Dance Comes Home to Parramatta!
Join some of Sydney’s best Teachers and Schools for fun classes, and even better social dancing 7 days each week!
Before, after or between dances, enjoy your favourite snack, meal or cocktail.
Contact us for more details!
This presentation is based on first hand experiences with clubs, venues and bars from not just Australia, but across Asia, the Middle East (!!), Pacific Islands, Latin America, USA and Europe (just saying).
This simple webpage is NOT meant to even ASK all the questions, let alone answer them.
There would be MANY details to “thrash out”, but the opportunity exists for something special.
For Dance Teachers and Dance Schools have one set of problems, learns/students have others.
Dance Teachers/Schools want the security of a private venue, set up for dance, that can can rely on being available when they need it.
As a Dance Teacher, imagine in the heart of Parramatta, a dedicated bar/cafe/dance hall you can use for (essentially) no charge?
Students have the need to have somewhere that can go, practice their skills, have fun, and a good time. If it’s local and they don’t have to go all the way to the City, all the better. It’s important to remember those times when dancers have come up to you at a function, and THANKED you for organising it
Imagine dancers could come along for say and “happy hour dance” session, stay for some food and drinks while others had their lesson(s), then danced away into the night, 6 or 7 days per week!
What we’re suggesting is a co-operative of like minder individuals to come together and form a Company with the express purpose of setting up a bar – cafe – dance hall.
A company that issues shares, everyone gets a vote etc etc.
We can come together a create something quite special and unique in Parramatta.
Will there be issues? Sure, but we can work through them.
Working with others . . . a challenging idea for many dance teachers and schools, but it’s actually pretty common.
But It is easy to imagine “free” trial lessons, nights or events with a free lesson. Regardless of who offers the initial “taster”, a prospective student will have the chance of selecting the best night or nights that suit their schedule.
What’s a night of dancing without a refreshing beverage? Getting a Liquor lic is not really as difficult or EXPENSIVE as many believe.
There are many types of Lic, but a “General Bar” licence allows service of alcohol (with food – see below), for an unlimited number of patrons, between 5am and midnight. These hours can be changed.
Most importantly, a General Bar lic’ allows “entertainment” – which is the whole point, right?
The annual fee for the General Bar lic, and the Bar Supervisor/Manager is less than $1,000 dollars. That’s all.
Of course there are a few “hoops” to jump through including Council approval, RSA training of all staff, video monitoring and record keeping, but that is really just admin.
Parramatta Council has actually offered workshops in how to create a “fine grain” cafe/bar environment. They state that not more than 90 days between application and answer. Amazingly, the Liquor Act allows the sale of alcohol just 2 days after application, while waiting for final approval!
Consider this . . . with a Licence a bottle of Corona or Peroni can be bought wholesale for around $2.00 – “Fratelli Pulcinella Parramatta” charge $12.00.
A bottle of Bourbon comes in around $40 – 25 “Standard Drinks” per bottle (less than $2.00).
The principle idea here is NOT to get people drunk. Rather the opportunity to patrons a “one stop shop”, of food, drink, and FUN!
The food service requirement is quite clear – if alocohol is being served, so is food. Simple.
But what food?
Sure, there are some locations with full kitchens where serving chef prepared meals is possible, but that’s not the initial idea, but . . .
No kitchen, no problem
Come for the dancing – stay for a nosh?
Details are of course to be worked out amongst everyone, but here is just one idea.
Additional Note: The venue would also be available for special events, such a birthdays, Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos, etc.
Friday
The Venue only night. A regular social night for the benefit of the bar itself. Remember, we want this project to be self funding.
Saturday
Each Saturday night is “owned” in rotation between the partners. On average 4 months of each year have 5 Saturdays/Sundays. We can workout who does what, when.
Sunday
Sunday afternoon and early evenings have proven very popular. Like Saturday, each partner in rotation.
Monday – Thursday
A dance class night just for YOU, run like you’d normally run a class night. Which specific day might be by agreement, or even maybe drawing from a hat.
Term Breaks?
Good Question!
First up, remember the goal here is to have a SELF FUNDING venue in it’s own right, and that the suggestions presented here are just that – suggestions. Details of initial funding would need to be clarified with face to face participation, and conditions at the time.
However, with that said, depending on MANY factors, space in parramatta 100-200sqm is between $35k and $80k (!!!) per annum. Size, location, features all factor in.
We envisage about four (4) partners.
Leasing the venue is clearly the most expensive item, especially as there will always be a “bond” of 25% from the start.
Fit-out will vary from venue to venue, but considering many overseas venues are in basements or basic “shops”, much on the labour can be “DIY”. We’re confident that there is enough sound equipment – the key thing here – laying around unused by dance schools and teachers? Licensing, admin, marketing, etc all need to be included.
From experience, this equates to about $40,000 dollars or so. Divided between 4 players – $10,000 each initially, with the push towards self funding being paramount.
If you’re interested, or just want some more info (no obligation) just call 0427 52 84 66, or send a text or WhatsApp.
You can clarify most (but not all) of the details we missed here.
If there is enough interest, then we can all get together for a Q&A session?
Pimientos de Padrón:
Whole Padrón peppers blistered in extra virgin olive oil and tossed generously with coarse sea salt.