In the past, we've only allowed patrons to bring drinks into our outdoor theatre. We are now considering a plan to provide lids for hot and cold beverages into both our Bowmer Theatre (capacity 600) and our Thomas Theatre (Capacity varies by configuration 240-360).
Have other theatres implemented this? What were the results? What did you learn & change about the policy?
Thanks!
David Walper - Oregon Shakespeare Festival
For several years we have not allowed drinks in to the main auditorium other than plastic bottled water. However, we have experimented with allowing alcoholic drinks in. However, our experience (of a british audience) for musicals (broadway style shows) was not great in terms of patrons causing disruption. So as a rule we don't allow them in but on a show by show basis we review it, so if we have a one night show (possibly comedy) we may allow them to be taken in if the artists rider allows it.
In terms of results some audience members liked it, some hated it ("its not theatre to allow drinks in" style comments) and in terms of extra cash we didn't see a significant increase in income.
We would never allow hot drinks in as even with lids on the potential from disruption is someone spilled it on someone else is too great.
Hope that helps.
Hi David -
We experimented with drinks in the theatre and we had mostly happy feedback from the patrons, so-so feedback from FOH and a couple of push backs from the artistic side (e.g. clinking ice, slurping, distracting) - all of which we were pretty much expecting. The real death-knell to the experiment for us was local liquor laws -- which after researching would have meant we would have had to buy an expensive stadium alcohol license rather than the the cheap-o non-profit sales one we have. It was too confusing for our ushers to have to police whether a drink had alcohol or not so we went back to bottled water only in the theater.
HeatherSeattle Rep
Hi David,
In a previous lifetime, I was at an org that always allowed drinks into the theatre (in disposable glasses). We noticed a significant drop in bar spend on shows that, for whatever reason, didn’t want drinks allowed in. There were a couple of cases where patrons became intoxicated and were disruptive to the surrounding audience, but it was very rare, and usually on shows where we would expect it (comedy, some pop/rock music) so we had extra staff on hand. And the trash pickup at the end of the night by FOH staff wasn’t adversely affected.
Aside from the obvious financial benefit, I think allowing drinks in the theatre is a small but significant good service move.
Cheers
Kathleen
From: Tessitura Customer Service Forum [mailto:forums-cust.serv@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of David WalperSent: Tuesday, 17 April 2012 2:53 AMTo: Kathleen SmithSubject: [Tessitura Customer Service Forum] Drinks or no drinks? Contemplating a change in policy...
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