The Twenty Percent

For this assignment, I chose to interview the owner of Salty Dog Saloon in midtown. I was not able to record the interview, but instead wrote down his answers.

Shannon: Who do you think your target customers are?
Keith: We have a handful of locals but mostly college students- both UF and Santa Fe.

Shannon: Where do you find your customers? What are their demographics?
Keith: *laughs* Well I don't really find them, they kind of just come to the bar. We get about half-and-half of men and women. Mostly men on our slower nights. The bar is 21 and up, so everyone who comes here is at least of age. Mostly 21-22 as the majority are college students.

Shannon: What kinds of media do your customers consume?
Keith: I'd say probably Snapchat and Instagram are the most popular.

Shannon: What are your customers' problems? How are you fixing their problems?
Keith: A lot of people have this stigma about our prices being too high compared to other bars in midtown, but the liquor is better quality and we serve out of nice glasses. We also don't charge cover so it kind of evens out. Plus we have a decent amount of specials throughout the week.

Shannon: On a scale of 1-10, how big do you think this problem is in your customers' lives?
Keith: I would say it's about a 5. Price of drinks doesn't seem to be as big of an issue as we have a bunch of 'regulars'.

Shannon: Do your customers have a budget allocated to fix this problem?
Keith: As college students they figure it out. Lots love to come drink and have a good time, eat out, etc. They've figured out how to manage their money by now.

Next, I went out and interviewed 3 girls who were willing to be on camera. I sat them down in a group as they were more comfortable with the interview being more of a discussion, rather than one-on-one.

Based off the interview with these girls, I don't think Keith was even thinking about the people who are underage getting into his bar. I guess it's not something the owner thinks about when it's a 21+ venue, however I can see where the girls are coming from as their options of going out are limited in midtown. In reality, this is a college town, and people like to go out. Something I noticed is that Keith said they had a decent amount of specials but Erica said otherwise, so that didn't add up. I think price in general is definitely an issue, so Keith was on point with that notion. I think the thing I took away the most was the difference of relating to college students who are not of age.