On Feb 16, 2013, Rocky wrote:
Some feel that a restaurant magician brings a touch of class and ambiance to a local eatery. Some feel it's a desperate attempt to find an audience. As a former restaurant owner, my reasons for having a magician perform in the lounge area was a selfish one... I am also a magician and enjoyed having talented performers who wanted to test out new material and use my establishment as their "lab".
I never paid the magicians as all were well established pros who made their living doing magic. None of them ever felt that a living could be etched from restaurant gigs and only performed at either my invitation (and promise of a free meal) or would request an opportunity to perform based on the need to polish new effects or practice established routines before a paid private show.
Personally, I have watched restaurant magic transform from a talented magician (ie Eddie Fechter) who related to audiences with a gruff yet likable personality and performed primarily in smokey taverns with crowds who ranged from sober young couples on a first date to intoxicated know-it-alls who kept the magician on his toes both with their effects as well as their patience, to well groomed sophisticated gentlemen with expensive suits and expertly crafted props and would find it appaling to produce sponge bunnies from his pockets or perform for audiences under the age of 15.
I read posts regarding the role many magicians feel that they should play as a "house magician". I am even more interested in the opinions of how they should be reimbursed for their services. I never expected a magician to act as an "ambassador" to my restaurant. That was my wait staffs job as well as my own (obviously). The magicians were provided to do card tricks and other close-up magic suitable to the work space (bar or table top).I never expected them to seat customers, bus tables, or any other job my waitstaff was paid to be doing. If any magician did these things it would appear that my staff was incompetent during the busy hours of the evening.I would ask any performer leave my establishment if I caught him providing these services just as I would a waitstaff if I caught him/her doing magic tricks for the customers.From my viewpoint,I wanted customers to rave about the food and the service, not the card tricks.If people were coming back to watch the magician pull coins out of thin air rather than the meals my chef prepared then I knew I had a problem. Fortunately this dilemma never happened.The magicians were not bringing people back to my restaurant, it was the food and waitstaff. That is the primary reason people go out to eat.I sometimes wonder where magicians get the idea that they can approach a struggling dining establishment and increase the customer base because they can do a perfect half pass.I have news for you. The owner of a struggling restaurant is not going to rely on a magician or any other type of performer to increase business.It dosent make good business sense to spend money on a performer in lieu of improving the ambiance or, more importantly,the menu.If they do, they don't belong in the world of restaurant ownership.
I also never paid the magicians. As I noted earlier...reason being that all were genuine working pros. I have found it difficult to find restaurant magicians in the many cities I travel to. When I do come across this rare occurance, I often ask the manager/owner what he/she feels is a fair rate to give the magician. The average rate is between 30-50 bucks per hour. One restaurant owner in Rochester, New York also informed me that he forbid the magicians who worked in his place to accept tips. If they did,he fired them. The reason was that he felt his waitstaff, busboys, and kitchen staff worked their butts off to make the dining experience the best it could be for his customers. Any tip that the customer gave the magician was at the very least a portion of a tip that should rightfully go to the people who work hard to make the dining experience the best that it can be.
The fact is that there are tens of thousands of successfful restaurants in this country alone that accomplish their success without a house magician. On the other hand,there are a handful of restaurant magicians who seem to invoke that the restaurant industry needs these performers and that it can be a lucrative professsion.Maybe I'm old fashioned and would rather watch a gruff old guy in the lounge perform a couple of tricks for me and my friends while we have a few drinks and appetizers rather than have someone approach us in the dining room with a classy set of engraved silver cups and a high tech I.T. reel cleverly strapped somewhere to his clothing and demanding 150.00 per hour when the poor waitstaff are busting their hind ends to make minimum wage and sometimes even less!. What's your opinion?

On Feb 18, 2013, davidpaul$ wrote:
From my experience, there is not a whole heck of allot of qualified magical entertainers to service the demographic you site and the restaurants that I've talked to have never heard of close-up table-side magic, let alone seen close-up magic themselves. Most people, a huge percentage, have never seen a close-up magician in person.

On Feb 17, 2013, Rocky wrote:
I often wonder why ventriliquists, mimes, and comedians don't do walk around at restaurants? Is it perhaps that they are more capable of bringing an audience to them in a theater style production as opposed to "forcing " their art on unsuspecting diners?

...I would have folks come into hear the music that never patronized my restaurant and probably never would unless it wasnt for the local and popular music act. I also had a clasical pianist for many years. I wonder how my customers would have reacted if he strolled through the restaurant with an electric keyboard and played for each table independently???..kind of sounds bizarre:).

On Apr 17, 2018, MeetMagicMike wrote:
Brainbu$ter,

Very Well said. I like what you said and I like the way you make it easy to read.

Also there is nothing wrong with reviving an old thread.