How to sell tickets for restaurant events in Ireland

Sell the night as a ticket, not a booking: a fixed price, a fixed number of places and payment when people buy, with your refund policy shown before they pay. That way the evening is paid for before you shop for it. On Mosey you create the event with a date, capacity, price and an optional early-bird price, the money goes to your Stripe account as tickets sell at 4% commission, and a waitlist opens if you sell out.

The rest of this guide is how to choose the event, price it so it makes money, and fill it.

Which events actually sell for a restaurant?

The ones where people get something they cannot get on a normal Friday.

• Supper clubs and tasting menus. The kitchen cooks what it wants to cook, everybody eats the same thing, and the price works because of it.
• Wine, beer and whiskey tastings. A producer, a theme and a few small plates. Good on a quiet weeknight.
• Chef's tables. A handful of seats close to the pass, sold at a premium.
• Cookery demonstrations and classes. Especially in a café with daytime space.
• Quiz nights, tap takeovers and live music. For bars that do food, a ticket fixes the numbers and the room sells drinks for hours.
• Launches and collaborations. A guest chef, a new menu, a neighbouring producer.

Pick a night that is quiet now. An event on a Saturday replaces covers you would have had. An event on a Tuesday adds a night.

How do you price a ticketed dinner?

Cost it before you price it. As an example, using round illustrative figures for a supper club of 30 seats:

• Food: €16 a head, so €480
• A drink on arrival: €4 a head, so €120
• Extra staff for the night: €350
• Total direct cost: €950

At €55 a ticket, 30 seats bring in €1,650, which leaves €700 after those costs, before card fees and commission, and before whatever the room spends at the bar. At 20 seats it leaves €150. So the questions are: how many seats must sell to cover the night, and how confident are you of selling them?

Price the evening, not the plates. A €55 six-course supper club sells more easily than a €55 dinner, because people compare it with other nights out rather than with your menu.

Use an early-bird price properly. The point is the deadline, not the discount: a reason to decide today. Set it around a fortnight before, and make the gap big enough to notice. A few euro off a €55 ticket moves people; one euro does not.

How do you set up an event on Mosey?

1. Create the event: date, time, capacity and price, with an early-bird price and deadline if you want one. Free events work too: tickets are claimed rather than bought, so you still get a numbered guest list.
2. Share it: it shows on your venue page and in the app, and has a link you can put in your social posts, emails and posters.
3. Sell: money reaches your Stripe account as each ticket is bought. The customer pays a booking fee on top of the ticket price, not you.
4. Keep people informed: send one update to everybody holding a ticket.
5. Check people in: staff check a code or a tap at the door. For a busy door, switch on self check-in and ticket holders can check themselves in from about an hour before the start.

Our guide to selling event tickets goes through each step.

What should the event page say?

The description does the selling. A page with a price and a date is asking somebody to take a risk on a Tuesday. Answer the questions they would ask you in person:

• What will we eat and drink? Name the courses, or at least the style.
• Who is cooking or pouring?
• How long does it run, and is it one sitting or arrive any time?
• Is there a drink on arrival? Are dietary requirements catered for?
• What is your refund policy?

Add one good photograph of the food, not the empty room.

What happens if it sells out, or someone cancels?

If you sell out, a waitlist opens. When a ticket holder cancels, the place goes to the next person waiting instead of sitting empty at a dinner you have already bought for.

If you have to cancel the event, one action tells and refunds everybody who holds a ticket.

On refunds generally: the 14-day right to cancel online purchases does not apply to leisure events on a specific date. What applies is your own cancellation policy, which the buyer sees before paying. Say it plainly on the event page.

Christmas parties and private hire: tickets or a quote?

It depends on who is buying.

• Open sittings sold to the public (a festive set menu on the Thursdays of December, a New Year's Eve dinner) suit tickets: fixed price, fixed capacity, paid up front.
• One group taking the room or a long table (a company party, a family celebration) suits a quote. On Mosey, Gatherings handles the enquiry, your quote, your terms and a deposit, which carries 4.5% commission. The organiser can split the deposit across the group, and guests add their own dietary requirements through one link.

How do you make the second event easier than the first?

The first event teaches you what it costs, how long it takes and how many people fit comfortably. It also gives you a list of everyone who came, which is the most valuable thing the night produced.

Afterwards, look at three numbers. How many tickets sold in the first 48 hours tells you whether the idea works. How many sold in the last 48 hours tells you whether the deadline worked. How many people came back from last time tells you whether the night worked. A monthly event with a returning core is a different business from twelve one-offs.

Choose your quietest night and put one event on it. Claim your business free or See pricing.