Nightclub & Bar - October 2009

jukeboxes have been moneymakers and patron magnets in bar and club settings for more than half a century. And today, with new technology and functions galore, they are bigger players than ever, offering enhanced credits that can accrue to the house from the coins, bills and credit card transactions that keep the music coming.

At Fish Head Cantina in Halethorpe, Md., owner Scott Fisher saw his earnings from the jukebox increase threefold with the installation of a state-of-the-art TouchTunes system five years ago. The system offers hundreds of thousands songs and easy, remote access from vendor-pro-vided video game screens at the bar.

“We had the old-fashioned coin-oper-ated jukeboxes when I came in about six years ago,” Fisher says. His Baltimore-area bar/club/eatery draws a diverse crowd ranging in age from 21 to 50 with its variety of sports activities and live music offerings. “What was in the jukebox was what was in it, and trying to get the guy out to change the tunes was a pain in the butt.”

The digital jukebox he installed five years ago gives his customers instant access to a huge library of music via high-speed Internet technology that is updated and augmented automatically. “The beautiful thing is, the busier the jukebox gets, the longer customers are going to have to stay to hear their song. Sometimes they have to wait two hours to hear their song, and they will.”

Although he earns a percentage of the income derived from each play, Fisher says the real opportunity to profit lies in the add-on sales that accrue as a result of having a jukebox. “The longer they stay, the more money they spend. It is a beautiful thing when they stay –– especially these days in a tough economy.”

If the actual and residual sales that result from having a digital jukebox in place are not enough, Robert Greenberg, TouchTunes’ chief marketing officer and senior vice president of digital media, says other Touch Tunes offerings go even farther. One such offering is Barfly, which presents sports and entertainment content on high-definition screens in bar and club locations. “Barfly provides a screen within

Video games can be mon- eymakers for bars, keeping uests occupied and buying more food and beverages.

a screen, and the most compelling thing is that venues can promote themselves and generate income from advertisers.”

Other systems also provide for customized promotions. A soon-to-be-launched ad management feature from jukebox provider AMI Entertainment Network will allow venues to run location-branded advertising on its digital jukeboxes, says Mike Nickerson, vice president of advertising for the Bristol, Pa., music company.

“Let’s say that Tuesday night is softball league night,” Nickerson says, “and you want your patrons to come in and drink $5 pitchers of beer and eat chicken wings. This allows you to promote the event onscreen with logos and templates.

“Running these ads on your screen in the bar can increase sales by up to 20 percent. If you’ve over-ordered chicken wings, you can create an ad and blow through them before they go bad on you.”

The Color of Money

ATMs are another fixture of bars and clubs that serve as a virtual cash conduit flowing directly back into the till of an establishment, while also providing convenience to patrons.

The four Moneytree ATM machines located at the Flora-Bama Lounge & Package in Pensacola, Fla., are put to good use by customers who stop by for a beverage after work, on busy weekends or during

special events such as the venue’s annual Mullet Toss contest. At $3 per transaction in extra income for the iconic establishment that opened in its present Gulf beach location in 1964, the alternative cash windfall definitely comes in handy to manager Susan Poston. “We do make money off of our ATM machines, and it definitely helps,” she says.

But the monetary benefits of having ATMs are not limited to the transaction fees, Poston adds. “People still use credit cards at the Flora-Bama, but on big weekends, we don’t have that option because credit card transactions are too time-consuming for the bartenders. The ATMs greatly facilitate service at the bar and result in higher sales at the end of a busy night.”

Getting paid in cash for a round of drinks or dinner means venues do not have to wait to receive reimbursements from credit card companies or pay the 2. 5 percent or more per transaction charge merchants do, says Wayne Young, marketing engineer for Digital Network Solutions, the manufacturer of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.’s Moneytree ATMs. “The difference is that with credit card transactions, the owner pays a fee, whereas with an ATM machine you would essentially make a profit off of a transaction.”