When Extra Revenue Becomes Extra Work: and How Farnham Maltings Simplified It

For many venues, increasing secondary spend sounds straightforward. In practice, it often introduces new layers of complexity for staff and audiences alike. Farnham Maltings experienced this first-hand when they set out to grow pre-show dining sales at their Riverside Café.

Their ambition was sensible: encourage more audiences to eat before a show and strengthen an already-loved part of the venue experience. But early attempts relied on manual workarounds, creating separate “events” for meals, juggling spreadsheets, and managing confusion between box office and café teams. What was meant to generate additional income quickly became an operational strain.

The challenge wasn’t demand. It was complexity.

Designing Simplicity Into the Booking Journey

Rather than treating dining as a separate transaction, Farnham Maltings rethought how it fitted into the customer journey.

Using Ticketsolve’s Event Hub, pre-show dining was embedded directly into the existing ticket booking flow. Audiences could add dining in a single click while purchasing tickets, with automated follow-up prompts capturing missed opportunities later, all without additional staff intervention.

Behind the scenes, dining orders flowed straight to the café team with no manual lists or reconciliation. This reduced training time for part-time staff, eased pressure on the kitchen, and removed uncertainty at peak moments.

The result was a calmer operation and a more intuitive experience for customers.

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When the Café Becomes Part of the Night Out

The real shift wasn’t just operational, it was experiential.

Pre-show dining stopped feeling like an optional extra and became part of the evening itself. Audiences could plan their entire visit - meal, drinks, and performance - in one seamless journey, with clarity about timing and expectations.

This change helped Farnham Maltings strengthen the connection between programming and hospitality, reinforcing the idea that a visit to the venue is more than a single transaction.

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Results That Reflect Sustainable Growth

The impact was immediate and measurable. By simplifying the journey rather than adding complexity, Farnham Maltings achieved a meaningful uplift in performance: a 6.55% increase in overall revenue, nearly 20% more dining orders, and a 17% rise in unique diners.

Crucially, this growth didn’t require additional staff or new systems, just a better-connected one.

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Farnham Maltings’ experience reflects a wider trend across arts organisations: rethinking what happens after the ticket sale.

Across the Ticketsolve community, venues are seeing strong results from well-timed, relevant add-ons, whether that’s dining, drinks, parking, or merchandise. The most successful examples share a common approach: they align offers with audience expectations and integrate them naturally into the booking journey.

When upselling is treated as part of the experience - not an extra task - it becomes easier for teams and more valuable for audiences.

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