An Alternative to Eventbrite for Irish Food Events

A supper club is not a concert. A cookery class is not a conference. But the big ticketing platforms sell all of them, the same way, to the same broad audience, and charge accordingly.

For a food business, two things decide whether a ticketing platform is worth it: what it costs per ticket and whether it reaches people who actually want food experiences.

How ticketing fees usually work

General ticketing platforms commonly charge a fee per ticket — often a percentage of the price plus a fixed amount — and card processing on top. Many let you pass the fee to the buyer, which protects your margin but raises the price they see. Fees differ by plan and change over time, so check the current pricing of any platform you are comparing.

The questions to ask are the same whichever you use:

• On a €40 ticket, how much reaches me?
• Who pays the fee: me, or the buyer?
• When does the money arrive: at sale, or after the event?

Why the audience matters as much as the fee

On a general ticketing site, your supper club sits among concerts, comedy, conferences and fitness classes. The people browsing are not, on the whole, looking for dinner.

A food event sells best to people who are already interested in eating out nearby — the ones who follow restaurants, rate what they eat, and look for something different to do on a Thursday.

Selling tickets on Mosey

Mosey is food-first, so your events appear where people are deciding where and what to eat.

• Cost: 4% of the ticket price, plus Stripe's card fee at cost. The buyer pays a €1.29 booking fee on top. Free events cost nothing.
• Money at sale: it reaches your Stripe account when the ticket is bought, so ingredients and staff are covered before the night.
• Check-in: each ticket carries a code staff scan at the door, and it cannot be used twice.
• Waitlist: when a ticket is cancelled, the next person waiting is told.
• Messages: send one update to every ticket holder.
• Cancellation: cancelling an event notifies and refunds every ticket holder.

A worked example

A bar runs a monthly quiz, 80 places at €10 a head.

That is €800 a night. Mosey's commission is 4%, or €32, leaving €768 before Stripe's card fee, before the quiz starts. Each team pays the €1.29 booking fee on top of the ticket price.

The quiz then sells drinks for four hours to a room that was empty on Tuesdays before — which is the real return.

Refunds and the 14-day rule

People often assume anything bought online can be returned within 14 days. For an event on a specific date, that is not the case: leisure services for a set date are exempt from the right of withdrawal. Your own refund policy applies, and it is worth stating it clearly on the event page.

Food events worth trying

If you have never run a ticketed event, these formats are proven and easy to start with:

• A supper club — one sitting, a set menu, communal tables
• A producer night — a winemaker, a brewer or a cheesemaker at the table
• A cookery class — small numbers, something people can make at home afterwards
• A tasting menu preview — the new menu, a week before it launches
• A quiz or music night — a reason to fill a quiet weeknight with regulars and their friends

Start with one a month, on the same night, so people learn to expect it.

Events that fill

Food events that sell well tend to have:

• A specific promise — "five natural wines with the winemaker", not "wine night"
• A limited number of places, stated up front
• A date far enough ahead for people to plan, but close enough to feel real
• A quiet night, so the event adds trade rather than moving it

Pricing a ticket

Price a food event from the cost up, not from what other events charge:

1. Ingredients per head, including the extra you always make
2. Staff for the night, including set-up and clean-down
3. The room, if it would otherwise be earning
4. Commission — on Mosey, 4% of the ticket — plus Stripe's card fee

Then add the margin you need, and check the result against what a customer would happily pay for the experience you are describing. If the numbers do not meet, change the format — fewer courses, a set menu, a shorter evening — rather than hoping the bar makes up the difference.

Beyond the ticket

Because the event sits on the same profile as your menu, ratings and bookings, somebody who discovers your supper club also discovers your restaurant, and the other way round. And a ticket bought through Mosey can count towards loyalty, so an event-goer can become a regular.

When a general platform still makes sense

If your event is not really about food — a festival with music, a conference with lunch attached — a general ticketing platform's broad audience may suit it better. For tastings, supper clubs, cookery classes and pairing dinners, a food-first platform reaches the people most likely to buy.

What it connects to

• Sell event tickets for your restaurant or bar
• Sell cookery courses and hospitality training
• How to run restaurant promotions that work
• Boost: paid reach for your restaurant or café
• What Mosey costs — every rate on one page