When we first opened our first location, we were your typical bar. We served a little bit of food, but by every definition - we were a bar. When we first opened, we were also pretty slow from a business perspective. As folks trickled in, it was easy to get to know each of our new patrons and develop a relationship with them. Make each person each feel at home and comfortable. Pretty soon, we became known as a friendly and "chill" place to hang out. So people did. A lot of people.

We started getting so popular that we were at maximum capacity 4 to 5 nights a week. Soon, we started to notice that the people we loved seeing on Tuesdays and Wednesday nights stopped coming on the weekends. When I would see them during the week, I asked why. The common response was "It gets kind of weird in here on the weekends. It doesn't feel as friendly". That bothered me a lot. We tried dress codes and a variety of the standard protocols  many businesses do when they are trying to create a positive atmosphere. Nothing worked.

While I was trying to figure out how to solve that problem, slowly those same people stopped coming on our weekday nights. We were still packed most nights but we were turning away our friends because we were packed with new people... new people that we didn't particularly like, but followed the dress code. These people would start fights and generally make the place feel unwelcoming. Now what do we do?

 

One night, in an attempt to reach out to the patrons who we were about to lose - who had become friends with me on Facebook - I decided to do a special party. One only opened to our old friends. Our Facebook friends. The Facebook Friday Party was born - and they were GLORIOUS! Everyone was happy and friendly. The staff was happy and the patrons were comfortable and all was well in the world of Finnegans.

So we had a staff meeting and we talked about how our facebook parties were awesome. Always packed the house but never had any problems. Good crowd, good people, good fun. It was a stark contrast to what we were seeig on every other night of the week. So, then we started doing it on all our busy nights (Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat) and the off nights were when we would let in new faces to give them a chance to get on the list. Then we noticed that Wednesday nights we would fill up with arseholes (there is a little Irish language for you) and douchebags (and American colloquialisms).

So then we were ready to open the new restaurant location (where Finns is now). We figured there was going to be a rush of people to check out the new place. We wanted to make sure our long time supporters and friends got in. But also, the location that we moved into (known as Touche or Club 276) was known to cater to a bit of a dangerous clientele. Touche had changed its name several times and we were concerned that their customers might think that our occupancy was just another name change and not a new business. And that's what happened. We had a bunch of Touche patrons trying to get in and cause trouble. Verifying each patron on our list of Facebook friends (after 9pm) kept them outside. People on the guest-list loved it. The people we didn't let in didn't have much of an argument for it. You could be a gangster all dressed up and still not get in. You could no longer take off your gang affiliated hat and get in. If you weren't on the list - no entry.

We rarely have any sort of trouble at Finns. There is no other night time entertainment venue that can say that. The guestlist helps us avoid that. If something does happen, we usually know who it is, we know who they are with and we can get that information to the cops so they can get to their house before they get home.

 

But, we do make exceptions. Our frieds who are on the guestlist can bring a guest (space permitting). University of the Pacific staff and students are always welcome (we are a Pacific Alumni owned business) and all forms of First Responders and Law Enforcement are welcome at any time. If we have space, we may make exceptions for folks to get in to check out the place. But be sure to get on the guestlist. If you dont have Facebook - ask the doorman to write you in. He/She will send a request to Tony to get you added to the guestlist.

So the guestlist became a sort of reservation system. It allows us to allocate a certain amount of space to our regulars and a certain amount of space to new friends. If you are on the guestlist, you are guaranteed to get in. As long as you are in dress code, you will never be turned away. You get access to special events and discounts. You can bring a guest with you. As we get to know you better, you can bring more and more guests. It really is the best thing going on in Stockton right now. 

Thats what it is and why we do it.

 

To get on the guestlist. Just go to www.209Guestlist.com and click join.