Sydney restaurants making money by renting empty rooms
Sydney’s restaurants have found a new way to increase their revenue – and it has nothing to do with food.
Instead, they are turning to third party apps repurposing unused space to create extra income.
One such app is Two Space, a start-up renting empty dining rooms to freelancers when a restaurant or bar would normally be closed.
Venues renting out their space now include the rooftop of the Kings Cross Hotel, Rocker restaurant in Bondi and Havana Beach in Manly.
All you do is log on from $69 a week.
CEO Tashi Dorjee said the business model is based on the sharing economy. “A restaurant that’s only open at night is empty the rest of the time,” Dorjee told news.com.au. It’s under-utilising space that could be a co-working space for freelancers and entrepreneurs.”
And he says it works for restaurants too because it also creates food traffic and awareness.
When they open in the evening at 5pm, the restaurant is filled with 20 people working all day and are hungry. A restaurant may not get busy until 6.30pm so from 5pm-6.30pm they offer discounts and special deals so everyone is happy,” he told news.com.au.
And then there is accommodation booking site Air BnB, a new service that allows people to store luggage at local cafes or restaurants.
Another one is Bag BnB, a third-party app recruiting a network of restaurants, cafes and bars that will store people’s bags for $8 a day.
As part of the deal, restaurants get 40 per cent of the fee.
But it also gives them the chance to upsell with approximately 30 per cent of app users who drop their bags off at Ze Pickle in Surry Hills also ordering something from the restaurant.
Ze Pickle owner Adam Cheers said he only had a few customers a week after initially signing up six months ago.
But now, he averages 30 a week.
“Owning a restaurant means ongoing costs and I am always looking at different opportunities outside the box,” Cheers told news.com.au
“Any of these little partnerships help to create a separate income and exposes us to new customers.
“It’s good branding for the business. A lot of customers who drop their bags off have been travelling and may want to sit, have a drink and something to eat. A lot of customers are purely using it as bag drop service, but about 30 per cent have something to eat and that’s 10 new customers we get to look after, which is better than zero.”
Leon Getler 9th April 2018.
