I am wondering what you guys think of this business idea for doing in Canada, thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Do a trivia night similar to what the Brass Monkey does, BUT in this way.
Approach bars and offer to do a trivia night on one of their dead nights, but you get to charge guests, say $50US for a table of 6 and you keep it, you set up the host, questions; etc.
The bar gives customers some free drinks, cheap specials for the night…
You approach businesses in the area to sponsor the monthly trivia night, in the form of free gifts, i.e. music stores, gyms, tanning, t-shirts from liquor sponsors, movie tickets, sports tickets; etc.
It could even be themed up with a TV station, asking questions about shows on their station and those places have loads of specialty items they need to give away.
Guests should walk away with at least something or what they paid in value and the winners get some sort of cool grand prize.
The bar would fill up their place on a normally dead night and make a lot of cash from the customers.
You blanket the idea with 4-5 bars in a city, many of the same prizes and trivia questions.
Get a cool host, have the bar promote the event and fill the seats, and pay a student to do up the trivia questions.
$50 a team x 15 teams or 90 people = $750US revenue each night x 4-5 bars a month, possibly negotiate with the bar a percentage of sales on the night as well. - $100 for host and $50 for trivia maker.
What do you guys think? Is this feasible? What could go wrong? I know the start could be slow but gradually a loyal crowd could be coming out.
I know not every bar would want to do it or be able to get that draw but once you find a few places it could be a nice little side business. I think this would be impossible to do here though, but I am thinking for Canada only.
Ontario has some pretty strict laws regarding drink prices, prizes, and happy hours. You would want to research those laws carefully before setting up shop in Ontario…
The idea has some merit but I have a few concerns. Would people actually pay eight bucks a head for a quiz? And wouldn’t the pubs want a cut of that? As a pub crowd, I can’t imagine quiz-takers as being the heaviest drinkers.
Good point, I am thinking West (Alberta/BC) I have heard that in Ontario that drink specials were not allowed, and bars must always have the same price. But there are strict regulations I am sure.
If the prizes were worth it and if it was entertaining enough they may give it a try, and I figure it is a night out and cheaper than going to a movie where one could win movie tickets and such to make that back. It would be best if the bar had low traffic on Monday/Tuesday nights and this is a way to build it up. They may want a cut but you would have to find the right deal.
I saw this idea on an Early to Rise message a while back, but they were talking about doing a comedy night with a similar model.
on my visit back home (BC), i was depressed to see trivia going on in the local - we went there to watch sports and chat. it was free and the majority weren’t participating, even though there were prizes. it was noisy and drove some people out of the place.
you’d best do some research into some areas that cater to seniors/others who might pay for trivia …
That’s a lot of leg work to get those numbers, and those are best case numbers.
Here’s a thought: Don’t charge the players and have the sponsors donate the prizes, just like in game shows. That way you’ve got fewer people to keep satisfied and no barrier to entry for the players. The bars will like that too since that 8 bucks or whatever will likely get spent on drinks. If you can fill seats on dead nights (spectators & players), the bars will pay you.
[quote=“myury”]That’s a lot of leg work to get those numbers, and those are best case numbers.
Here’s a thought: Don’t charge the players and have the sponsors donate the prizes, just like in game shows. That way you’ve got fewer people to keep satisfied and no barrier to entry for the players. The bars will like that too since that 8 bucks or whatever will likely get spent on drinks. If you can fill seats on dead nights (spectators & players), the bars will pay you.[/quote]
That is a much better business model than the previously suggested ones. Perhaps you can even combine it with dating.
However even if you are successful with this, it will hardly make you wealthy, but the experience will be good.
Several good ideas here. If you want it to work don’t limit yourself to trivia, but be an entertainment company. You can do trivia, some of the other ideas mentioned here and sooooooooo many more. Definately don’t charge people to enter. Come up with some sort of sliding scale with the bar owners.
Several good ideas here. Don’t limit yourself to trivia, you can offer several different activities and be an entertainment company. Charging the patrons to enter is risky, rather work out some sort of sliding scale model with the bar owners.
I agree that starting with a trivia and if she goes then start other events like say comedy, and whatever fits the market.
But I disagree with not charging cover in Canada. I know in Taiwan it wouldn’t fly but potentially people could win prizes and it is normal to pay a cover in Canada if there is a band or some sort of entertainment and I don’t see the model of sharing sales very appealing to a bar owner… plus we pay $12 just to park downtown, so to pay $8 or whatever for 3 hours of entertainment I don’t feel is an issue at all.
But I do appreciate other angles, and any holes or negative parts of the business model…it is best to scope things out first to find out the feasibility.