Okay, first let me say that I don't work solely for tip anymore. However, a situation came up at a nice restaurant that said we can come by any night we want and perform for tips. I know the GM and really love the restaurant so we decided to do it. It's a rare restaurant that is extremely expensive but also geared for families. So my wife thought we would do well there. She would do face painting and I would do balloons.
Things worked out fantastic. On the nights we would normally be home, we would go out there, have a blast and make three hundred dollars or so in a couple hours. However, the tips, as you know, were so good not only because of the balloons, but the way you interact with the table. They have been getting busier and busier in season and there truly isn't room to stroll inside. They have a fantastic place in the entrance to set up at. Honestly it works out great there as I don't have to watch out for servers and the place is really tight.
The downside is that instead of interacting with the families, they send their kids up. Instead of the 5, 10, 20 dollar tips, now they are a dollar or two. They probably think they are going to get a simple dog. The place is truly to busy to stroll so I am trying to make the new location work. I have heard of many entertainers charging $5 per balloon. I have done it at fairs and festivals, but never at restaurants. What do you guys think of this? Number one, how do you phrase it to not discourage the bigger tips but make sure that $5 is the minimum? I have heard of twisters using this in restaurants and it really working out well. At a place where the average diner spends about 40 per person, it shouldn't be a problem.
Any ideas?

Thanks for all your input!

I think that asking for a minimum tip is not really the best idea. It's now no longer a "tip" - that's you becoming a vendor of balloons in the restaurant. For a high end restaurant, that could be less than the image they want to project to their customers.

I also completely understand how your tips would drop when kids are coming up to you, instead of you visiting the tables.

Unless you can get back to visiting the tables and making the balloons in front of the parents, I would say the next best idea would be for the restaurant to be paying you directly for your entertainment. That way, any tips are just an added bonus and not your main income, since you're being compensated for your time and entertainment directly by the restaurant.

I'd think a high end restaurant, that's extremely busy, would be able to pay you a fair enough rate so that between the tips & the guaranteed rate, you're coming out the same as visiting the tables. They can see it as a welcome promotion that keeps their family customers happy.

While Smarty is right... they should be paying you I think I have a solution for your current dilemma.

It seems to me that the real problem is that you have gone from engaging the parents ( and thus getting good tips) to being a quick distraction for the kids, resulting in lower tips. The solution is therefor to ensure that you start to engage the parents again... it's a problem I have come up against when twisting/ busking at festivals and here's what I did.

Firstly, I made a small menu and wrote it on a whiteboard, the menu was divided into three sections with increasingly complex twists in each section... at the top of the first section I wrote "recommended tip $3", in the next "recommended tip $4" and the last "recommended tip $5". It's important to write the menu rather than have pictures or photos... this is because some kids can't read and you really want them to go get their parents to help them decide what to get ( yes, it's manipulative, I know). Note: it's important to write "recommended tip"... that way you are not charging or vending ( really, of course, you are... kind of) and you can explain to people that you work for tips... I often say something along the lines of " you pay what you want... if you paid what I want it'd be $5000 per balloon!".

Secondly... when kids come up without parents TELL them that you can only twist balloons for kids whose parents/ grown ups are with them. They WILL go get a grown up and when the grown up arrives explain nicely that you have to have a grown up there to ensure that the kids don't suffer from latex allergies. Yes, this is a lie but it makes you look responsible AND it ensures that the parent will be there throughout... and parents carry wallets, kids don't.

Finally... get rid of any tip bucket you may have. Twist the balloon and hand it to the kid, THEN hand your business card to the parent... tell them it's a warranty card.... this creates an exchange energy between you and the parent and the parent will reciprocate by handing you some money; since noone wants to look cheap this will be in note form and will probably correspond with your suggested tip, or better.

This has worked for me at festivals very well... never tried it in a restaurant but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Good luck

tom

Thanks so much for the advice. I know it's an odd situation. I've never worked solely for tips and never thought I would. The only reason that I haven't pushed to get paid is that with getting paid, I would have to commit a night of the week to being there. It's coming into our busy season and we really couldn't charge enough to make it worth our while to turn down private parties. This way, we can show up only when we have our nights off and still make the same amount of money.

I understand what Smarty is saying about tips vs charging. I've had many street vendors tell me the same thing. I was trying to ride that delicate balance on the wording and how to let them know what the balloons are worth.

Thanks so much for the advice, guys!

Hi EvansFlorida, if I could follow up on your response - I do two restaurants a week for pay + tips and they are both very successful. I promote the night, the restaurant does well on the Family Nights - it's a win/win for both of us.

But yes, there are times of the year like December where I can't always be at the restaurants every single night, every single week. For those situations, I have two very reliable, professional other twisters that I have to fill in for me. You'd have to find someone reliable in your area that the restaurant is happy with, but once you have at one or two good "subs" to use, then it works out nicely for everyone because you know your restaurant is safely covered.