Opening a new Tiki bar restaurant? What do you look for in a Tiki bar? - General Tiki

PP Prikli Pear Tiki Socialite New Braunfels, Texas Joined: Jan 04, 2017 Posts: 981	PP Prikli Pear Posted posted on Thu, Jan 31, 2019 8:57 AM As for the food thing, I think it's a matter of economics. Most of the new tiki bars are opening in small spaces to control costs. A kitchen and kitchen staff means a lot more overhead, and there's not a lot of margin in food service. Alcohol, there's where the profit is. Some sell bar food only. Others not even that. Not having to worry about 51 percent of revenue coming from non-alcohol sales (I think that's what it is here in Texas) makes a difference for small spaces. I'm not crazy enough to plan on opening my own space--I can suffer vicariously via my friends who are trying to do that! Circling back around to music, Exotica didn't exist as a musical genre until the mid- to late-50s when it blew up. Before that, Donn and Vic were playing something else. I'd guess Sinatra, Martin and other lounge-type stuff, along with hapa haole. Which is cool with me, as it's period and escapist. I personally love steel drum music, but I'll cop to being a snob in this area: I can't stand the compilation CDs that are chok full of steel band covers of Buffett, the Eagles, Pina Colada song, etc. That's the music equivalent of boat drinks. I like original compositions/performances from Trinidad and elsewhere. The trouble is finding recordings with good sound quality. I got one double CD a few months back with all original music and was excited--until I listened to it. Turned out to be essentially smooth jazz with steel drums. If that's not bad enough, it was over-produced with synthesizers, electric guitars and sax solos. Not what I wanted. At all. And while this is treading on dangerous ground, I also like Jimmy Buffett, although I'm more of a "First Church of Buffett, Orthodox" kind of guy, in that I prefer his earlier, Key West stuff, before that one particular song took over his career and he started tailoring his output to the Margaritaville audience. But a commercial tiki bar would be treading on thin ice with his stuff. Camel nose in the tent flap and all of that. I'm surprised there's not more discussion of Hawaiian slack-key guitar and Hawaiian identity music like that done by the Brothers Cazimero. Heck, even Jawaiian/Island Reggae is growing in popularity and could find a valid place in tiki for those put off by more traditional Jamaican reggae. Different strokes and all that.

As for the food thing, I think it's a matter of economics. Most of the new tiki bars are opening in small spaces to control costs. A kitchen and kitchen staff means a lot more overhead, and there's not a lot of margin in food service. Alcohol, there's where the profit is. Some sell bar food only. Others not even that. Not having to worry about 51 percent of revenue coming from non-alcohol sales (I think that's what it is here in Texas) makes a difference for small spaces. I'm not crazy enough to plan on opening my own space--I can suffer vicariously via my friends who are trying to do that!

Circling back around to music, Exotica didn't exist as a musical genre until the mid- to late-50s when it blew up. Before that, Donn and Vic were playing something else. I'd guess Sinatra, Martin and other lounge-type stuff, along with hapa haole. Which is cool with me, as it's period and escapist. I personally love steel drum music, but I'll cop to being a snob in this area: I can't stand the compilation CDs that are chok full of steel band covers of Buffett, the Eagles, Pina Colada song, etc. That's the music equivalent of boat drinks. I like original compositions/performances from Trinidad and elsewhere. The trouble is finding recordings with good sound quality. I got one double CD a few months back with all original music and was excited--until I listened to it. Turned out to be essentially smooth jazz with steel drums. If that's not bad enough, it was over-produced with synthesizers, electric guitars and sax solos. Not what I wanted. At all.

And while this is treading on dangerous ground, I also like Jimmy Buffett, although I'm more of a "First Church of Buffett, Orthodox" kind of guy, in that I prefer his earlier, Key West stuff, before that one particular song took over his career and he started tailoring his output to the Margaritaville audience. But a commercial tiki bar would be treading on thin ice with his stuff. Camel nose in the tent flap and all of that.

I'm surprised there's not more discussion of Hawaiian slack-key guitar and Hawaiian identity music like that done by the Brothers Cazimero. Heck, even Jawaiian/Island Reggae is growing in popularity and could find a valid place in tiki for those put off by more traditional Jamaican reggae. Different strokes and all that.

Post #792837 by Prikli Pear on Thu, Jan 31, 2019 8:57 AM