​Overview

We believe local, independent nightlife is vital to the health and survival of arts and culture. Small venues all over the world are incubating new talent, exciting trends and remarkable ideas. Still others are honoring history and maintaining cultural traditions. Some are even doing both.

This guide is for these venues.

This guide is for small venues struggling with challenges of reduced capacity, higher costs and reduced foot traffic in a new landscape. There is so much useful reopening information circulating currently, but precious little of it is geared towards lounges and boutique nightlife. It can be overwhelming. This guide is a synthesis of the available data and best practices from large operators, seated/ticketed venues and restaurants for use by independent operators with an eye towards boutique nightlife. In addition to collating this data we spoke with professionals across the full spectrum of nightlife,  including those in the fields of public health and risk analysis, ADA/Disability access compliance, technology solutions, talent buying, agency work and marketing. Resources from around the globe have been party to this document and it’s our hope that it will be useful for starting dialogue in most markets.

The intention is to offer independents some support and a place to start. It is not a checklist. Rather, it’s our hope that this is the beginning of a global conversation about the value and importance of small, local nightlife and how to keep it alive.

This is a living document. As best practices evolve and new ideas are tested we will update it and share it with you all.

Please reach out to us at [email protected] to share with us your experiences and challenges in reopening your venue in these trying times and let us know how and where we can support you. If resources for your region (we are global) aren’t listed or you have other questions, please also feel free to reach out. 

​See you on the dance floor!

Update: August 4, 2020

In this update of the guide we have started adding legal perspectives and guidelines from Adelman Matz P.C. They will be further enhancing the guide as it evolves to cover operational issues and their intersection with legal. This includes the following:

• A new liability disclaimer template which may be used to operators for both vendors they may be engaging and/or to provide to even attendees 
• New and updated regional resources
• Some new items in the Further Reading section of the Appendix

update: June 30, 2020

Update: June 30, 2020
We Know Some New Stuff
In the past few weeks, many markets have made false starts to their openings. We've also learned some new things about how and where COVID-19 is transmitted. With this in mind, we wanted to share some updates and further highlight related mitigation measures included in the guide.

Understanding Transmission
While surface transmission does occur (and it's important to sterilize surfaces and your hands frequently), there is growing evidence that the highest rates of transmission occur when stationary unmasked people shout, sing or laugh when close to other unmasked people in poorly ventilated areas.
(Sources: CDC 6.26 updates https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/t0625-COVID-19-update.html
WSJ 6.16 https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-exactly-do-you-catch-covid-19-there-is-a-growing-consensus-11592317650).

​We know: that sounds like a nightclub... and it is. However, measures CAN be put into place to lower these risks, and if followed closely, can enable even nightlife venues to reopen much more safely.

​Outside is safest
We're getting more information each day that transmission is much lower outdoors. If you have outdoor space, use it. If you don't, see if you can lobby in your area to open up otherwise unused public space. Assuming you are compliant with sound ordinance regulations in your area, consider outdoor events that happen earlier in the evening. Many markets have already adopted these ideas.

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Ventilation

• In the absence of outdoor space, make sure venues are as well ventilated as possible. Open doors and windows if you have them.
• Upgrade your HVAC systems and install HEPA filters with MERV ratings over 15. Lower rated filters do not filter bacteria or viruses. Further, speak with your HVAC provider/servicer about exhaust systems and other air extraction technologies that may be available. Instead of just circulation and filtering, ideally, stagnant air should be pulled out of your venue completely as frequently as possible and replaced with fresh air.​

​Masks

• Depending on where you're located, masks may be a controversial issue. However, the growing evidence is clear: masks massively reduce virus transmission.
• If you are worried about your guests wearing and complying with mask rules, we advise approaching the issue by explaining it's the only way you're able to safely operate at ALL, and that without mask regulations, you'd need to shut down.
• You may want to explain to guests (on social media and even in your messaging at the door) that the mask isn't to protect the wearer from the virus but to protect somebody else should the wearer be asymptomatic. It only works as a harm reduction measure if you have a high rate of compliance. Further, they must be worn properly, over both the nose and mouth. 
• Offer masks at the door for your guests who may not be wearing them at entry. Think about getting a brand sponsor to partner with you to provide masks and help keep costs down.

Make a Sit Down/Stand Up Rule

• If you're sitting down at a table alone or with the group you arrived with, you may remove your mask to consume drinks.
• If you're standing in line for the toilets, ordering from the bar, ordering from a waitress, or on the dancefloor, you must wear a mask.
• These rules are new for everybody and must be patiently but diligently messaged. Put mask rules on your social media and print them on tickets. Post signage in front of your venue and all around it. Educate staff on how masks work and why they're important, and give them clear tools and messaging that enable them to communicate with frustrated guests.

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Contents

Areas of Focus
Preparing the Space
Guest Experience
Preparing Your Staff
Guest Messaging
Artist Relations & Hospitality
Vendor Relations
Governmental Affairs
New Monetization Opportunities
About Us
Appendix A: Resources
Appendix B: Useful Documents
Further Reading

 

Areas of Focus

​When allowed to open, operators should limit close quarters and touch points at every opportunity.

Before Reopening
A full review of the physical space of your venue should be done. 

1. Conduct several audits: one with key serving staff, one with bussers/porters, one with security, and one with managers. 
2. Do them separately and then as a team. Every member of your team experiences the venue in a different way and will help you identify areas and ideas you might not have thought of. 
3. It’s also useful to walk and interact with your venue as a guest might. 
4. Depending on your local requirements, these meetings and reviews should be done in person and in the venue while wearing masks and complying with any relevant physical distancing protocols.

Specific attention should be paid to high-touch shared areas/items 

• ATMs (Consider restricting usage, enhanced/increased cleaning, or removal)
• Bar surfaces
• POS surfaces
• Door handles
• BOH locations (desks, office phones etc.) 
• Host stands
• Sinks
• Radios
• Speed rails
• Bottles​

Venue Layout
You may need to adjust the layout of bars, bar stools, and tables, depending on changes in local laws or ordinances affecting your level of occupancy. Keep in mind that even if you aren’t mandated to make such changes, you still may still want to make these kinds of changes and communicate about them clearly to make guests feel comfortable with the idea of visiting your venue. Even as some areas relax or remove restrictions affecting our industry, your guests will decide what level of risk they’re comfortable taking, and the level of your efforts to keep them safe and healthy will be a factor in the decisions many of them will make.

Bar and Bar Furniture Set Up/Proximity
In particular, consider the following:

1. Installing transparent partitions on the bar to separate guests from the bar staff
   
2. Reducing the number of bar stools and tables and placing them at a greater distance from each other than you have in the past
   
3. Impact of any furnishing layout changes to ingress and egress
   
4. Restroom access - do guests have enough room to queue for and use restrooms without being too closely crowded together?
   
5. How can staff best distance from one another?
   
6. Try to identify pinch points for guests and for staff and do your best to create extra space in those areas.
   

 

Preparing the Space

Initial Deep Clean
A full and proper cleaning of absolutely everything (everything!) in your venue must occur before even considering reopening (we’ll discuss full daily cleaning procedures in the venue maintenance and cleaning section). Consider engaging a local professional cleaning company and work with them to specifically identify the areas that might otherwise be overlooked 1 (resources and recommendations can be found here). If engaging such professionals is cost prohibitive for your venue, cleaning can be accomplished by properly protected staff. At the high end: Tyvek suits, face shields, N95 masks, gloves, and shoe covers. On the more cost-effective end: heavy long sleeves and pants, nitrile gloves, surgical-grade face masks and closed toed boots may be employed. Disposable polythene aprons are also recommended when completing these cleaning tasks and when taking out garbage. ​

Overall Layout Changes
​Classically, nightlife experiences are about being packed tightly together, which creates some of the vibe. Know that in our current climate that isn’t advisable, and depending on the area, may be illegal.

Outside is Safest
If you have outdoor space, use it. If you don't, see if you can lobby in your area to open up otherwise unused public space. Assuming you are compliant with sound ordinance regulations in your area, consider outdoor events that happen earlier in the evening. Many markets have already adopted these ideas.​ ​In the absence of outdoor space, make sure venues are as well ventilated as possible. Open doors and windows if you have them.

Here are some ideas of how to change up the layout of your venue:

1. Nightlife tables can be spaced farther apart.
2. Bar stools can be spaced farther apart and perhaps bolted to the floor.
3. Some venues are considering installing partitions between tables or at the bar to separate guests from bartenders. 
4. Consider removing/closing urinals and increasing the number of restrooms devoted to women (as compliant with local Dept. of Health laws) to cut down on long queues. Alternatively, and to the extent practicable, make all bathrooms genderless. Many venues have found eliminating gendered bathrooms makes managing bathroom lines easier. 
5. Limiting access to the DJ booth and perhaps even removing tables in and around the booth to discourage booth crowding.
6. Change your ingress and egress flow to eliminate pinch points. Ingress will be slower due to enhanced screening measures so take that into account when re-working your entry. 
7. Ensure that areas used by staff for storing their belongings or getting dressed include hand sanitizing stations and/or sinks. If that means you have to move the location of a staff area, consider doing that.

​​You cannot overdo it with hand sanitizer, wipes, and washing stations. When rearranging your venue these should receive pride of place. Many venues have invested in hand sanitizer stands.

A dancefloor with indicators for physical distancing

Bar area safety enhancement measures (click the picture to see specific resources to implement this at your venue)

Dancefloors

• Dance floor capacity will end up relying almost entirely on regulations in your area and the layout of your venue. it is advisable to create as much space as possible between seated tables and general admission (GA) if your tables surround the dance floor.  This can be accomplished simply by creating a double rope line. Ditto for the front of the DJ booth and GA on the dance floor.

Separating the dance floor from tables and DJ booth

• ​It's not possible to enforce a  2-meter distance between GA guests on the Dancefloor so decisions will need to be made about limiting the capacity of the venue if this is a major concern in your area. While strict enforcement may not be possible, it’s important to create environments where your guests CAN practice physical distancing.

VIP Areas

1. Tables should be spaced in such a way that creates space between tables. 2-meters is ideal.
2. You may want to consider setting up bottle boxes or cages to limit access to bottles only to wait staff. Additionally - consider putting lids on all mixers and garnishes (some venues have eliminated garnishes all together).

Venue Maintenance and Cleaning

1. Constant cleaning of the venue from open to close.
   1. Employ a single person or team of people who do nothing but constantly wipe down surfaces and sweep with hand-held UV sterilizers.
   2. Re-stock hand sanitizer and other materials.
2. High-touch areas should be fully disinfected at the end or beginning of each day (all the bottles, hand guns, POS terminals, ATMs, etc).
3. If you can afford it, consider weekly, bi-weekly or monthly industrial cleanings. 
4. If you’re not already using HEPA filters (MERV rating 15-20 will filter viruses and bacteria, lower rated ones will not) in your HVAC system, then upgrade. Plan on replacing your filters and getting your HVAC system serviced at least twice as often as you have in the past. Further, speak with your HVAC provider/servicer about exhaust systems and other air extraction technologies that may be available. Instead of just circulation and filtering, ideally, stagnant air should be pulled out of your venue completely as frequently as possible and replaced with fresh air. 
5. It’s a good idea to document all of your cleaning efforts and schedules for the purposes of sharing with local authorities or in the event of a lawsuit.
6. For soft (porous) surfaces such as carpeted floor, rugs, and drapes, remove visible contamination if present and clean with appropriate cleaners indicated for use on these surfaces.
7. Disinfectant solutions: 
   1. UV cleaning (hand held and portal)  
   2. ElectroStatic spray cleaning 
   3. 24-hour surface sanitizers 
   4. Good ole soap and water 

A full list of approved cleaning supplies may be found here.

 

Guest Experience

These suggestions should be considered the ideal. Please adjust protocols accordingly to regulations in your region and budget.

Ingress
The way you manage entry to your venue is perhaps one of the areas most altered by COVID-19. General order of operations should be as follows:

Click the item above to view specific resources we recommend to accomplish the above

Consider ways to stagger arrivals

• Time-sensitive tickets 
• Digital queuing 
• Tiered discounts for early arrivals 
  • $20 off entry between 11 and 12 
  • Free beer between 12 and 12:30 
  • … and so on

 Masks

• ​Depending on where you're located, masks may be a controversial issue or they may be mandatory. However, the growing evidence is clear: masks massively reduce virus transmission.
• If you are worried about your guests wearing and complying with mask rules, we advise approaching the issue by explaining it's the only way you're able to safely operate at ALL, and that without mask regulations, you'd need to shut down.
• ​You may want to explain to guests (on social media and even in your messaging at the door) that the mask isn't to protect the wearer from the virus but to protect somebody else should the wearer be asymptomatic. It only works as a harm reduction measure if you have a high rate of compliance. Further, they must be worn properly, over both the nose and mouth.
• Offer masks at the door for your guests who may not be wearing them at entry. Think about getting a brand sponsor to partner with you to provide masks and help keep costs down. ​

Make a sit down/stand up rule:

• ​If you're sitting down at a table alone or with the group you arrived with, you may remove your mask to consume drinks.
• If you're standing in line for the toilets, ordering from the bar, ordering from a waitress, on the dancefloor, or in any other public area of the venue, you must wear a mask.
• These rules are new for everybody and must be patiently but diligently messaged. Put mask rules on your social media and print them on tickets. Post signage in front of your venue and all around it. Educate staff on how masks work and why they're important, and give them clear tools and messaging that enable them to communicate with frustrated guests.

If you’re a venue that relies on a large volume of table service and/or guestlist, look at:

• Enabling an easy way to allow your guests to sign up online or book VIP tables online for a more efficient check-in process. If you do not have a system that can enable this already, here is a free option we recommend. 
• Offer devoted lines for guests who pre-register on the guest list or book a VIP table.
• Pre-mapping rooms so you limit guests’ time waiting for tables. 
• Have hosts engaged in as much advance service with clients as possible. If you know what time VIP tables are showing up, it will be easier to expedite their entry while reducing interaction with other guests. 
• We recommend allowing guests to pre-order their first round of bottles so they can be waiting for them at the table or shortly thereafter. 
• Have VIP table guests sign and agree to commitment envelopes digitally or via their own smartphones.
• Can you stagger/mandate table arrival times?
  • Again, offer incentives here … a BoGo or similar if their entire party  arrives within 10 mins of their target arrival time.  
• We understand that big scrums at the door with people jockeying for the doorman can be much of the show you put on at your door. Unfortunately, currently large groups of people gathering and standing around in this way isn’t advisable. Think about presenting these new operations as high tech service upgrades for clients … now, you can show up to the venue and breeze right in – no signing of commitment envelopes, you can sit down and your bottles are waiting for you.

Ordering from the Bar

• After completing Ingress screening processes, guests should enter the venue in small groups (no more than 5 to 10 at a time) at roughly 1-2 minute intervals. 
• If you are employing touchless tech solutions, upon completing the screening process, guests should receive notification on their phone, which will assist them in starting a digital tab and viewing your menu. Here is a free option we recommend.
• Whether you are utilizing integrated tab technology or not, your venue should consider eliminating cash payments and working only with cards and touchless options such as Google and Apple pay. This is not legal in all localities, so make sure you are familiar with the laws in your area. 
• Interactions at the bar should be severely limited. Consider having wipeable, disposable or virtual menus available through scanning a QR code through guest phones for guests to minimize the need for guests to lean over and yell into the bartender's face in loud environments. If you use face coverings as opposed to face shields for staff, keep in mind that it is more difficult to understand what somebody is saying if you cannot see their mouth. Clear face coverings are available commercially. There is also an ADA concern here for the deaf or hard of hearing. Here is a resource to help you with this. 
• Also if you are considering having digital or disposable menus, have the most popular items numbered so the guest can signal with their hands what they would like. (Ex: 1. Rum & Coke 2. Tequila Soda, etc.)
• As guests approach the bar: 
  • Here a visual indicator should be given about where to order 
  • Think LoTac vinyl adhesives on bar surfaces spaced 2-meters apart,
  • Some venues may want to implement clear plexiglass barriers around these areas, limiting lateral contact as well as contact between bartenders and guests. Here is a resource to help you install these. 
• Allow guests to digitally close their tabs to limit additional interactions between your staff and guests. This will also allow you to serve more guests and increase revenue while increasing guest satisfaction. Here is a free app we recommend. 

 

Preparing Your Staff

Preparing Staff for Reopening

• The safety of your staff is paramount. You likely already mandate handwashing and general venue cleanliness. However, in advance of reopening, the entire staff should be retrained on post-COVID cleaning practices (reviewed below), proper guest interaction (reviewed below) and proper handwashing (20 seconds, soap and hot water, disposable towels, in-between fingers, etc). This training should be mandatory and all team members should be asked to sign an acknowledgement that they’ve completed this training. 
• Staff should be asked to complete a health declaration. Click here for an example. 
• With a touchless handheld or infrared thermometer, prepare to check staff temperature at reopening meetings and at the beginning of every subsequent shift. Further, consider mandating health declarations be filled out every 14-21 days. 
• Travel 14 days before returning to work should be discouraged. Socialize this to your staff well enough in advance of return to operations.  
• Be prepared with resources in your area for staff – ie, testing sites and hospital/doctors that may provide specialized care. Socialize this information to your staff before opening and continue to share these resources as the situation in your region evolves. 
• It is advisable that all staff wear face coverings and/or face shields and it may even be mandated in your area. Spend some time with your team leads coming up with concepts customized to your brand. Many major operators around the world are working with costuming and uniform teams to come up with cool ways to keep staff and guests safe. Here are some resources to get you started. 
• Doing a mock service with all workers to get used to the changes in uniform, protocols, and venue layout will prove extremely helpful once you reopen.

We are available to support you as you navigate reopening with your staff and management teams. Contact us at [email protected] anytime. ​​

In-Venue Staff Protocols

• Every member of staff is to have their temperature taken at the beginning of each shift. 
• Be prepared to decide what to do if an worker does have a fever. Do you just send them home?  Do you refer them for testing? Do you have in-house medical staff that can do a secondary screening? Regardless of what you decide, nobody with a fever should be allowed to work. 
• No staff should be permitted to work if they display other signs of COVID-19, such as coughing difficulty breathing, etc.
• Staff should be required to wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds at the beginning of their shift and every 30 minutes (or a minimum of every 60 mins) thereafter. 
  • Follow these five steps every time. 
    1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap. 
    2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. 
    3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice (we like to sing the chorus to “Ms. Jackson” by OutKast twice … it’s more fun than Happy Birthday)
    4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water. 
    5. Dry your hands using a clean, disposable towel. 

• Based on the recommendations laid out above, staff should wear protective face coverings etc. for the duration of the time they are in the venue.
• Remind staff that they should not be touching their faces or hair, etc., while working.
• Review appropriate coughing and sneezing protocols … staff should sneeze into the crook of their elbow, not their hands. 
• Staff should sanitize any shared serving surfaces or POS before and after every use. 
• This gets tricky at a high-volume bar, we know. It's one of the reasons we advocate for touchless payment and ordering options at best and at least dedicated POSs for each member of staff.  
• Staff should always sanitize guest-facing areas immediately prior to serving and interacting with a guest. This can be accomplished with hand held UV sterilizers, wipes, sprays etc.2
• Close contact with other staff members in guest-facing areas should be avoided. 
• Think about eliminating a culture of staff shots with guests if you have that as part of your venue experience. ​

 

Guest Messaging

Pre-Opening Guest Messaging/Marketing

• It’s important to let guests know your venue is reopening and that new cleaning procedures, staffing protocols, and entry processes will be in place. Social media is generally the most effective way to do this, but also consider terrestrial radio if it’s still a popular medium in your area. 
• Be upfront with your guests: let them know this has been a struggle and you and your team have worked hard to pivot to meet the current state of affairs safely. It is vitally important to provide advance notice to guests, specifically of new door procedures and any new rules you may have. There are notification compliance requirements that may apply, so be diligent in keeping folks up to date.
• Tell the truth and over-communicate. 
• Most of all, be clear about YOUR mission as a venue. Why should guests come back? Why is your venue important for the health of nightlife in your community? What did you miss most about your regulars while you were closed?  
• Before you open, take some time to prepare responses and messaging for an array of scenarios so you’re not scrambling. Consider messaging for:
  • What to do in the event somebody tests positive for COVID who has been at or works for your venue. Are you keeping information on attendees so that local contact tracing programs can notify other attendees?
  • How to respond to guests who are annoyed or frustrated with the new ingressing procedures.
  • A clear and concise explanation of your cleaning plan. You should plan on having consistent responses across platforms. It is advisable to put a single person or small group of people in charge of responding to guests and engaging on social media so the tone and style are consistent. Pick the most level-headed amongst you. Getting into flame wars on IG is never a good look.

​Some operators are looking at mimicking the sorts of bag restrictions you find at most sporting events, namely requiring guests to carry clear bags and limiting their size. Such restrictions serve to limit contact in bag searches (they can be done visually) and have other added venue safety perks. Still other operators are playing around with their ticketing platforms to integrate digital queuing. Many venues are instituting more widespread use of cashless/touchless payment and ordering options. If you are considering procedures like this or any others, tell people. Print it on tickets, shout it from your social media or put signage in front of your venue that’s visible during the day.

On-Site Guest Messaging

• Train all staff, especially door staff to patiently and clearly communicate protocols with guests. This is a new experience for everybody and it’s important to bring patrons along with you.

• Be prepared with a communications protocol for enforcing rules at the door for people who may be reluctant to comply and focus on explaining why it's important. Perhaps you can explain that the only way the venue is able to operate at all is with these enhanced screening measures and in venue precautions (face masks for guests and staff, physical distancing etc.). Post clear signage about the rules and make sure staff are all on the same page. To the extent you are a ticketed event, make sure the rules and potentially a liability waiver are part of your ticketing terms of service. If you are not a ticketed event, consider having guests sign or digitally agree to the rules and/or a liability waiver. Enforcement of rules and related communications must be consistent in order to be effective.

• Be prepared for disability compliance and access issues that may arise from your new practices. 
  • Have you arranged your venue in such a way that it's now difficult for a person with a disability to get around easily? 
  • Can they get through your UV sanitizing scanner in a wheelchair?
  •  If you're using face coverings for staff, this may create an issue for a deaf guest - how do you plan to make an accommodation for that person?

Think about these issues in advance of opening and have a clear and consistent operational and guest communications response.

• Signage, signage, signage! Whatever the rules are - make signage clearly explaining them and post them EVERYWHERE. Be mindful of a need to communicate in many languages and focus on infographics and written instructions. Here is a resource to help you with this signage. 

 

Artist Relations & Hospitality

Buying in a Time of Turmoil

• In general, we’re big advocates of building and maintaining strong, healthy local scenes. At this time, and especially with limited capacity of venues, stick to local talent. You probably can't afford a big act right now and you may not have sufficient capacity to justify the ROI. Your focus should be on nourishing and building back-up your local community. 
• Alternatively, consider working with agents to create smaller intimate parties for larger acts, with respective fees. Try fun things like unannounced album release parties, listening parties, or boutique brands. 
• Artists and agents have also been In lockdown during this time and are eager and willing to negotiate with promoters and operators.  Be straightforward and honest about your budget, capacity, and general capabilities as a venue right now. 
• Finally, it’s worth buying acts and booking refundable tickets for gigs several months out. With the understanding between all parties that anything can happen, make sure you look at your contract language to understand what your and the talent’s obligations would be if you do need to reschedule for a variety of potential reasons; however if you’re willing to speculate a little you can get very good deals on talent and travel.

Artist Hospitality Protocols

• Understand and be prepared that artists and their tours may not be interested in sharing rooms right now.
• Be considerate in the way you manage ground transportation. Before, you might have been able to shove 9 people in a single SUV; it is advisable to send an extra vehicle now.
• Make sure that any drivers, artist relations people, buyers, and promoters operate with appropriate physical distancing and wear masks, or whatever the standard protective protocol is in your region when picking up and interacting with artists. 
• Be prepared to provide PPE1 materials to artists when they arrive. Perhaps creating a branded care/welcome package.
• Now more than ever, special attention should be paid to the condition of artist transportation vehicles.  
  • Consider outfitting vehicles with physical separators between drivers and artists. 
  • Prohibit riding in the front seat.
  • Make sure hand sanitizer, etc. is available in all vehicles. 
• Advance the safety measures that you're implementing in your venue with artists or their tours. 
• Consider working with tours to limit entourages as much as possible and keep DJ booths/stages/green rooms as free from overcrowding as possible. 
• If you don't already, make sure that a qualified member of your wait staff delivers hospitality riders to artist areas and executes appropriate hygienic practices. Shared consumable hospitality items such as the following should be eliminated: 
  • Veggie Trays 
  • Bowls of Chips 
  • Platters of sushi etc. 

Stick to packaged and sealed items instead.  

• DJ booths, stages and any shared equipment should be sanitized at the beginning of the night, between acts, and at the end of the night.
• As with everywhere else in your venue, you can never have too much hand sanitizer and/or wipes around. This goes double for artist areas.

 

Vendor Relations

• Vendors should be subject to the same protective screening and risk mitigation measures as your staff and guests.
• Consider having vendors/contractors sign a liability waiver.  
  
• Discuss your expectations with vendors. 
• Prepare to have handwashing stations in place for receiving days. 
• Practice physical distancing (contactless drop-offs are a great place to start).
• Consider asking all delivering vendors to fill out a health declaration. See example here. 

 

Governmental Affairs

Currently we are seeing a general attitude from local authorities that nightlife that includes dance floors isn’t possible to execute. We reject this idea and urge you and local governments to work together to find solutions. 

As outlined in this document, by creating opportunities for patrons to physically distance with adjusted capacity, restrooms, spacing VIP tables, bar stools as well as 2 meter markers on floors and at points of interaction, we are able to create environments that are at least as safe as shops, restaurants and other businesses that are currently being permitted to open. 

Additionally we have outlined stringent health screening prior to entry and diligent cleaning of venues that goes above and beyond what many other businesses are mandating.  

It is advisable to be proactive instead of reactive with your risk-mitigation and sanitation efforts. Just because your area doesn’t have a clear plan yet doesn’t mean you can’t lead the way with best practices. It is our experience that anticipating and preparing for any issues or concerns in your local municipality will make it much easier to get back on your feet.

We are available to support you as you navigate reopening with your local officials and health departments.

Contact us at [email protected] anytime. 

​

 

New Monetization Opportunities

So you've been closed for three months, are reopening with a significantly reduced capacity and now you're being told you have to hire more people, invest in new protocols and technologies, and buy enough cleaning supplies to sterilize the International Space Station. How is it possible to afford all this?

Below are just a few ideas to help make up some of the revenue you’ve lost: 

• Liquor distributors are struggling too and they want your business; ask for deals and brainstorm with your relationships to come up with inventive ideas.
• Consider opening or operating at times where you might not have previously. These should be low-density events that require minimal staff and wont jam-pack the venue. 
  • Maybe you can run a mixology after work happy hour? 
  • A Sunday afternoon “tea dance”. 
  • Disco Lunches! 
  • Some venues are opening up as spaces for yoga classes, ZUMBA, etc. 
• Partner with sponsors on guest incentives to get folks in the door - sponsored BoGo’s, Happy hours, etc. 
• Partner with sponsors to brand your safety initiatives. 
  • Branding on masks or other PPE
  • Integrated brand presence on touchless solutions. Consider offering to beta-test new platforms for free or low cost.
• Tell people what you’re doing. Message what you’re up to on social media and get people invested and excited about your reopening.
• Maximize your people (aka, labor)
  • Many venues have more staff than they truly need. Review every task and operational element to your business and see where you can become more efficient.
  • In most cases, replacing technology with human capital can save the business a lot of money and accomplish the same goal. 
  • Consider automating tasks such as reservation taking, check-in of guests, taking cover charges, guest communication/FAQs, and payments. Here is a free app to help you with some of that. 
  • Focus more of your staff on revenue-generating tasks such as taking orders and pouring drinks as well as guest experience tasks such as checking in on guests or frequently asking if they would like another drink, which will also result in larger checks.
  • Tasks such as closing checks or running back and forth to the Point-of-Sale can waste time and can be automated with technology. Leverage these opportunities to do more with less resources. Here is an example of a free app that will allow your guests to close their tabs from their own phones. 

• Find ways to collect guest contact information (remember data is the most valuable resource today!) so you can better serve them and bring them back more often.
  • Great ways to collect data include using an ID scanner, having your guests book in advance and collect their information online, allowing them to pay from their phone and capturing key information in the process. Remember, we live in an age where consumers want to be known and feel special so they freely give up this information.
  • Give specials to your top spenders and get them to come back for one more visit in a month than they typically do, which will result in higher loyalty and revenue.
  • Get your liquor brands involved and share which guests are buying which brands so they can pay for specials you offer them to get them in your venue more frequently. Brands are also looking for more loyalty and are willing to spend money to buy that loyalty.
• For venues that are required to open at limited capacities, enforce minimums for spending at your tables or even at the bar. For example, charge $50 to reserve a spot but once your guest arrives they receive a $50 bar tab. This will guarantee your revenue even with a limited capacity.

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