We hit the half-year mark last week – here’s what’s happening behind the scenes at 443:
Name Change
Lots of people have been asking what’s happening with our name change.
The attorney for the Nashville Listening Room has been pushing us to commit to a time table for making the change and we’re shooting to have it done – or at least in motion – at the end of August.
We will be closed during the NY State Fair, from August 21 to Labor Day. After experiencing our first business-crushing “festival/camp/boating season” in Syracuse this summer, we have no desire to try and compete with the Fair. We’ll use the time to tackle projects at the cafe and work on the name change.
We have not settled on a new moniker yet, but we’re looking for something a bit more neutral. Having “listening room” in our name implies that all of our shows are that style, which is not the case, plus we’re planning to dial back our live music offerings (more on that later in this post) – so we’re playing around with other options. Had the “cease and desist” situation not happened, we would likely be thinking about a name change anyway.
Outdoor Spaces
Central NY summers are rough for bars and restaurants not located on a river or lake, and but it’s even worse for places with no outdoor seating.
There is a nice finished patio area with a bar in the back of our building that one of the previous bar owners put in, but I am not able to license it with the liquor authority due to the apartments above us having direct access. Plus it’s the tenants “back yard” – and I don’t want to be in the position of having to negotiate who is going to use it on any given night.
I have always thought that I would create an outdoor seating area on the side of the building – it’s much bigger than the tenant’s patio and completely separate from their area. I wish I had prioritized the project earlier this year, but we’ve still got a couple of months of good weather left – so we’re diving in now. Because the area is 100% on our property we don’t have to worry about getting a sidewalk cafe permit from the city.
Hallel-freaking-lujah!!!
Right now the area is wasted real estate, though we currently have a 20′ storage container we have dubbed The Green Goblin living there. We have almost no storage space inside the building, so the Goblin provides a place to stash extra chairs for ticketed shows plus some of our dry goods. We originally planned to have the container relocated to the far back corner of the parking lot, but after finding out the bill to move the container about 50′ would be about $500, we decided to just get rid of it. We’ll have to get creative with storage for our extra chairs, but having the container picked up solves the problem with the patio, plus we’ll eliminate the monthly expense – which is a necessity right now.
I sent my plans to the liquor authority at the beginning of the month. According to their guidelines, if they have objections to a proposed alteration they send out a certified letter within 20 days. There is no reason why they would object to what I’m doing, and the July 20 deadline came and went, so it looks like we’ve got the green light to move forward.
The first step was to clear the brush and junk trees that sprouted up along the fence line.
I would love to remove the huge old exhaust fan (the kitchen was ripped out before my in-laws bought the building) but I’m not sure what’s involved in it. Maybe I can transform it into an art piece? 😉
It was sweaty, back-breaking work, but I was rewarded with an extra 6′ of usable space.
The next step will be sorting through the furniture and finding new homes for everything so I can get the storage container out of here, then we’ll power wash the area before we start creating our outdoor oasis.
Meanwhile, across the street at the old train station, the weeds were about 6′ tall.
Since our customers park over there, Jimmy spent a Sunday afternoon chopping most of it down with a weed whacker. It’s still not great but it’s definitely easier for people to get out of their cars now. I wish there was something I could do about the awning that’s falling apart and the angry flock of pigeons that live in it, but it’s private property – so I don’t think there is anything we can do.
I recently messaged the owner of the building and ask for permission to paint the plywood on the boarded-up windows, but unfortunately, he hasn’t responded. I thought it would be cool to find an artist to create something colorful and interesting on the plywood to brighten up the street.
Do you deliver?
We have had dozens of people ask whether we are on GrubHub or DoorDash. I was nervous about trying it, mainly because we have no real kitchen and a teeny-tiny prep area. If we had a lot of people in the cafe and a bunch of take-out orders, we could potentially be in trouble. But, we can pause the service if we get overwhelmed and we’ll be careful about setting limits – I’m thinking it will be something we offer just during the day.
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks experimenting with packaging to make sure everything arrives in good shape, and I think we’re ready to pull the trigger.
I’m hoping to get it going this week, so stay tuned for more details.
The Future of 443
I was having a conversation with some friends recently, and one of them commented that the problem with social media is that people feel like they are participating without actually showing up. She pointed out that while we are crushing it online, and everyone is liking, sharing and commenting on our stuff, it isn’t translating into bodies in the seats…people think they are part of this without actually coming in and supporting it as a real-life customer.
She is exactly right.
We have 2600+ fans on Facebook, 1000+ on Instagram and 500 subscribers to our email list – and those numbers grow steadily every week. This website usually gets 150-300 hits a day, and significantly more when I write a longer blog post like this one – my highest day was over 1200 visitors. I have 1000+ people I’m personally connected to on Facebook. I’m sure some of our fans/followers/readers overlap in more than one platform, so let’s say we have about 3000 people who like what we do and have chosen to follow us.
I started really thinking about those numbers and realized that if we had a mere 2% of our “fans” show up each day, we would have a solid little business and if 3% showed up, we would be THRIVING.
2%…that’s not a big number. And yet – I have not been able to crack the puzzle of converting even that tiny percentage of our online audience into customers who are willing to walk in the door.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t ever want to discourage people from following our pages, commenting or sharing our posts. That’s really important too, and the hope is that someone who follows us online but doesn’t come in will share something online that sparks a friend to stop by for a cup of coffee, lunch or a cocktail. I’m sure we’re not the only business struggling with this.
We are “celebrating” a half year in business, but I feel like a prizefighter who has gone 9 rounds with an opponent who is outclassing me in every way. I’m bruised and ragged and not sure I’m going to make it through the next round.
As we contemplate the lessons learned from our first 6 months, it has become clear that we need to rethink what we’re doing if we’re going to survive. I have always said that if 443 is something the community wants, the community would support it – and I have been unable to rally enough consistent support to sustain the business in its current format.
Our plan was always to fill our calendar with a mix of quality local acts and touring musicians. We thought creating a home for original live music would be something the local musical community would support, but unfortunately, that just hasn’t been the case. As we move into the fall, we’re planning to dial back on local bands because it’s just not sustainable if we want to stay open. I have witnessed some stellar performances on our stage…when you take the time to show up, sometimes you are rewarded with pure magic. But sadly, featuring live music several nights a week is speeding up our demise.
I’m confident that adding lunch delivery will boost our daytime business. We’re rethinking our music calendar, the acts we’re booking and the financial deals we’re making. I’m doing my best to pull our outdoor seating area together as quickly as possible. I am going to keep fighting.
It’s been a wildly frustrating experiment trying to figure out what works…we may not be doing everything right, but we are doing it with the best of intentions and a lot of heart. It has been suggested that we remove the stage, hang TVs, add dartboards or a pool table and drop live music entirely. While we are open to making adjustments to our original game plan, we are not willing to completely abandon the concept and become just another neighborhood bar…what would be the point?
I have been very transparent about the challenges in getting this venture off the ground, and I’m going to be blunt here. If you have been following along on Facebook or Instagram but haven’t been in, don’t wait to check us out. If you think a venue showcasing original live music with a stellar sound system is a great addition to our music scene, buy tickets for a show, or attend a show even though there is a $5 cover charge. Grab a friend who has never been here and stop in for a drink. If you are a solopreneur, bring your laptop in and work in one of our comfy living rooms for the afternoon. Schedule your next coffee meeting with us. We’re a great place for book club meetings, date night or a quick lunch. If you came to one of our events and had a great time, don’t wait 6 months to come back. If you think quirky, independently owned businesses add character to our city, skip the Dunkin’ drive-through and grab your next caffeine fix from us. Are you a musician we have booked? Support the venue by coming in when you’re not being paid so we can be here to hire you in the future. Coming in when there is nothing going on is just as important as coming in for our events. And supporting us online is great – but at the end of the day, the customers coming through our doors are the only ones who will keep us afloat.
See you soon!
