Creativity: Venues finding new ways to draw in the big crowds
ENTERTAINMENT: Some scoffing at gimmicks
| Thursday, Nov 26 2009 09:05 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 26 2009 09:06 PM
A version of this story was published in the November issue of Kern Business, a magazine for business owners and managers.
Discretionary spending has been shrinking along with home equity in the aftermath of the real estate crash.
Money that used to be spent on dinner and a movie now increasingly is stashed in a savings account or used to pay bills.
That's left restaurants and entertainment venues scrambling for strategies to convince recession-weary consumers to splurge on a night out.
Friends were nervous for Russell Johnson when he founded Firehouse, a massive firefighter-themed restaurant, bar, arcade and billiards place that opened in southwest Bakersfield in March.
"I got a lot of: 'Are you crazy?' and 'What are you thinking?'" he said. "My thought process was if you're providing a good value to the consumer every day, they'll still come."
Dangling an incentive here and there can't hurt, either.
Firehouse recently introduced "parents eat free" nights on Tuesdays, a twist on the more common "kids eat free" offered by many family diners. How effective that will be, Johnson said, remains to be seen. "We haven't pushed it too hard," he said. "People are still finding out about it."
Entertainment spending increased 5.1 percent from 2007 to 2008 nationally, but had risen at more than twice that rate -- 13.6 percent -- between 2006 and 2007, according to the Consumer Expenditure Survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So everyone's after fewer dollars.
Cafe Med, which has been in business for 19 years, has witnessed several economic downturns, but this one is the worst, said owner Meir Brown.
"Fortunately, we're doing alright," he said. "We're one of the fortunate ones, but our business is down about 25 percent over the last three years. There's no way you don't notice that."
La Mina Cantina restaurant in northeast Bakersfield also is feeling the pinch. "The bar is compensating for what we're losing on the dining room right now," manager Luis Luevano said.
The restaurant hasn't laid anyone off, but downsized its staff through natural attrition and adjusted the hours of employees who remain. It's also advertising more and stepping up promotions such as happy hour seven days a week.
Not giving up
Promotions are the main strategy of the Downtown Business Association, too. Its members include restaurants, retailers and art galleries.
"We're not just sitting back and giving up," said association president Cathy Butler. "We're trying to give people a reason to come downtown. When we have special events like First Fridays and the Christmas parade and so on, our businesses always do better, so we're looking at making the area an experience rather than a single destination. It's not only about the restaurants but art exhibits and concerts and all sorts of other things you can do before or after you go out to eat."
The association's newest enticement specifically targets holiday shoppers. People who ride the downtown trolley five times can enter a drawing for a $100 shopping spree this month. In December, the value of the shopping spree jumps to $500.
Los Angeles restaurant consultant James Sinclair isn't a fan of costly gimmicks. "When you start offering deals that are too good to be true, that are unsustainable, eventually you go out of business," he said.
A better strategy is to identify a unique niche and do a really good job of providing something that consumers can't get anywhere else, Sinclair said.
Some see the recession as an opportunity.
Johnson, who had an extensive career in construction before opening Firehouse, used the economy as leverage to negotiate favorable lease terms and discounts with building contractors.
Looking at tourism differently
Bakersfield tourism has dipped a bit, judging from taxes on hotel stays. Transient occupancy tax revenue collected by the city of Bakersfield fell 4.2 percent between the 2005-06 fiscal year and 2008-09.
But that's not nearly as bad as the decline in some cities, according to the Greater Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"We've never been an iconic travel destination in the same way as a place like San Francisco or Disneyland, so you can't miss what you never had," said bureau manager Don Cohen.
Even in a recession, though, sports leagues have their state finals and organizations hold regional conferences, Cohen said.
"At a time when companies and organizations are being criticized for ritzy meetings in places like Las Vegas, we can say, 'Come here. Nobody will question it. It won't be controversial, and it won't cost a lot,'" he said.
The Kern County Board of Trade also is capitalizing on the recession to market the Central Valley's outdoor recreation opportunities. Kern is inexpensive, driving distance from major cities is quick and it's a "thrill-seeker paradise," the board touts on its website.
Aggressive outreach
Bakersfield Museum of Art says its traffic is actually up this year, probably because adult admission is a relatively painless $5, and that was reduced to $1 in July and August to lure visitors out of air-conditioned homes when temperatures soared.
Admission also is free every third Friday of the month.
In addition to free or low ticket prices, executive director Bernie Herman credits the surge in museum attendance to aggressive outreach through e-mail blasts and podcasts on its website and YouTube, as well as on-site lectures.
"We're doing everything we can to open the museum up to as many people as possible," Herman said. Yet even as paid admissions have doubled year-over-year, the museum is facing a 25 percent reduction in donations and grants, Herman said.
"We won't let it affect the quality of our programs or the number of exhibits," he said. "We just cut staff hours, do whatever we have to do."
