I did my first day as a trial at a restaurant today. If the manager approves it I will be at the venue on Kids Night each Tuesday. I hope it works out.

Best of Luck Mike!

-Mary Mowder

Hoping for the best...you are one of the handful of magicians who I have actually seen perform that posts here on the café. You're great!!

Good luck my friend.

Good luck Dynamike!

Hey guy, you've done it all before, and from what read, successfully. No difference. People in a restaurant , people at a party, same/same. As usual, you'll do a great job. Go in there and get 'em.

Good luck!

312 views of this post at the time I visited it! People are interested in what's going on, Mike. All the best in this new setting.
Tell us how it goes.

Approved!!! I will start next week on Tuesday.

Instead of the $75 an hour I suggested, he wants to start with $50 hourly and a free meal. He said if I increase the crowd in 6 weeks he will change my fee to $75 hourly.

To help increase guest attendance I will tell the kids I will reward them with a free magic trick after 5 times coming to the restaurant. I will hand them a cheap trick like Fortune Telling Fish for example.

Another idea to help increase attendance is to have a 8x10 photo of me near the entrance door.

Anyone know of any other methods to help increase attendance besides great entertainment?

God forbid you have to resort to being entertaining. We don't want that to happen.

I think that you can enhance the value of a "cheap" trick by having used it in your set. You can do the same with other slum magic as well.

Congrats, Mike! I don't think you really even need any advice or tips, but since you asked, here's what I can offer as a trench worker:

When I started at my first restaurant, I asked them what the slowest night of the week was. They told me it was Wednesday. I told them, "Give me three months... If things haven't turned around, I'll walk. No hard feelings." That was almost two years ago! We started with every-other Wednesday and after a few months bumped it up to weekly (which essentially doubled my money). Today, Wednesday is the busiest week night by far. I have always used this as a benchmark for all of my other restaurants. Going in to a new place, I'm always thinking to myself, "You've got three months, Matt... You can do this." Now I'm working steadily at 4 restaurants and it's all thanks to applying what I learned with the first one.

I suggest getting some posters made. I recommend using a 'theme' so all of your posters look basically the same. That's a good thing because it makes them instantly recognizable and easy to make changes to! Make two different sizes - 11x17 and 3x8 Here are what mine look like: http://imgur.com/a/ujHth
The bigger ones are for hanging up around the restaurant and the 3x8s are for those little black books that the servers give people their checks in. In the beginning, I always pay for this stuff myself, but it's worth it. Don't even tell them you're doing it. Just walk in one day and be like, "Surprise!" I promise, as long as they are nice, no one will complain about them. After you do this, send a digital copy to the owner/GM and when you start to notice that the 3x8 cards are running out, politely ask them if they would get some more printed for you. I've never had anyone say no and BONUS- you don't have to pay for them anymore!

You are 100% right about the kids. They are far and away your biggest allies. If you really impress the kids of a family, they WILL be back 100% of the time. I even have some families that come to a few different restaurants, all because of the kids! I do give out souvenirs. I let them keep a signed card, but I only give them the things that would end up in the trash otherwise. One time I bought a case of those "rattle snake eggs" pranks for like $5 and gave those away. I don't necessarily think giving them a cheap magic trick is a bad idea though, just don't make yourself look desperate to get them to come back. Remember- to the kids AND the adults, you've got to be larger than life. You're a freaking super hero, man! You don't need to bribe them with trinkets to get them to come back. They're going to come back because you're funny and entertaining and witty and *** handsome!

Advertise!
After a few months, if everything's going well, you will get comfortable and be able to easily handle the crowd. You might feel like giving things a little boost and really pushing yourself. This is the perfect time to advertise. I mean, of course you should have been doing the social media thing this whole time (and so should the restaurant! If they aren't, talk to the manager about it), but believe it or not, putting an ad in the paper DOES work, I promise! And the best part is, you can usually get the restaurant to pay for at least half, if not all of it because you'll be advertising them as much as yourself! Here is an ad I just did recently in a real estate publication that is in every gas station and grocery store in my county: http://imgur.com/JvXdgWv

If there is a bar in this restaurant, DON'T NEGLECT THE BAR!!! The people sitting there want to see magic too. Get in good with the bartender and see if you can perform from BEHIND the bar. Especially if the bar is rectangular or horseshoe shaped, because then you can perform for the whole bar at one time. If you can really wow the whole bar at once and get them in a uproar, screaming and laughing and clapping, take my word for it- this WILL get back to the owner and it will make you look like a rock star. In fact, this is true in the rest of the place as well. If you're at a table and you notice the next table over is watching, back up and perform for both at once! The bigger you can make your audience, the faster you'll be able to move through the restaurant, and this will be extremely important once things start getting busy. You don't ever want anyone to miss out just because you were so busy you never made it to their table.

Um.. Okay... I kind of went in a zone there... Sorry for typing so much. Congrats again, Mike! I love working restaurants. It's intimate, fast paced and FUN! I hope you have tons of success in your new one! Welcome to the trenches!

Table tents?

I'd call them inexpensive tricks rather than cheap tricks.

At my restaurants I let the kids know that if they come in for their birthday I will make them a balloon hat using the same number of balloons as their age. A five year old gets a balloon hat made with five balloons for instance. The kids really look forward to this and I always act overwhelmed at how many balloons I have to use for them.

If you don't do balloons perhaps a special birthday trick would achieve the same thing.

Danny I think you would even admit that was a pretty snarky post of yours. The entertainment is assumed. Dynamike was asking about promotion.

Very helpful post all round Mike.

I think they should get a small gift every time. (coloring page, FF Fish, funny buck with jokes or tricks, etc...) or nothing. Sometimes giveaways are one more thing for a Kid to lose and cry about.

If anyone came in 5 times to get the Fortune Telling Fish I think they (or the Parents) might b underwhelmed. The 5 visit thing also brings up book keeping or card punching and cards get lost. It just sounds like it might be a hassle. If they have a good time the Family will probably return.

-Mary Mowder

I also send the family home with a riddle. I ask them not to look up the answer on the internet but work on it as a family. They often return within a few weeks with the kid proudly holding a tattered piece of paper with the answer to the riddle.

The first riddle I always give is: Name ten parts of the human body that are spelled with just three letters. No medical terms or anything that makes me blush (and I blush easily). You are not allowed to repeat words (eg toe, toe, toe, toe). Most importantly you must get the ten that I am thinking of but don't worry they are the most simple and obvious ones.

These riddles are very popular. People come in and ask me for the latest one. They sometimes try to stump me with a riddle but at this point I've heard pretty much all of the really good ones. If they stump me it's usually because the riddle doesn't really make sense.

In my restaurants I use: Magic, Balloons, Riddles, and Brainteasers such as puzzle boxes or trick locks.

Well said Magic Mike.

I did give out Rising Wands on the first day. Thank you everyone.

Realy nice post
Thanks for sharing mike!

Matty Whipple provided a lot of useful information. My add on would be to really work the social media aspect. All it costs is a few minutes of your time each day. Post on Yelp* a review about the restaurant and give the "strolling magician" a big great review at the same time. There are dozens of sites where you can plug your kids night.
Best of Luck!

Patrick, are you talking about giving yourself a great review or asking clients to give a review?

-Mary Mowder