Live music in a café or restaurant makes a huge impact on the success the business; fact. This does not mean to say that ANY live music being performed at your café will result in a successful business, but music that is appropriate for your establishment and your customers.

So why consider having live music at your café Why not just have an ipod playing in the corner When a customer walks into your café and a musician is performing, there is an added buzz to the place; it makes the customer feel special; it makes the venue feel special. It also makes the café appear more exclusive and that in itself means you can charge more.

Customers dining in your café make several decisions when choosing your venue. The quality and type of food is one; the quality of the service; the venue itself and the ambience of the venue are other considerations. Having live music adds to the atmosphere of the café and provided it doesn’t disturb the guests, it could be one of the main considerations when choosing where to eat.

At one of the cafés we provide live music for, the manager decided to cancel the live music, for cost saving measures. Immediately, the covers went down from an average of 95 to 35 each Saturday evening. Within six weeks we were back providing music and the covers increased again. Feedback from clients was that they were prepared to pay more for good foodservice and atmosphere, but if the music was missing, they’d rather pay less by going to a high street establishment. The manager learnt very quickly that the expectation of customers was the music as part of the whole dining experience. » Read more: Tips on Music for Venues and Cafes