Thursday, March 16, 2006

SELLING CRAIC

Hilarious article about the Irish Pub craze.
In the last 15 years, Dublin-based IPCo (Irish Pub Company) and its competitors have fabricated and installed more than 1,800 watering holes in more than 50 countries. Guinness threw its weight (and that of its global parent Diageo) behind the movement, and an industry was built around the reproduction of "Irishness" on every continent—and even in Ireland itself. IPCo has built 40 ersatz pubs on the Emerald Isle, opening them beside the long-standing establishments on which they were based.

[...]

When you're ready to open, your pub will need a name. The concept is not properly served by joke names like McSwiggins or Filthy McNasty's, but it will thrive with a Gaelic phrase (Dún na nór or An Cruiscín Lán) or one of the hundreds of standard family names provided on the concept site. (A helpful hint: "To create the illusion of history, '& Sons' can be added to the name.") Authenticity, apparently, is key. In answer to the question, "Why is authenticity important?" the concept states that "Sales per square foot in current authentic pubs are exceeding the U.S. average by a factor of two." The Irish Pub Company's stance on this issue is even more enigmatic: "The authenticity of the Irish pub concept stands up to scrutiny—the deeper you dig, the more interesting and attractive it becomes."

This reminds me very much of a project I've been trying to get off the ground for a few years, the Ukrainian pub. It's much like the Irish pub, though instead of Guiness and boxties we'll have vodka and varenikiy. For extra added authenticity, several times a day a gang of Bolsheviks will storm in, smack the customers around, and completely empty the place of food.

Have had little success tempting investors. Please contact if interested.

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