The B Team Podcast

Ep. 107 - Karaoke Empire Expands: Justin Urso’s Bentonville Move

• The B-Team Podcast • Season 1 • Episode 107

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Bentonville nightlife is about to see a significant shift as the gap between family-friendly dining and late-night entertainment finally closes. For too long, the local scene has lacked a dedicated space for groups to gather without the chaos of a traditional bar or the limitations of early closing times. In this episode, we sit down with Justin Urso, the co-founder of Big Box Karaoke, to discuss how he is bringing a proven, high-energy business model from Fayetteville to the heart of Bentonville.

We sit down to explore the tactical side of scaling an entertainment brand and the logistics of building out a 3,500-square-foot space in the historic Ice House building. The conversation covers the nuances of Asian-style private suite karaoke, the strategy behind room-specific brand partnerships, and the launch of the Summer Mic League. Justin explains his unique philosophy on community integration, detailing how his business has already funneled over $50,000 back into local nonprofits and schools through creative "Sing for a Cause" events.

The unglamorous truth of the hospitality industry involves navigating strict permitting timelines and the high stakes of 2:00 a.m. closing times in a town that typically sleeps early. Viewers will walk away with a better understanding of how to differentiate a service-based business in a crowded market and why personal brand values are the strongest foundation for local growth. It takes more than just a good song list to build a destination; it takes a commitment to local sourcing and a deep understanding of the customer’s desire for privacy and exclusivity.

If you care about local business growth, innovative marketing through sponsorships, and the evolution of the Northwest Arkansas entertainment landscape, you’ll get a lot from this. Be sure to Subscribe and Share this episode with anyone looking to understand the future of the Bentonville Square. What is your go-to karaoke song that you would only sing behind the closed doors of a private suite? Leave your answer in the comments below.

Welcome And The Water Debate

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to the B Team Podcast. I am your host, Josh Saffron, with my co-host, Matt Morris, and our permanent guest, Rob Nelson. We're here every week to talk to you about all things Bettonville, bourbon, and business. The B Team Podcast. Be here. Welcome to the B Team Podcast. I'm your host, Josh Saffron, with my co-host, Matt Morris. And our permanent guest. Getting a little crowded in here lately. Permanent guest. Robbie. And Jim. And Jim. Yeah. That's right. And we're here all Thursdays for everything Bettonville Business and Bourbon. All Thursdays, every single one of them. Yep. That's right. And Bobby, welcome back. I'm back, baby. What do you think of this new fancy water that we have today?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I'm super excited here about the sponsorship.

Bobby’s Bourbon Bonanza Rating

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's not really a sponsor for business. It's free water. Product placement. Product placement. I mean, you never know what it might turn into. You know, could could be something down the road, but you know, uh, yeah, I can't be drinking aquafina on camera. This is what I'm envisioning for Saratoga. Now I want you to think with me on one of the Fiction of Fabulous episodes, Matthew's coming out of the truck and ready to work. Opening the bottle and goes. Oh, this is delicious, Dave. Like I see that happening. Fantastic. Saratoga. Yeah. Good water. Right? Great water. It's good water. They've been around forever. 1872. That's a long time. I was not I was not born by their boy in 1980. Older than Josh. Close. Close. Do they make it in carbonated too, then? Uh yeah. They have sparkling. You want that next time? Sparkling. Yeah, I love sparkling. I'll bring sparkling next time. How about flavored sparkling? Or he could buy it at Sam's Club. What's the price there? I've never seen this at Sam's. They have it in glass at Sam's Club, and they also have uh Mountain Valley, which isn't the green glass. Now, Matthew, the sales guy is. My wife's company used to own that, I think. Really? Yeah. I think nature made used to own that. It's possible. One of their parents. Now, the reason you don't see it in Sam's Club is the sales guy for that brand is not doing a good enough job putting it in distribution in Sam's Club. Well, you know, it's listen, it's an uphill battle sometimes. Sometimes it's a good thing. I mean, if we could talk about this for like another five minutes, we have a whole nother episode. Exactly, right? There we go. Look, Josh. All right, all right. Two for one. Two for one. And it's a guest that Jim would have brought, Saratoga. Exactly. I could bring a new guest. All right, Jim, start up some bourbon for Bobby's segment. Then we're going to introduce Justin. So shout out to Guest Who. They had an event last weekend. And I don't know exactly what this is, but it's some sort of special release Yellowstone. So we're going to open up and try it. And it has not been in the car all that. You know who our Yellowstone guy is? It's Josh. So we've got to have the Osh like Yellowstone. That's his favorite. Well, and Josh, uh, I think you've got to remind uh Bobby of his role here. Yes, Bobby. So this is a poor. So as we have rules that we have to follow in scripts for season three, I kid you not. I had to do this last time when you were here. And you know how Matthew is like he's Switzerland, he doesn't want to rock the boat on campus. That's off campus. That's part of the he he had a little renegotiation. Why our ratings are low there. Oh kind of an accurate statement. They didn't want to say Matt, Jim, Rob, and Josh, so they said, you know, maybe you follow the script. Anyway. Can I say that? No, no, no. In season three, we have kicked off Bobby's bourbon Bonanza segment. And what that means is you are going to be the official raider of the bourbon. Oh, did we try that day? Yeah. One B all the way up to five Bs. Matthew set the bar at everybody's a minimum of three B for showing up, but it could be a 3.6, it could be a 4.7. But this is your own segment. What's the lowest and what's the highest? One is the lowest, which is not possible. Matthew said it has to be at least a three. Well, I didn't know you could do like four point five formulator. Matthew gave everyone a five last week. You know how he is. And I don't think any of us have tried this one. No. This is Cheers. Cheers. Fresh off the blue shelf. So this is the Bobby what segment? The Bobby Bourbon Bonanza segment. It's all here in the document, Bobby. That was in your email.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. My uh podcast video email. Do you get any stone prude or anything in that? So hold on, time out.

SPEAKER_01

This is my segment. You're jumping in his segment, Matthew. I will rate off the nose. Wow. I'll give it a solid four. Four of the nose. That's solid. We'd have to have a blended B scale after each of the. How many things do we have? I smell bananas. Bananas. Maybe a little uh Bobby's bananas, bourbon, bourbon, bananas. Say that five times fast. I'm enjoying it from like, yeah. Okay, I'll say. Okay, drink it already. You should be coming with mini rust. Uh 2.9 on the towel. Smells a lot better than it tastes. I would agree, by the way. Yeah. But it so that what would that be? Like a 3.5 on the um I don't think we should blend it. I think we leave it at a two. Disappointing. I mean, we could give it an extra couple points for the logo on the front. That's one of my favorite places. The Yellowstone. Is that right? Waterfall. I've never been. If you've ever been. Everyone says old faithful is the main thing to see. That's the main thing to see. So this would be perfect segue because we could do a little character. Don't go chasing waterfall. Right? Oh wow. I love karaoke. Well. I th I think you're off the script. Sorry. Well, I'm trying to get back to Bobby. 2.9 is the rating? Yeah, 2.9 is the biggest. It's kind of medicinal. It's it's not very flavorful. Yeah, it's very alcohol forward. But it's not dry fly level, though. It's not, it's not. Uh you'd have to bring that garbage. No, no, we're not bringing that back. 2.9. 2.9. He's a lot firmer of a rater than you are. Yeah. Rating on a curve. Yeah. 2.9. Yeah. So like so. Do we have to drop Jim's rating now? Just Jim brought this. Jim brought a bad bottle? Maybe it's a 3.1. No, no, it's okay. I don't love it either. I'll be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00

I disagree with you guys. I I'd give the label a 1.5.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's a horrible label. A horrible label. Look at that. I think it's great. My 18-year-old could have drawn a better picture. Oh, see that? Yeah. Yeah. Like it's going to it's it's not good. It's not a good thing. You gotta get a little closer. You hit and you were so good last week. Everything was a five. Look, one five. Look, I'm gonna shoot you straight. I'll always shoot you straight. Even if you FaceTime Corker right now and showed her that, she would say that's garbage. What? Whoa. Well, we're we're not gonna do that. Not yet today, because we have to get to Justin. We have to get to Justin. But so much. Well, we're on camera. Let's put it this way, I don't want to be on the FaceTime. And I don't I'm not committing to anything, but I do think we have a much better chance of the Saratoga sponsorship than the Yellowstone sponsorship. I'm just being honest.

SPEAKER_00

Like if I was Yellowstone, I I would tune into this podcast and and and take a step take some criticism and put out a better project.

Meet Big Box Karaoke Founder

SPEAKER_01

But my bottle is a little better than the two nine kids. Now anyway, thank you, Bobby, for kicking off this video. My pleasure. Okay, get back on friends. So my friend Justin Erso is the founder, co-founder, because if your wife hears that you're the founder by itself.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we're both founders. You know, how do you say it? Founder, co-founder, both founders.

SPEAKER_01

She's the brains, right? She does all the hard work. We always have to make it because our wives might be watching us. Yes, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yes, well, let's hope so.

SPEAKER_01

The co-founder and the behind-the-scenes expert of big box karaoke. Now you guys know I'm a big karaoke fan because you've heard us sing a little on there. Yeah, we've had to hear that. And they've been uh in Fayetteville since 2018, but they are have just announced a location up here in Bettonville, which I think is going to absolutely kill. So welcome, Justin.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

So tell us about Big Box karaoke, what you've been doing in Fayetteville, and then let's really get into what you're going to be doing up here in Bettonville.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, the journey is has been a long one. So I'll just kind of start with how we got to bring in kind of an Asian-style karaoke place to Northwest Arkansas. You said Asian style? Asian style karaoke. It's a real thing. It is real.

SPEAKER_01

I spent five years in Hawaii and it's so you know. What do you know about Asian-style karaoke mobile? Well, so well, I don't want to go down there. Let's let's let's hear it.

SPEAKER_00

My take on that is you you you go into a nice establishment and you're usually greeted, and it's almost like you're going into the bar and you could, you know, pick your cocktails or whatever you want, and there's a bunch of different private rooms.

SPEAKER_01

You got it. Well, podcast is a jerk. Thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_03

Drop the mic, don't drop it, don't drop it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And uh yeah, it's a lot of fun. Uh, I would assume yours are probably not sure than the ones that were in Hawaii.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so so the story begins. Our inspiration for this came from being English teachers in Japan a long time ago. There you go. Um, and then we had moved to Chicago, and we frequented these places that you're talking about, but we're pretty divy. I always said like hard diving. You went to these places after 11 p.m. at night, and we're pretty sure they got the furniture out of the back alley. Yeah, right. They were really divy. And so our our vision was like, hey, we want to build one of these that's family friendly, you know, people of all ages, all walks of life. They could come and they could feel comfortable in a space, right? And so um we actually tried to do this in Chicago, like 08, 09 time frame. Just not a great time to try to open a business, right? We can imagine. Yeah. Um, and then move back to northwest Arkansas and then just kind of like bite our time a little bit. And then 2018 came around. We found this spot down on Block Avenue in Fayetteville, which if you've been there, it's just a great entertainment spot in Northwest Arkansas Avenue. You know that area you live down there. Yeah. Yeah, Block's great, right? We've got a lot of great restaurants down there, some great entertainment spots. Um, yeah, so 2018 we opened and uh and it's been great ever since. I mean, the community has supported it. Um, and we've been trying to get up in Benton County and Bentonville specifically for a long time, and so it's just taken a bit.

SPEAKER_01

But you said something like you had like 15 different opportunities up here, or some crazy number like that?

From Japan To Fayetteville

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we've looked at 17 or 18 different spots. Many of them we just slossed out on um to other businesses, or you know, it just wasn't the right fit.

SPEAKER_01

So where did you land? Where's the where's the spot?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so after so many years of looking, we are going to be in the ice house building. That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01

Well, needs they don't have anything. He's one of one. Well, they just don't have anything for younger people, to be fair. If if you don't have a family, it's hard in Bentonville.

SPEAKER_02

That we've been hearing that. We did a poll a few years ago, and we found that our customer base in Fayetteville was about 30% actually from Bentonville. And uh so so we know yeah, so we know we have a lot of fans up there um up in Bentonville here already. And and so, yeah, I mean it's gonna be exciting. You're right. There's a lack of yeah, well, we call our space an eatertainment space, right? You know, so similar to like you know, uh a golf place, golf simulators, uh even a movie theater or a bowling alley. Yeah, so you serve food as well. We serve food. We're a licensed restaurant, yeah. And that's what allows us to be that's what allows us to be family friendly. I I'll tell you, food's not the biggest thing we do, obviously. Yeah, but you go there, you grab a burger or a pizza or whatever something. Yeah. Yeah, it's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_01

It's a night out. It is. But this is like you walk in here. I saw the architecture yesterday at their grand opening kickoff party, which was fantastic. And it's a huge bar. I mean, you walk in, there's a beautiful bar sitting there when you walk in. You don't have to fight to that? No. Oh, man. I didn't get it in. I didn't get in. I was lamb shop night, and I guess could make it.

SPEAKER_02

If you would have had this filming a week before, you would have had it in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But you can you don't have to can I just come to the bar and hang out? Do I actually have to use because I can come in as if it's a bar restaurant?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, of course. You can come in, there's a lounge area. Um I mean, we do a ton of like just events for people to host in kind of those areas. Um yeah, you can come in and hang out. And we don't do karaoke in the lounge area. That's kind of like what we call the reprieve. That's the area where people go when it's kind of chaotic. You have to do it. Do you have good music playing and oh yeah, yeah. And in our team is just incredible. I mean, they take care of you and and and they love music. They love it. It's so much fun. Yeah, that area is like that's the place to be grown up. Yeah. Hot area. So you've already been building it out and everything. No, but the the the building as it is, at least the in-cap space that we're taking on, um, I would say structurally is 50% there where we need to be. So, you know, obviously we're doing a design, we're gonna demo what's you know existing in there to some degree. Right. And then I think it's gonna allow us to open faster, you know, so we hope our build-out's 90 days. Wow, that'd be great. Yeah, that would be huge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So you're talking like a grand opening early summer?

SPEAKER_02

Uh I would say more like August, September. Yeah, the gold. That's exciting. Yeah. My wife says September. I said August. Those dang contractors. Hey, there's a few more contractors available these days uh in Northwest Arkansas. A few years ago it was kind of tight, I think. So um now I think there's shout out to Walmart.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So at least we don't need concrete in wood beans. Yes. Awesome. How many square feet? 3,500 square feet. It's a good size. It's a little bit bigger than Fayetteville. Okay. So how many? So do you have just different size rooms depending on the group? And then how does that all work? Yeah, so we have seven rooms in Fayetteville. We'll have seven rooms in Bentonville here as well. Um, small, medium, and large. So two small rooms, um, two medium rooms, a large room, and then an extra large room. Um so they'll the the extra large room, which we're calling the icon room, um, that's going to be seat up to or hold up to 40 people. How many? 40 people. 40?

SPEAKER_01

All doing characters. Can you imagine like having a birthday party? Exactly. Can you imagine like the Sunday dinner group at your house? Angie and Jenny there. Oh, we gotta bring Angie in here.

SPEAKER_00

Who's our the taxi guy Joe? Yeah, Limo Joe? Limo Joe. And the and you have a party there. Oh, you and the food, too. Angie and Jenny in there.

SPEAKER_01

But think about like your Sunday night at your house, that group, a finishing down. That's what I'm saying. You'd have to be a blast. All right, hold on a second. I'm gonna take a step back. Yeah. I've never been to any place like what you described. I've never been to any place what you're describing now. When I think karaoke, the only time I ever went was like college years and stuff like that. You go to a big bar and everybody was in one room, and one person would get up and make a fool of themselves, or take themselves really seriously and try to belt out Sinatra, some nonsense.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

How is your place different? Like what can because I have no idea what you mean by the different rooms. Are all the rooms different karaoke things going on at the same time? Excellent question, Jim. Yeah. I just haven't been to Hawaii. I'm not following with Bobby in Hawaii. I have not been to Hawaii. Yeah, we're not going to be able to do that.

Choosing Bentonville And The Ice House

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. I didn't really tell you how to compare. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh it is. I mean, it it's individual rooms, like I said, small, medium, and large. So so you have if you go down to our current location, you'll see one room, room one, it's a smaller room, holds up to eight people. You've got a you know, a kid's birthday party in there, right? You got Taylor Swift going. You go to the next room, you know, you got Tim McGraw playing with uh with the group in there. You got a mom's night out on the next group, right? So no, so so I'm trying to follow.

SPEAKER_01

So each karaoke room is karaoke to itself. Yeah, so we have 75 hours. But in the 40s. Can I help you? Yeah, help me. Would you like a visual? I want a visual. You want a visual? Yeah. Look around you. It's this is this room. It's okay. It's it's podcast studios, just instead of doing podcasts, you're doing karaoke. Yeah, almost out of the state. Instead of these tables you would have. Yeah. Feels like one of your manager. So on a on a on a scale of zero to five B's, how serious are the people withn't with the coming and saying? Are they mostly again? My experience with karaoke is I mostly went because it was fun people watching.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Here it doesn't sound like that, unless you're having like simulcast to the room with the lounge showing all the people making making fools of themselves. But are the people super serious, like think they're great? Or well, it would basically it would be like, say, when we had the tequila night at your house.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. June 13th, it would be like doing a tequila party in there. Yeah. And having karaoke where you'll have to do it at your house.

SPEAKER_01

You have it catered in there from their foods. Josh. And you do it. And then you this is no.

SPEAKER_00

It's like, yeah, it's perfect for Josh because no one ever has to go to his house.

SPEAKER_01

I'll host at the karaoke place. Yeah. A lot of times you're you're in there hanging out, you order some beers, some cocktails, some food, and then you know, pe you know, a song comes up or you're playing music, and then someone jumps jumps up on the mic. I mean, yeah. So the customers who are coming to your place, are they mostly coming because it's an event? Or do you actually have rig regulars coming a couple times a month?

SPEAKER_02

We we have both. We have regulars, but the regulars come with their groups. I mean, we have a group of people that uh came over 50 times last year, um, and they work for one of the companies up here in Northwest Arkansas, and they are regulars on a Wednesday night. 50 times? 50 times.

SPEAKER_01

Wednesday night karaoke, now like Tuesday night poker. So it's like uh like a for a team building. Yeah, yeah. Or like on top of how many people are professional golfers? Like they just want to go, they just want to go swing, swing a stick. All right. These people just want to. I mean, here's the thing. I'm curious. I'm gonna go. Yeah, I want to experience this firsthand. You actually have to leave Shadow Valley though to do this. That's a big ask. I'll leave Shadow Valley. Okay. Like your backyard. You have to shape leaver in my backyard. Well, if it's a rainy day, maybe I'll I'll come by. This next question from Saratoga. Saratoga, great water. You can sometimes find sometimes you can find Sam's Club. Next question.

SPEAKER_00

Are we on script?

SPEAKER_01

No, we're off script. So, question for you now. This is what I also intrigued by. You're also doing memberships and sponsorships and different rooms and things, and so you're capitalizing on the business uh up here in Northwest Arkansas. Super cool idea. Partnerships, collaborations. Give us a little bit of insight into that.

How Private Rooms Actually Work

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we're doing something that I mean, I haven't seen it done before in the karaoke industry. Yeah, it's obviously done in bowling alleys. He saw it in Hawaii, of course. Probably Hawaii, it exists. Um, but yeah, we're trying to launch this with the idea to bring in partnerships right out of a gate. So if you think about these rooms, like you look at the walls in here, think about co-designing a room with a brand like Saratoga.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, right?

SPEAKER_02

Jesus. And so we would sell we would have Saratoga water available and then a Saratoga branded room. Probably not that blatant of a design.

SPEAKER_01

Metallike home room. I was thinking, metal like room. I was thinking, yeah, could you put a barber chair in one of the rooms and have someone karaoke for it while they're getting their haircuts? You could, you could. I mean that would be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02

Boom. Yeah, that might be a lot of cleanup, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I can put my kit everywhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

We could put a vacuum in the floor, you know, an HVAC or uh, what is it, the central bank system there for you. Yeah, but you so we're selling these to partnerships, you know. We want to, we want to bring in businesses, corporations, brands to this experience, right? Um, and and last night we had Suntory, they were a sponsor of the event last night. And so, you know, talking to them about some different things, but even talking to places, you know, uh like Crystal Bridges, the Amazing, and and other groups like that. And so, you know, we want to we want this to be part of the community, and we want the community to be part of Big Box Karaoke. So everybody's experience that comes in there, and I think Bentonville just does an incredible job of involving the community and everything as it is. Look at what's going on right around your new location, right?

SPEAKER_01

That they just announced the new music venue and live nation, another outdoor auditorium right up the street, right? Yeah, right off the square, and yeah, in times. So if Sentauri was to do a room, for example, with you as an example, hoping that they sign up for Meadow Lake Homes, like they have full design. No one wants Meadow Lake Homes on what like is inside the room, actually within reason. Come in and like deck it out like with nice nice stuff.

SPEAKER_02

Well within reason? Within reason, I'd say we co-designed the rooms, you know. Like we want to be thoughtful about the experiences. If you've ever seen the movie Lost in Translation, um, there's a scene, you know, Bill Murray, where he's he's over there in Japan doing shooting commercials for Centauri whiskey, right? And so he he's he's behind the mic, and his there the the Japanese director is asking him, you know, to repeat the lines for relaxing times. Make it Centauri times, right? So I told the rep, I was like, you know, we should have a Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson theme around Lawson Translation, right? Um so, anyways, it it's it's gonna be thoughtful. We'll co-design the experience. We're trying to do it before we get to the design, full design phase, just so we can you know be mindful about the costs and you know, obviously the timeline. Yeah, sure. You're gonna have that uh uh in in the Japanese ones, they have that uh special drink, the soji. Soju? Soju. Or the shochu. Sochu. So soju is a Korean, yeah, yeah. And shochu is a more Japanese. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Which which right? The one in the watermelon. The one in the watermelon?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, where they mix it in the watermelon and you walk out of there and you don't know what your name is.

SPEAKER_01

This is specifically in the Hawaii ones. It's not made it to the States yet. They mix it with watermelon, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

It's like it was just me and one other bird. Yeah. They remembered something, I think. I remember it was a half a watermelon. And they brought it out to you. I'll have to call Gregor and ask him what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know if it looks like cut some of the stuff out of the grids. Just make sure you book the watermelon. Can I get my own room?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I don't remember that experience. I'll find a picture. I have a picture of it.

SPEAKER_00

I've got a picture of it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Let's talk seriously about a Battle Lake Holmes room though. No, it should be Jen's. Jen's place, maybe. Jen's place. Yeah. Yeah. We see that. The wheels are turning. Yeah. I'm thinking more like a Coca-Cola room where you got like red all over the walls and Coca-Cola colors, things like that. Like all the suppliers. I mean, if it's a lot of families and stuff, I would say suppliers, like the Amazum and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Like do like an art. Yeah. This isn't T-Ball where you got a few local companies with the banner up back to sponsor pizza night. No, you want something that's really going to pull. Right. So I gotta ask, what's your go-to karaoke song? Like if you're if you're you know, pressures on, spotlights on. In fact, I'll ask everybody. Well, I I I I think jumping in. I I think you jumped ahead. Do you sing karaoke?

SPEAKER_02

You must. I do, yes. Yes, of course. Yes. I mean, but I'm I'm the 95%. So the the you know, you talked about the five percent of people that just really they're the power singers, they get up to I mean, this is why we do private, you know, sweet karaoke is so so we can have fun and enjoy ourselves. And so I'm I'm not incredible by any means, but I can you know do some karaoke. We can assume you're better than Josh, but what would be your go-to song? Oh, whoa. Well, whoa. It it really depends on the crowd. You know, for if I'm looking around the table, thinking about you know what this crowd might enjoy. There you go. I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

So you're more playing to the crowd we think they like as opposed to having your own go-to song.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'm very versatile, so I you know I can go all different ranges, different, you know, um uh decades, different styles. I mean, I think you're more that's good. Yeah. No. Yeah, it it's it's okay. Let's see. What would I what would I throw it in?

SPEAKER_01

In front of this group, in front of this crowd of you. What would it be yourself?

Brand Partnerships And Room Sponsorships

SPEAKER_02

How about a little uh maybe David Allen Cole? Okay, sure. Um you know, um, what is it? You don't you don't you don't have to call me by my name or you don't ever call me by my name. You like that one? That one's a good one. You know what you I do. Yeah, I like to I like to when I'm with the group, I like to do sneaky karaoke songs, ones that you have really hadn't heard in a while, right? Because, you know, we're gonna eat backstreet boys, you know, or or or don't go chasing waterfalls. That would be Josh's, yeah. Chasing waterfalls. I mean, we're gonna hear those all the time, right? So I'm always trying to think about something that you know you you haven't heard in a while, but then you're like, I really like that song, right? And so um America, horse with no name, I really like that song. But then I like Rob Bass, it takes two. Oh, that's some range.

SPEAKER_01

It takes two, it takes two, chok, chok. I think you guys should that's got some range. In the gents place private room. In the gents gents room, you and Josh are VIP members. Yeah, you could offer it to VIP members. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Get your hair cut and and karaoke. We'll do wireless mics so they can get their hair cut at the same time as they're singing, so they're not having to hold new features. Perfect. What would your song be, Jim?

SPEAKER_01

What would you do? Undoubtedly the Huptie Dance by Digital.

SPEAKER_03

Without without West. That's been proven multiple times.

SPEAKER_01

I played that for Gidney. She had absolutely my favorite song.

SPEAKER_02

If I only listen to one song, it's so that that song at our wedding, my wife and I'm wedding, of course we had karaoke, right? Of course. And and somebody got on the mic and sang that song, and they performed it as good as as the band. Well, I didn't know. And they had the whole crowd. I mean, it was so- I didn't know Rob was at your wedding.

SPEAKER_01

This is our crazy. Rob does not perform, nor does Rob do karaoke. You didn't do the karaoke. I was supporting the front of the group.

SPEAKER_02

You won't be able to get the mic out of this guy's hand.

SPEAKER_01

Can we bring up a watermelon beverage to make him happy?

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna find a picture though. If you find a picture that we'll put it inside the stone. Oh I know I haven't actually got in the office.

SPEAKER_01

Matthew, what's your go-to? I'm gonna find out what it is. You're in the survey. Okay. It's a great journey. Okay. Come on. You don't have a song? No, let me think here. No, I'm out. I already told you. I don't see it. I don't have to do some Sinatra now. I see Matt doing Sinatra. Well, right now I like the the well, let me think here. I'm gonna put take away. I like uh any Eric Church. Okay, all right. Yeah, like that. Drink a little drink, smoke a little smell. All right, hey.

SPEAKER_00

Just because you like it doesn't mean you're karaoke. I can't I can't karaoke. Yeah, neither can I. I've seen videos where I thought I was just as good as him, but I'm not. I'd like to see those videos also.

SPEAKER_01

Do you have them in?

SPEAKER_00

So that so what would what would be good is if one of those seven rooms, yeah, everyone had to put their cell phones in a little box outside before they came in. No video recording. And everyone can have fun. And they don't have any videos to show out. Well, that's fair.

SPEAKER_02

Well, see, it's your own group. So you can dictate trust. You can be like, hey, it's my birthday party. You put your phone out.

SPEAKER_01

You need a little switch for the phone. There's a reason why Jim and I were out invited to the Lamb dinner tonight. This is the exact reason why we keep we keep always hanging out together. What would your son be, Bobby? I I wouldn't have one. You don't have a son? Don't worry. This would be any Bob Marley. Something Bob Marley. Anytime you get on Bobby's bed, Bob Marley. With the glasses and the necklace and the hat. Can we do that? I'm gonna do House of Pain jump around. That's my wow. But I'm not one to get up and like try to sing the lyrics. Like, I'll sing along. I'm more of a sing along kind of guy than a karaoke. No words. Well, you don't have to stay. You can be sitting in the room in the chair singing along. Yeah. I'm fine with sing along, but I'm not gonna like go you don't want to scared at it. He's a follower, not a leader. Yeah, he's when it comes to karaoke for sure. But seven or eight bourbons in, the tides shift a little bit. You never know. I'll back you up. Two or three watermelons. I'll back you up. Yeah, one watermelon. One watermelon in the morning.

SPEAKER_00

I'll back you up like I did at Emily's shared birthday party.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I forgot about that. Has that ever been brought up on a podcast? She brought it up to me today again. Shared birthday.

SPEAKER_00

That was like what two and a half years ago?

Go-To Songs And Karaoke Confidence

SPEAKER_01

I was like, we were like, who are these other people here? And Josh's like, oh, we're just sharing them. Sharing a room today. Sharing a birthday. But you could do that. Watch me change the subject. There's no room sharing. Everybody's got their own private room.

SPEAKER_00

The difference is his would not be free, like the one that we went to with.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it was not really free, but that's this segment's sponsored by Saratoga Lover. Saratoga. It comes from the Saratoga River. Is there a Saratoga River? Does anybody mention how bad this Yellowstone is? We're going to have to edit a lot out, but I think it's a genius idea. Yeah, yeah, you're going to do great. You know, Rod has friends that have like buries then those special nights at standing room only. Because everyone up here has to travel, like you said, to pay it to do anything. But if you think about this community, like he's got a hundred percent market share. Nobody else is like he's one of one. Like this is the only type of thing. And you do a ton of community outreach, you do a ton of uh give back charitable, right? You do a ton of different things, which I'd love to hear about. And you got such a good brand, you personally, you and your wife, the work that you do, like the amount of people that showed up yesterday. I mean, this thing's gonna be a home run from day one. Was this in Benville or no? Uh they did a kickoff for for VIP people or people like Kinko Global and shop dinner uh last night. I was like, uh yeah, I was around. Yeah, I was around too. But no, so like, so how I know you're gonna have like two separate groups probably looking from the outside. So you have like from like noon to sit, like how late do you stay open at night, and how does all that work?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean we're really trying to you know do a very similar, almost identical experience to what we have in Fayetteville. On Fridays and Saturdays, we're open until 2 a.m. Ohly game in town. Yeah, you'll do more. We'll we'll see how that. I mean, I know in Vinville things, you know, kind of flows a little bit a lot. It's changed. It's changed. So, you know, in in that area over there by the ice house in momentary, that's becoming a little bit of a that's already an arts and entertainment area. You know, you've got hardwater, a few other places over there. Yep. And so let's let yeah, and and um a good friend of mine is one of the the uh the owners of that place too, and uh and he has a place in Fayetteville. And so, you know, we're really trying to think about how we bring some of those experiences and and things that we've been doing for years together and kind of share those experiences. So I think at the end of the day, um, you know, we're gonna try to stay open late, and that's the goal. Uh yeah. We'll see, we'll see how the the community responds. Yeah. Um we'll probably be closing on Mondays and Tuesdays. Yeah. Um we open around 4 30. And so not during the day, you know, but again, we'll see how the community responds and it demands earlier openings, and we'll do that. So is it just like uh per person and hourly for the room, or how does that all work? Yeah, there's there there's a room charge depending on small, medium, and large. Okay. You know, so you so you pay that. Or if you want to elect to pay individually, you can do an individual rate, like you would go buy a movie ticket or a bowling alley fee.

SPEAKER_01

Matt wanted a small room, but he wanted to shove as many people in as possible. I mean, he could I mean is there a cap on?

SPEAKER_02

We're gonna ask him before he comes. You know, how many people I got 80 people, but I want to pay for the small room.

SPEAKER_03

Like, one in, one out.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

No, but like, so is it so say you rent a room, is it by the hour? By the hour? It's by the hour. The average group stays two hours. Is there ever like an open mic night where you're gonna open up the lounge and try to do it? That's you're not even going down that.

SPEAKER_02

No, but uh you guys are gonna be the first to hear this. So this summer, we we're launching Summer Mic League um karaoke down at Fayetteville. And we're and and we're gonna we'll bring that to Bitonville when when we get over. Summer Mike League? Yeah, summer mic league. On the what night? Yeah, it'll be Thursdays. Oh so it you'll have to sign up in advance. Our our we're we have a small lounge area, so I think we can do six teams. And so, and the teams will basically do um it'll be a minimum of three people on a team. They'll do a solo, a duet, and a group performance, and then there will be judging based on each one of those. Um, and it will be six weeks, and we'll take the top four weeks, and then there'll be a big prize at the end, and each week we'll give out a golden mic to the the overall winner. I'll be a judge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, now here's a question for Josh. I know he's thinking it already. Yeah. Do you can you bring your own booze or do you have to buy all your own booze there?

SPEAKER_02

You know, I don't I don't know if I should share this story, but share away!

Pricing Hours And Summer Mic League

SPEAKER_03

Share away. I'm just share away, no one's listening.

SPEAKER_02

I'm just gonna ask. John Daly came in one time and brought his own booze, and I had to tell him that he it it was not a place. We have a liquor license. You you we are selling alcohol, you try to bring your own box. How did that conversation go? It was fine. It was fine.

SPEAKER_01

He was very$87, John.

SPEAKER_02

Then you've got to upcharge John Daly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And he would have paid it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but he he had been in a few times and it was all he was always a good customer. Was he there with Limo Joe?

SPEAKER_01

Probably. Probably. Yes. I'm sure his driver.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know, but it was uh it was a fun group of people. So we've had a lot of great people from from that year.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, if you and then you just sign up like on online. Yeah, we're just one of those, if you're out with the group and you're like, hey, everything's about to close, let's go. No, but in all seriousness, think but think about it. We're at Barn Ellison, which is five blocks away. Yep. It's Friday night at 10, 11 o'clock. Everybody got a couple drinks in them. Let's go do karaoke and sit and have some watermelon and do some drinks.

SPEAKER_02

You should have a golf cart that come pick us up. Oh, pick people up. Yeah. Yeah. Or you just sit and hop on your bike. Well, but you shouldn't do that. Probably not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I love it. Real quick, tell us about all the charitable work that you do. Because you guys give a lot. Very one of the few businesses that does a great job of giving back to the community.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Touch on that for a second.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's been a big passion of ours. I mean, this is why we started this business and uh we wanted to have the community involved. So since we've opened, I always tell people we've spent over half a million dollars with local businesses. Right. So we're trying to source, you know, local ingredients, local vendors, you know, to come in, sell their products, and then we've donated over fifty thousand dollars back to the community. Um and so we've done that in a number of ways. So we do a lot of sing for a cause events. So schools do their you know, spirit nights at big box karaoke. Um, a lot of nonprofit organizations hold events there. Um so a lot of events through there where we donate the profits back to those organizations, which is amazing. Um and then a couple of years ago we started a Halloween event at Big Box called Be Aware that we eventually um kind of gifted to the Fayetteville Public Library, and that's become a huge uh uh fundraiser for them as well. And so, yeah, just a lot of different things like that. We really want to be involved with the community, you know, bring their events in. Um it's not just about team building. We've you know, we've had lots of school groups come in um as well, and and you just see them. I mean, what kind of place do you come in where you you smile when you walk in the door and you smile when you walk out? Like our team has such an easy, easy to go over entertaining people, right? And keeping them happy because they are excited no matter what they're doing. Yeah. Sounds awesome. You have a website? Yeah, bigboxkaraoke.com. Before we wrap up, tell us a little bit about the menu. Like what just a little bit. Yeah. Um, so so food and beverage, obviously. From a food standpoint, um, you know, yup guy over there. It's not the bourbon, it's the Saratoga.

SPEAKER_01

Saratoga.

Giving Back Menu Highlights And Wrap

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So uh the menu is more of an Asian food fusion kind of street food menu. I would say it's it's been a little bit uh we've downsized a little bit of the menu based on preference. You know, when we started, we were selling things like Fan Me's and rice bowls and things like that. Um now we still have like pork buns and yoza and edamame, but we also have pizza and chicken tenders and things like that. So it's kind of a hodgepodge. We're working to bring back a few specialties that we had on the menu uh over the last couple of years, and I think we'll do that, especially in Benville. And from a drink perspective, I think we have some of the best, you know, cocktails and mocktails, you know, within the region. Uh we do an incredible job there. So one of our top sellers is a hibiscus rose margarita. We have uh a mango number five, which is a habanero um mango kind of little drink. Um so a lot of great, a lot of great drinks there. Um just a great time all together. Yeah, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01

It's really hard to look at a crystal ball and say something is guaranteed to be successful and you never want to jinx anything. However, one of one up here. Yeah, great success recording in Fayetteville. Fantastic business model, open partners, late, I mean, everything here is just screen. Not weather dependent. Yeah, great location, incredible location. I mean, you guys are gonna kill it here. We can't wait.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I hope so. Thank you. That's a lot forward to it. Thank you guys for that.

SPEAKER_01

So open projected open date one more time is end of uh in in August, September time frame.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, permitting is everything, right? We know. So um, but that's the goal. You'll keep us posted. We'll keep you posted. All right, grand opening party for the B team. Yeah, B team. Yeah, no. Yeah, you guys should put a summer mic league B team together. Yeah, they used to do that. Angie's in. Ron and I we did uh we could judge.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, that's good. Do we have Angie in? Angie and Angie on my channel. So Jenny would be hard to get. Angie. No, Angie would do it. Uh Jenny would 100%. Yeah, that's her favorite thing. Yeah. Her and Angie. Oh. They would 100% be in. Okay. Yeah. All right. I'll have to do my backup dancing. Yeah. We didn't hear your song. Yeah. Uh jump around, house. Come on, everybody, jump around. Bobby's bouncing in this air. Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna hold you guys to this. Oh, God help us.

SPEAKER_02

Bob Marley, jump around. Um I'm about to ruin the yeah, the Humpty Dance. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Look how good that was.

SPEAKER_00

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01

He's ready. Ready. You throw a watermelon towards him, and uh he'll be crushing some of our mic lead channel. Thank you. Congratulations to you guys. Great job, David. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the yellow stun, Jim. I've got to find that dang pitcher. I'll find it. I'll I'll get it there.