Concessions in Tessitura

We started to look into this but the project was put on hold because at the time there was no EMV integration available in Canada and our FOH team wouldn't consider not using EMV. We're still not EMV capable with our current setup but looking into getting there soon. At that time we'll pick up the QuickSale dream again.

Our Finance team loved the idea because they could then use Tess' reports and our custom GL export/import tool for concessions instead of all of the manual entry they do now.

That said, our FOH team has not been wowed by QS functionality so far. It's been over a year since I've looked at it with them so I can't remember their specific complaints. One of the biggest hurdles we had was simply setting it up. We thought it would be really great to have one concession "performance" to pair up with each actual performance. We would then use price types and price type reasons to sell the various items. We figured it would be a bit of work to maintain but not too terrible with the Copy Performance feature. Plus reporting would be super smooth. Unfortunately, QS is built to work best with lots of performances and fewer price types. So it would be better to have a performance for each concession type. While definitely possible, it wasn't how we preferred to go.

If I can think of other things that we discovered I'll let you know.

I'm very sure there are orgs out there that have successfully sold concessions through Tess so I'm sure you'll get some positive feedback!

Thanks so much!! I did a presentation on selling "other things" through Tessitura, and out hopes were always to get concessions set up. Now that we are closer to wanting to do this, I was hoping someone else is fully selling concessions in Tess.

Hi Amy,

Things may be different now, but when I worked at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre a few years ago they handled concession/merchandise sales at their lobby bookstall via Tessitura. If I remember the details, each product was set up as its own performance (helpful since you can use the seatmap to manage inventory), and everything was sold to a generic 'lobby bookstall' constituent. Presumably with that setup you could use order dates if you needed to track sales back to a specific date or performance time. This was before Quicksale, so if they're still using Tessi in the lobby I'm not sure what sort of improvements they may have made!

Perhaps someone there could offer more details, since plenty could have changed since then. There's also this forum thread that covers some similar ground if it's helpful at all: http://www.tessituranetwork.com/Community/forums/p/17675/53253.aspx#53253

Cheers!

Evan

Thanks Evan! Would you have any contact information for anyone over there? I was thinking if we set one "Concessions" performance up for the last Fiscal day of the year, we could use different price types to sell the concessions (popcorn, pop, candy, etc) and just do what you suggested to sort by order date. If you have the correct contact, I'd be much obliged! 

Just sent you a message with what info I have.

I realize this post is rather old and I'm curious to know if things have moved forward on this at all and also the volume of concessions and variety of product people are offering.

Thanks

Paula

Hi Paula! We actually started using this full time. We sell what is called "Showbucks" in Tessitura, and they are in $2 increments. Our concessions are fairly cheap ($2, $4, $6, etc) so this is the perfect solution for anyone wanting to use their credit card to purchase concessions. They come to the Ticket Office and buy their showbucks, and use the ticket/voucher to redeem at the concessions. Let me know if you have further questions. It would be too long to explain in detail. I'll also be at the Conference this year if you'd like to meet up and chat!