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Email template to request a bar buyout quote

You want a bar to yourselves for an evening, for a milestone birthday, a company holiday party, a wedding after-party, or a reunion. Renting the entire bar is called a buyout. Bars rarely charge a flat rental fee for this; instead they set a minimum spend, which is the amount your group must run up on drinks and food before the night is considered paid for. Anything under the minimum, you pay the difference. Email is the right first step because the owner or events manager needs a date, a headcount, and a sense of your budget before they can quote, and because a buyout quote has enough moving parts, hours, minimum, tax, service charge, deposit, that you want each of them on paper.

Before you send

  • The date and the hours you'd want the bar closed to the public, for example 7 to 11 pm. A weeknight or a Sunday is far cheaper than a Friday or Saturday.
  • Your expected headcount. A bar will only close for a group big enough to beat what it would make from regular customers.
  • Whether you want an open bar, where guests drink and you pay the total, a limited open bar with beer and wine only, or a cash bar where guests pay for themselves. Say which.
  • Whether you need food, and if so whether the bar has a kitchen or you'd bring in a caterer.
  • Your rough budget for the whole night, so they can tell you quickly if a full buyout fits or whether a section of the bar makes more sense.
Subject Buyout inquiry for [date], about [number] guests 
Hi [bar name] team,

I'm looking at renting [bar name] for a private event on [date], roughly from [start time] to [end time], for about [number] guests. It's a [birthday / company party / after-party], mostly adults in their [age range].

Could you send me a quote for a full buyout? I'd like to understand:

- The minimum spend or rental fee, and whether it includes tax and gratuity or those are added on top
- What's included: bartenders, security, use of the sound system, any furniture rearranging
- Whether we can do an open bar, and if you offer a per-person package for beer, wine, and well drinks
- Food options, or whether we can bring in a caterer
- Deposit amount and the cancellation policy

My budget for the night is around [dollar amount] all in. If a full buyout doesn't fit, I'd be glad to hear what a private section would run instead.

I'd like to decide by [date]. Thanks for any details you can share.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • A good reply names a minimum spend and a deposit, tells you what's included, and asks a couple of questions about your group. Expect a printed or PDF event agreement to follow if you say yes.
  • Look for the words "plus tax and 20% service charge" under the minimum. That can add a quarter to the number you thought you were agreeing to. Ask for the all-in total in writing.
  • Ask how the minimum is measured. Some bars count only drinks and food; others let a rental fee or the deposit count toward it.
  • If they won't put the hours or the minimum in writing, or the number is double your budget with no smaller option, thank them and try a second bar. Buyout prices vary a lot within the same neighborhood.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Get me bar buyout quotes 
Hi StandIn,

I'd like you to find out what it would cost to rent a bar for a private event and compare a few options.

The event: [what it is, date, and the hours I want].
Headcount: [number of guests, and the general age range].
Where: [a specific bar, or the neighborhood and kind of place].
Drinks and food: [open bar, beer and wine only, or cash bar, and whether we need food].
Budget: [total dollar amount for the night].

Contact two or three bars, get each one's minimum spend, deposit, and all-in total with tax and service charge, and bring me a comparison.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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