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Like strawberries and cream, jazz and tapas go well together - lively music and
colourful platters of interesting food. Add some sparkling wine and boutique bottled
beers and you can create a buzz rivaled only by Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Your target customers for this event will be
- Customers on your database with common interests (Jazz music, tapas, dancing, live
music)
- Local Jazz groups and appreciation societies
- Local office workers and business owners looking to entertain their clients or just
themselves.
Match your drinks with your tapas menu
Consider matching your drinks with your tapas menu. Put together a tapas-style drinks
menu for the evening. Include a few cocktails, alcoholic and non alcoholic, individual
or in pitchers, in your list and you’ll have covered all bases. See our matching
food with wines feature and for some general guidance.
Up-sell bottled beer in buckets and put wine suggestions on your tapas menu so people
can try different combinations and don’t forget to offer espresso or green tea to
finish off.
All in all, tapas means a relaxing evening of tasty morsels, chilled drinks and good
company.
If there’s a local jazz society in your area, contact them and get some ideas of
cost. Remember, jazz groups usually have their own following, so their fans will
probably come to your venue bringing potential new future custom with them.
You’ll also have to make sure you have the correct licence for live entertainment
which could limit you to a duo.
But you don’t have to have a live band. You could use the in-house system to play
pre-recorded Jazz, but make sure you pay some attention to the music play list and
keep the atmosphere lively. You could also consider Jazz videos on your TV screens
if you have them. Again, if you contact a local jazz society they may well help you
by putting you straight on current trends in jazz music and which artists are popular.
Your food and drink menu can be presented on a ‘take home’ souvenir-type menu with
photos of famous Jazz musicians printed alongside your tapas list.
Use the Internet to help you find out what’s going on in the world of jazz in your
area. Finding a live group can be expensive but by keeping other costs to a minimum
it can still be viable.
If you want to launch a menu, show off a new chef or are just eager for people to
sample more of your menu, Tapas could be the answer. There are as many forms of it
as there are countries that serve it (try Googling it and see for yourself).
What we, in the UK, expect when we see tapas on the menu is small plates of tasty
morsels with a Mediterranean influence - chorizo sausage, olives, cheese etc. There’s
no need to go over the top with overcomplicated dishes and exotic arrangements. Food
served this way speaks for itself and should be quick and easy to serve. You can
often adapt much of what you normally serve to the tapas style, redesigning or reshaping
your offer to fit in. 12 items on your menu should be enough - 6 typical tapas plates
and 6 of your own choice; any more than that and you’re making unnecessary more work
for yourself (see our tapas menu for ideas for suggestions)
With tapas less is more
Tapas isn’t supposed to be a main course or even a full starter - just a taste. It’s
a style of dining where less is perceived as more (though it’s a good idea to have
baskets of bread at hand for those with larger appetites!)
Tapas calls for a laid-back style - an evening spent ‘grazing’ over food, sipping
wine or beer and enjoying good company. Everything should be smaller - starter plates
or small platters to share to serve the food on, bottles of beer instead of pints,
125ml glasses of wine instead of 250ml.
Jazz and Tapas. Every Thursday @ Anderson's Waterfront Bar and Grill
The magic is in combining ideas
Put the word about
Advertise your tapas evening at least two weeks in advance, both internally and externally
and encourage staff to talk it up. Send out flyers to your e-mail contacts with a
sample menu. If things go well, tapas could become a regular weekly or fortnightly
event for after-work networking, club meetings or during televised sporting events.
