video or two on social media, but even then, they’re drowned out by the millions of other bands on there. Live music is attractive because its “live”, people are not that interested in seeing it online, so once it leaves the walls of your restaurant, its gone!

Now, lets look at the magician:

The magician will go table to table entertaining your guests with mind blowing tricks. He’ll steal their watches, predict playing cards that they’re thinking of and even guess their phone pin codes. He’ll do this just after the server has taken their order and they are waiting for food.

But what benefits does this form of entertainment have over traditional entertainment like bands and DJ’s?

Generating new customers?

100%. Nothing spreads viral videos more than somebody being baffled by a magic trick that they cannot explain. You put an ad on your social media saying you’ve got live music and you’ll get a few people who might swing by (so long as they don’t get distracted by every other bar with live music along the way), but you put an ad that says you have a magician going table to table (accompanied by a video), people will come to see your magician peform.

Repeat customers?

Absolutely! With an arsenal of different tricks, your punters will come back again and again to enjoy being entertained while they wait for their food.

Building your brand awareness?

As previously stated, magic is a viral sensation. Customers will pull out their phones immediately to record someone doing magic at their table and post it to their social media accounts and share with friends saying where they are, causing awareness of your restaurant and free advertising. 

Maintaining as many customers as possible?

If you have a busy Saturday night and there is a wait list to get a table, you run the risk of people leaving. However, having a close up magician at your disposal, you tell him to start working the bar instead of the tables, and now the customers waiting for a table..... well that 30 minute wait suddenly gets a lot shorter as they are distracted watching the magician pull cards out of nowhere and guess their pin codes. They’re not going anywhere and will happily wait for a table.

Less turnover of staff?

Surely a magician can’t help with this, right?

Wrong!

What makes for happy wait staff? Tips of course, now who tips better, the table who just had dinner, or the table who had dinner and were blown away with some magic tricks and left with a souvenir of a playing card that had magically appeared in their pocket?

More tips for staff=less turnover,

less turnover=less cost on training of new hires.

Reducing mistakes?

So how could a magician possibly help with mistakes made by servers or the kitchen? Simple, you know that steak that went to the wrong table and now you’ve got to kill ten minutes because table 15’s food is late? No problem! You simply tell the magician, he visits the table, he doesn’t even mention the food but simply distracts the table with mind blowing magic for 7/8 minutes and before you know it the food is ready and the table is none the wiser! The amount that you would have discounted that bill,  your magician friend has just saved you that!

Also, we haven’t even mentioned that on top of all of this.....it’s entertainment for the restaurant!!

And not just any entertainment, but entertainment that won’t lose you any customers. Ever had a band and heard “it’s too loud in here’? Customers don't stick around if they don’t enjoy the music. But magic, it’s a stand off form of entertainment. When your magician appraoches a table he can judge if they want to be entertained or not, and if not, then he simply moves on, no harm, no foul!

Some other major benefits to the restaurant:

▪ Increase in tripadvisor reviews:

At the end of the performance the magician can personally thank the guests and suggest that if they enjoyed it to put a review on tripadvisor etc.

▪ Creates memorable experiences: Magic creates moments for people that they will remember for a long time. They will associate it with your restaurant.

 

▪ Social media/ advertising:

Be sure to use your magician for advertising and social media. Almost all of your customers will take photos and videos of the magician performing and post it to social media but that doesn’t mean you can’t use his magic to advertise that he is there at certain times and record tricks to go viral online.

▪ Competitive edge/Exclusivity: Magicians are quite scarce, and you can bet you will probably be the only restaurant in your area/ city to have one. This can be a big selling point and most magicians can be hired ‘exclusively’. Chat with your magician about hiring him exclusively which means you pay a little extra and guarantee X amount of months work and he guarantees that he only works publicly for you.

▪ Special occasion:

Magicians can make those special occasions feel just that extra bit special and encourage customers to book their birthday parties etc at your venue.

▪ Children:

If your restaurant caters for children then a magician is a no-brainer! All children love magic, and children tend to decide where families eat on a sunday. “I want to go see the magician” is the reason families will come back to your business weekend after weekend.

So, right now you’re probably sitting there reading this thinking, “yeah, yeah, this is all well and good but I can’t afford to hire an entertainer like that...”

And yes, it does sound too good to be true. But it’s not. It is very true and very affordable, in fact, it can actually be a lot cheaper than hiring a four piece band.

Hiring a magician on a once off basis can cost thousands, however you will be surprised at how affordable a regular appearance at a restaurant can be.

To find out fees and availability for a magician at your restaurant in your city, get in touch, we'll be more than happy to have a discussion about your business and see how we can help it grow.