Jeffery Summers at Building Better Restaurants highlights a restaurateur who has written a nice policy:
“Promote your benefit, and tell everyone the date of your event. Get family, friends, neighbors, business associates, etc. to eat at the restaurant on your day. Inform your patrons to let our staff know you are here for your specific benefit. You receive 15% of the sales from the people from your benefit who dine with us. As a result, the more people who come, the more money you make! In an effort to be sensitive to our other guests we can not allow signs or soliciting at the restaurant.”
Another version of this is Guest Bartender Night. A patron actually tends bar for one or two hours and invites all there friends. All the tips and a portion of the sales proceeds go to the charity. The bar / restaurant gets exposure to new customers and the charity receives funding. Sports and Entertainment venues have elevated this idea by having charities actually operate a food stand during an event, the charity will typically receive 10% of total sales. Given that the venue commissary operator saves on the payroll of operating the stand, the arrangement is profitable for all concerned.
