Cuppy's Coffee Cafe Turns Into California Hot Spot

(Friday, July 20, 2007) - Murrieta Cuppy's Coffee franchisee Mike Luevano shares how live entertainment helped significantly increase his business.

Offering live music at your Cuppy's Coffee & More Café is a great way to get involved with the community and gain loyal customers. Hosting bands at your café is also another way to generate revenue at your store. Mike Luevano, a Cuppy's Coffee & More franchisee in Murrieta, California, offers some great insight on how to get started as well as the success it has brought his store.

Q: How successful is the live entertainment at your store?
A: Very. Our entertainment nights are doing well, but that's because they are done the right way. This is not an initiative to put partial effort into""it requires full dedication.

Q: Has the live entertainment brought more traffic to your store?
A: Live music helps us distinguish our brand and rise above the coffee houses in this area by bringing something unique to our café.

Q: How often do you offer live music at your Café?
A: We offer live music Tuesday through Saturday, with an Open Mic night on Wednesday.

Q: How do you generate enough revenue to support the bands and make a profit?
A: We charge a $5 cover for bands playing Tuesday and Thursday, and a $6 cover for bands playing Friday and Saturday. We pay each band a dollar for every customer they draw to the store, that way they are paid based on their promotions and pull. Open Mic Night is free.

Q: How many customers does the live entertainment attract each night?
A: Anywhere from 50 to 120 people on a good night.

Q: How do you choose your live entertainment?
A: I rely on www.myspace.com* as a promotion engine. I established a web page on myspace.com for Cuppy's Coffee Music. I use myspace.com to search for bands in my area and then contact them on their myspace page.

*Please note: www.myspace.com is an online community that allows you to network professionally and/or personally with people on a regional, national and/or global level based on common interests, industries or relations.

Q: What are you doing to market these bands?
A: Each band has fans that come into watch them. I then obtain contact information from the fans to market them for the next show. I encourage those that enjoyed the music to sign their name and myspace username on a list so I can send them updates regarding the upcoming bands.

Q: What do other café owners need to consider before offering live entertainment in their stores?
A: Proper staging, lighting and sound are crucial. Also, you need to offer more than a small corner stage if you want to be a real venue and attract bands that will draw around 100 people or more a night.

For more information on the live music at Mike Luevano's Murrieta Cuppy's Coffee Café or an example of his live music schedule visit http://myspace.com/cuppyscoffeemusic.

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