Has anyone ever seen a resturant magician in SG?

Funny that it's so common in US that table hopping is a genre by itself but I dun think i've ever seen one in singapore?

Do you think maybe it doesn't/wouldn't work here?

Simple. Singaporeans don't tip <_< I guess it's just our culture difference, Morphy. Also, having asian values... where food is a real big deal to us, some diners may not enjoy being entertained at the table while they're eating... or that's what my friends in the F&B industry think anyways... :mellow:

Mandarin hotel in Orchard always engage a magician for their restaurants. The last time, a magician from India was performing. He got spotted by some guy and was asked to perform in Australia. The magician told me that he'll be asking his friend to take over his place. Dunno if there's any magician there or not.

Anyway, they are paid a fixed salary, so any tips will be a bonus to them.

Yeah, singaporeans hardly ever tip, mostly because we are all so used to the 10% service added to the bill -_- so it would be impossible to get any realy money that way.
But as paid staff of the resturant?

The table hopping magician is supposed to approach when they are waiting for their meal or after they are done with dinner anyways. I just wonder how would singaporeans react to being approached and entertained....

Ren will tell you a very bad experience he had in a bar once....LOL ;) B)

Er... hungry people turn into nasty hecklers when they're waiting (impatiently) for their food? ^_^ LOL... Just kidding... but yeah, it'd be interesting to note how Singaporeans would actually react! I think it really depends on the type of restaurant & its target audience (who their patrons are).

It'd be nice if Morphy's dream comes true- a magic themed restaurant pops up in SG! I don't mind waitressing... :lol:

Yeah... I've seen the magician performing at Mandarin hotel in Orchard. It was about 2 years back...

But sheesh... he didn't perform for our table... I was like "Hey!!! I want to see some magic... come over to my table please" in my heart... ^_^

The idea of performing magic in the restaurant is good, however you dont get your money from the tips ( even in US, well, they might give you some tips, but it is not the main income ).
You get the money from the restaurant owner.
You perform in one table after they order the food and before the food arrive,
so your tricks should be fast and eye-catching, no place for long story and complicated tricks
One important thing : when the waiter come with the food-ready, finish your tricks and go somewhere else as soon as possible
So, in many cases you could do 3 tricks, 5 will be the maximum, unless they are very very interested in magic
This was for magic performance in a normal restaurant
I was in Tokyo last year where they have a Magic Restaurant
in this restaurant, you order your food, and you will enjoy a close-up magic done by the waitresse, after your food you get a stage show (fixed schedule), after the stage show you could get another session of close-up
People come for magic, food is secondary ....
The restaurant is running well, with probably only 20 seats capacity, but the magic was great ....
I enjoy the magic so much that I did not touch my food ... :-)

Pam

Wow! That sure sounds very cool! Thanks for sharing that with us :lol:

I have a dream....... -_-

magic theme resturant......cool.....

I've got a long term contract last year for restuarant magic at stadium waterfront last year. Well, basically most of the guest are foreigners and they do give big tips. I've learn from oversea magician for how to handle your guest and wow them and it's very easy to work with. I'm still doing restuarant magic nowaday and believe me that there are lots of opportunity for everyone.

Where do you perform Jim? Maybe we can come see your shows sometime?

Yeah Jim, it sure sounds wonderful ^_^ Maybe you can share more with the rest on how to start out and things like that? Also, how do you manage their expectations, so on... It'd be very helpful... thanks :lol:

Morph. I have the same dream as you. But our difference is that my place in mind, is a bar that is catered to the youngsters. Hecklers will be banned and bouncers will kick hecklers! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Actually, people don't like restaurant magicians because I used to go around doing this:

"Hey sir, would you like to smell my ass?"

Farid and Justin will understand what I mean. Right? :D

But really, I'm all for this magic-themed restaurant... sounds COOL. w00t

-Kev

Oh man!!!! You HAd to say that -.-

LOL...

Restaurants cant afford to pay a magician usual high prices, but in US, they earn much more from tips. in singapore, restaurants wont pay much as well, AND we dont tip as much too, so naturally magicians dont make gd living working in restaurants.

Singapore is somehow is a food paradise, as long the food is nice and the people are hungry, they doesn't really care about the Entertainment cause they want to feast only and they want it as cheap as possible. So they normally wouldn't care about tips, but for other countries, tips is a form of courtesy and a form of appericiating their good service. Not many people in SG tip the waiter. :)

I'm currently trying to get the resturant project from sentosa shangri-la. Not confirm yet due the price for long term coz I don't want to charge to cheap for places like that.

In order for your guest to like your performance, you should make them the star but not yourself especially couple. Make the guy feels great by not making a fool out of him. Trust me that he will tip you really great. The other thing that I learn is that you should take the tip if your guest insist. It's very rude for not keeping the tip that they think you don't like them or what ever. I did a five star restuarant in the past and I did the bill switch. I ask for a $50 and turn it into a $2 and wanted to make it back to $50 and give it back to them but then they are so surprise that they wanted to keep the $2 bill. Guess what, I did 8 times that nite and I turn 8 of my $2 to $50 bill. Isn't that magic!!!

wow, ask for $50. maybe i shud try that next time, now i only ask for $2, $5 or $10 and change to $50. i suppose they will want to keep the $50 instead. lol. ok, will try $50 to $2 next time. thanks for the tip. (no pun intended)

Hah! "For my next trick, i need you all to look in your wallets and take out the BIGGEST note you can find..."

On tipping, i guess it's a cultural thing more than a generousity thing, it's just not in our culture. In US they tip everyone, waiters, porters, taxi drivers..etc etc.
In singapore, i think only tourists tips B)

Morphine Said :

Actually the US is like the extreme opposite of Singapore. Here we have to pay service charge, and we get bad service. There, they're fantastically nice to you BECAUSE they want you to tip.

It can get so skewed that if you DON'T tip, you're the bad guy, and expect to be blacklisted from that particular restaurant/cafe/etc.

Jimmagic said :

Jim, mind sharing how much you got paid for that Stadium Waterfront gig? Was it per night, per hour, etc?

Thanks,

- Raoul

Mr Jim, :D may i address u?

it was really wonderful, :rolleyes: another way to make joy by using magic to people. B) Share more on how to you manage their expectations....so on... we wanted to learn and do you had good place that we might able to help in. :P ha...ha...we wantes some addition income for the coming CNY. :lol: he..he..

can cheat at gambling during CNY for extra income...

lol, kidding. :P