Smiley’s Acoustic Café, a bar and restaurant and live music venue in downtown Greenville, has long been friendly to local musicians. And even if their stage isn’t available because of the coronavirus shutdown, they’re still helping local performers, thanks to Smiley’s owner Mike Frazier.
“After everything shut down across the board, I got a lot of calls,” Frazier says. “Some from my staff, but most of them were from musicians who lost their gigs. So I tried to come up with an idea where I could keep them working.”
Now that, like every other restaurant, Smiley’s can only provide curbside and delivery service, delivery customers will have two options: dinner, or dinner and a show. That’s because Frazier has recruited a group of 20 or so local musicians who will not only bring your food to you but also play you a few songs when they do.
“After everything shut down across the board, I got a lot of calls,” Frazier says. “Some from my staff, but most of them were from musicians who lost their gigs. So I tried to come up with an idea where I could keep them working.”
From a socially safe distance, of course.
“When we do deliveries, people can have a musician deliver it and play music for them,” Frazier says. “We’re just trying to keep everyone moving and working and spread a little joy as well, because people are already a bit stir crazy.”
Frazier says the idea is an extension of Smiley’s dedication to the local scene.
“Obviously, we’re a music venue and we have a great love for the arts here in our community,” he says. “So I thought if I could make this work and get people excited about it, it will be great for the artists and the community as well.”
The group of musicians includes Smiley’s regulars like Charles Hedgepath, Darby Wilcox and Sam Kruer, and Frazier compares their work schedule to another popular service.
“We’re just trying to keep everyone moving and working and spread a little joy as well, because people are already a bit stir crazy.”
“We don’t have mandatory schedules for them,” he says, “It’s like an Uber situation; they show up and we put them to work.”
When a customer calls in an order to Smiley’s, choosing the musician-delivery option adds $10 to their tab, but the good news is that 100% of that goes to the musicians. If you feel like that’s not enough, you can always tip. Smiley’s has even added a caricature artist to the rotation who will create a caricature of you and your family — from six feet away or more.
“There’s been quite a bit of excitement about it,” Frazier says, “especially on weekends when people would typically be going out to shows. But as more and more businesses are shutting down, I think we’ll have more of a response during the week as well.”
And so far, Frazier adds, the customer feedback has been positive.
“We’re lucky enough to have musicians who can handle a lot of different types of music,” he says, “so we haven’t had anyone who’s been unhappy so far.”
- Smiley’s last live shows were in mid-March.
- Smiley’s has also added a caricature artist to their delivery rotation.
- Frazier is also planning a concert series on Instagram.
The post Upstate Beat: Smiley’s hires musicians as ‘singing delivery people’ for food orders appeared first on GREENVILLE JOURNAL.
