[jackbl]

Restaurants and bars doing well from year-end parties
================================================== =====

VietNamNet Bridge - If your business follows the trend of booking bars or restaurants for an end of year bash – then be prepared to pay a lot.


Restaurant clients have to pay … room fee

Hung, an office worker for an export-import company, has been busy all this week trying to find a bar to hold a New Year’s Eve party for his company. “I have only just been told to find a place for the party. I’ve been searching for 2 days but all restaurants have been booked up”, Hung complained.

It is now the fashion to hold New Year’s Eve party at restaurants or pubs. However, it is not easy to find a good place while the demand is very high in pre-Tet days. Thuc from Thuan Phat Company said that it’s better to book seats at least one month in advance.

The pubs or restaurants which have large capacity, good lightening and stereo systems for are the first choices for clients. Van Tue, Phu Dong, Lang Ngoi and Nha Hang Sen have been reportedly booked up with most of the orders from office workers.

Van Tue restaurant at 136 Ho Tung Mau Street, for example, which has a capacity of 2,000 seats, now has only a few room left. Mrs. Mui, Van Tue’s manager, said that most of the seats in the restaurant had been booked since February. Tinh, Phu Dong restaurant’s manager, also claimed clients will have no chance to book good seats with beautiful view if they contact restaurants after the 15th of Lunary Year (January 28, 2010).

According to restaurant owners, days from December 25th (February 8) to December 29th (February 12) of lunar calendar are the time when restaurants are most crowded. Many restaurants even have to charge clients for rooms. Ms. Hoa, a worker of Tre Viet restaurant on Hoang Cau Street, said that if customers stay for over two and half an hours, they will be charged for occupying the next customers’ seats.



Exorbitant price

It’s clear that year-end is always a golden time for restaurants.

Ms. Huyen, an office worker of Hanoi Telecom Company, who booked seats at Seoul restaurant on 33 Tran Hung Dao Street commented that it’s very difficult to find a place that not only serves good food but also suits everyone’s pockets. Learning from last year’s experience, she had checked prices at many restaurants before making a decision. And she had to do this one month earlier to make sure to have the most suitable price.

Restaurants like Van Tue, Phu Dong, Lang Ngoi, Sen or Quan Ngon charge 120,000 dong to 350,000 dong per customer, 700,000 dong to 1.5 million dong for a party table for six.

These prices don’t include drinks. The costs for drinks are different in each restaurant, but they are all higher than normal prices.

For instance, a can of soft drink which costs only 7,000 to 10,000 dong on the market can be charged at 15,000-30,000 dong by restaurant owners. A bottle of Hanoi beer is charged 20,000 dong instead of 12,000 dong, a bottle of Heniken beer 30,000 dong while the market price is 20,000 dong, while customers have to pay 80,000 dong for a small-sized bottle of Hanoi Vodka instead of 50,000 dong.

Many customers buy drinks from markets and then bringing them into restaurants. However, restaurants still charge a fee on drinks brought from outside.

At Van Tue restaurant, the fee depends on the strength. If the wine has a high concentration, it is charged 15% of the basic price or even 30% at some other places. The fee for beer is 7,000 dong a bottle, dinner wine and wine which has low concentration of alcohol are charged 70,000 to 100,000 dong a bottle.

Ngoc, ex-manager of Pho Bien restaurant, said that these “fees” are service fees, including opening bottles, pouring wine, borrowing glasses.


Thi Mai