What a small world this is. I was reading the thread on cups & balls exposure when I received a telephone call from a corporate client of mine (I'm a lawyer by day). He owns two very successful restaurants in town and was looking at starting a third. What did this have to do with me?

He said he was going to simply call it MAGIC. This peaked my interest since this client knew that I also practiced magic on a part-time professional basis. He thought it would be a good idea to have the restaurant focus on a magic theme, with all of the waiters, waitresses and bartenders having the ability to perform magic for their customers. It would be a distinctive draw for the restaurant, and it would open up the premises as a host facility for theme parties, birthday parties and other events.

From a business perspective this made absolute sense. But then the shoe dropped. He wanted to pay me to train their staff!! Now, I don't have a problem with assisting other magicians in the development of the art - but these aren't magicians. My biggest fear is that a customer might offer a waiter $20 bucks to tell him how a trick was done - and the waiter, would probably do it.

So, what are my options? I want to encourage the development of this restaurant, but I don't want to open the door to potential exposure. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Having the restaurant staff all performing magic would take away what is special about magic and the magician.

Magic IS SPECIAL. And it takes years. This job of performing should be done by professinal restaurant entertainers not the staff.

Instead of training the staff become the entertainment consultant and book the pro's in there... Two or three close up magicians and a good bar magician.

Just to play devil advocate,

It was very common for Mark Wilson to train a bunch of young people to put on a show at Bush Gardens. They weren't magicians. They just pushed the boxes around to the canned tape of Mark narrarating. The audience didn't mind.

There used to a a few restaurants in LA where all the wait staff were entertainers from singers to dancers to magicians. And what is to say he couldn't hire enough amature magicians from the local area to be the staff?

If you can devise a series of tricks that the uninitaited can perform with no prior experience and a little practice, why not?

Personally, I am more in favor of hiring local magicians and have the the wait staff be just that. It is a lower cost process for the restarurant and the quality has the ability to be better. Plus, I don't like the cheapening of the idea of a magician, ie "anyone can do it."

Kirk G

I think teaching the wait staff some simple beginner level magic would add to the overall ambiance of the place. They could do tricks like making their pen appear or producing a card that had the daily specials on it. I wouldn't teach them routines that would be used to replace the services of the house magician just little effects to make them appear magical and to prime the pump for the professional magician that they will have come to their table latter.

I would strongly discourage him from training the waiters to do magic. Let him know that magic is an art form.

Ask him if he has any idea how long it takes to become a skilled enough magician to perform convincingly for his clients. And ask him if he really wants it to appear that any minimum wage yo-yo off the streets can do magic.

I've got an idea! How about a restaurant where you get full-time magicians to come in and cook the food for the people?

Cool!! We could use dove pans and flash paper to magically cook the food

Seriously, though, I have to agree with Bill. I don't try to fix my car myself simply because I am not competent to do it. But, comptetence aside, I am very concerned about the potential for exposure and the ethics behind it teaching magic in these circumstances. (For those of you who haven't checked out Bill's web site you should do so - the Butterfly analogy is something I will remember for a long long time).

Since I have the luxury of a regular day job, I don't absolutely need the money that would arise from training the staff. But not everyone else out there is in the same boat. I'm afraid that if I say no, this client will go out and find another magician who is willing to cross the ethical boundaries of the art.

My preference would be to line up a group of local magicians to take turns performing there. By continually changing the performers and their acts, we can be assured of quality entertainment and something new each time the customers visit.

I even thought that he could have an amateur night once per week where young, budding magicians could come out and perform. The customers could cast their votes for their favorite performer. The winner could get a gift certificate to the restaurant or to the local magic shop.

Hopefully I can sell him on this aproach.

Last week, at my local magic store, one of the workers was trying to show a young man (late teens, early twenties) to do Color Monte, which he had just bought. Watching this guy butcher what we call a simple card effect, was painful. He looked like he was handling radioactive waste. This guy appeared to be competent in other ways.

This is what this restaurant will be like every night. I am assuming that patrons would just stop coming after they had seen effects badly done, or after they had seen Scotch and Soda done for their fourth straight visit.

You cannot and should not teach Laypeople to do good magic.

Talk to the owner, he seems like a decent guy who would understand.

He could keep the magician theme (by having the lay people dress as such) and have walk-around performers (experienced Magicians) and even a small stage area for bigger shows.

You cannot teach 18-23 year old lay people the Art. Yes, Exposure would be present, but would they really respect the Art?

I agree with most here that the staff shouldn't do magic. The magic must be performed by a skilled magician. I went to a magic themed family fun center in Washington State. Only the resident magician performs magic. It doesn't take away from the overall experience. I think a magic themed eatery would go over big in my town. I'd go there...but not if it wasn't entertaining and non-magicians attempting magic is not entertaining to me.

I approached a restaurant about doing magic and one occassion the owner said...

"how about if I give you a free dinner or two and you can show me how to do some magic"


Not a chance in the world! I don't think he understood how insulting that was. And who's to know how interested he is in actually putting in the time...
... NOT!!!!

I picture all the practice that went/goes into this and he thinks he's going to be able to go table-to-table over a dinner or two?

The first few years being a magician (in my opinion) is grueling to say the least. All the 3am practice sessions, cub scout performances, kiddy shows (not to be confused with children's magic...[don't make me explain]), nursing homes, . . . phew!!!

That guy can go to he||.

Of course if he changes his mind.... then he's ok in my book

Frank

It reminds me of what happened at the Magic Island in Newport Beach. Some wise guy got the idea that it would be cool to teach the waitresses and hostesses to do the watch steal. They didn't expose it. No, they got very good at it. But they killed it. They would steal every watch they could. And they didn't have the timing right. Sometimes they would seat a spectator and then hand him his watch.

Ricky Dunn, who performed there as a pickpocket really was incensed about this. He finally refused to perform there any more.

Magic is really a delicate art form. It requires taste and skill. You don't get that in a week of magic lessons.



It takes at least two weeks.

At one place I worked we had performers worked into the service staff right along with the busboys, hosts, and waitrons. It worked pretty slick. There weren't any magicians, more like personal stand up comidians and poets. They got paid seperatly from the waitstaff as to not fight over tips. The bartender would recite really long poems while pouring drinks. Kind of like Sam the Bellhop without the cards. I always thought somebody could easiliy do this with magicians. Each guy gets a section and assigned tables, has new effects each week. The best guys work the banquet room for extra cash. Just like waitstaff only providing different customer service. You would want to stress to this guy that the best way to do it is to get the best to do it. Maybe have a magicians table were a party could sit with a really good close up guy for big bucks. A similar idea to the Chef's table where you pay extra to not have a choice in what you eat!

There is a reply from someone who knows the restaurant business and magic.

Well put.

I do not see anything wrong with staff learning a Royal/Fun Magic trick. Then even offering them for sale at the check out counter.

There is enough simple magic tricks on the market for mass consumption that Royal, Adams, Tenyo to keep the interest of the customers.

Then this still leaves the door open for Proferssional Magic.

The problem is teaching those with no interest even the simplist trick. Getting them to meetings and practicing the handling.

Sorry, this thread hits pretty close to home, and little things keep popping into my head. Another thing to consider ,logicsticly, is when it gets really busy and the waitstaff is "in the weeds" are they going to have time to perform ANY effect no matter how simple? We've all been in a eating establishment when it's really busy. You can't get your water filled much less expect some working college student or single mom to put the correct touches on sponge balls, or even color monte. While they're doing this your food is getting cold in the window! Their acting ability is focused entirly on not calling you an ***h*le to your face for changing your order for the 6th time, not on creating the magic. The waitstaff you all see and the waitstaff I see are 2 VERY different people.
In addition you do start getting into some sanitation issues, touching props that have been in customer's hands then handling plates? Think about the props you always carry with you, would you EVER eat off them? Absolutly not! Can you guarantee that this guy with a sponge rabbit in his hands (sweating them up) washed his hands after just coming out of the can? Now repeat this 20 times a night and I can assure you that the rabbits would not be the only thing multiplying in the hands. Would you want that server putting the same rabbits in his apron pokets with rolled silverware? Or touching your plate? Some places don't even let waitrons remove dirty dishes from tables out of fear of contamination. Don't even get me started on if it's a Union shop.
A magician would be there strictly for that purpose and therefore would be out of the "flow of food". He wouldn't ever touch the plates or silverware or anything else the could spread foodbourne illnesses. He would not be competing with the waitstaff for tips. Is he included in the 15%? We always used pwerformers as our own type of misdirection: "we dropped his food, go tell a long joke while we remake it!" You're none the wiser when it take twice as long to get your food. Nobody's mad, Everybody's happy. I know I'm getting pretty specific, and graphic, but these are thing that have to be considered when trying to do this type of thing. I've been doing this for a while and sometimes that's what it takes to talk sense into "Front of the House" people.

How do you really feel about it?



Okay, let's get hypothetical here.

So, you have the waiter come over and do the Royal Cups and Balls. He messes them up.

Now the pro comes in to clean up after him and does his cups and balls routine, not knowing that the waiter has just tipped the whole thing. If the owner has not hired a "real" pro, that is, if he has a fellow who is working cheap, this guy is very unlikely to know the kind of thing that keeps the gadje from popping off as to how it's done.

If you expect to have return business, don't sell magic tricks as souvenirs. It's not like Las Vegas, where you can buy S&R Magic Sets or LB Magic Sets AFTER the show is over.

No No No No and No

Teach basic magic - fairly simple

To PERFORM it - takes a lot more.


ps - NO


Paula

In Seattle we do have an eating establishment where the waitstaff and servers know magic, juggling, clowning and various other variety arts. They clear the tables, serve the food and do the floor show as well. It is a dinner theatre called Teatro Zinzani and it's been running for several years now to packed houses. The atmosphere is sheer chaos and all of the acts absolutely marvelous. The trick it seems is finding performers who also don't mind playing the parts of waiters and bus boys.
Do you suppose theirs a waitperson message board somewhere complaing about these no talent performers trying to do high skilled service personnel work?

I must agree with the Chef and add that most wait staff is subject to a high turn over rate. So ongoing training would be required. I feel that the talented staff doing a floor show is great, but that is a very different type of dinner theater, that most restaurants cannot do. The magic theme should influence the wait staff dress, if that is what you want, (waitress bunnies?), and provide an atmosphere for a professional performer. Also. the singing/poet bartender doesn't need to use his hands so they can do their job while performing. Keep in mind unless it is a dinner theater, most restaurants want to turn tables and slowing down the service staff will not do that. I think most restaurants want magicians to kill the time waiting that the customer feels is too long when the kitchen gets behind. Plus, people doing cheap tricks badly is not a draw.

You may suggest that they give away the Big Bucks bills that have a few tricks the customers' kids can play with, plus a rubber band and paper clips. And sell some simple tricks at the counter. Or these days you can give away some plastic toy tricks made in China that make the Royal line look expensive.

Or teach them all PK Pen to write the orders.