Film in Restaurants/Cafes/Bars Locations

I'm going to need to film a few scenes inside a Restaurant/Bar/Cafe for the next short film.

I've never done this before...Any advice? What sort of tips n tricks have people used? Formal or informal approaches, Payment and/or incentives?

The budget has all gone on pop and crisps (again) so this will have to be cheap, but if you've paid...what's the going rate?

Anecdotes and horror stories appreciated.
 
Start with places where you eat and/or drink - I've had good success in getting free access that way, provided that I could shoot outside of regular business hours. You may find that they require you to have liability insurance, however.
 
What I do when I want a bar for a set is first approach the bar wanting to hire it as the location of my wrap party. They don't charge a fee but rather have a minimum spend you've got to put down on drinks on the night. Film types tend to be thirsty sorts so I've never had any trouble hitting that minimum. Then once I've got them interested in being the site for the party I ask them if it would be okay if I nip in and shoot for a few hours in the bar before the party starts. Means those sort of scenes need to be shot quicker than I'd like but I do get them for free.
 
I've always gone in with an indemnity document that states that all of my cast and crew have signed waivers (which they have or they don't work with me) and that we are responsible for any damage we cause directly from our activities there.

This releases their insurance from being impacted by us, and releases them from the fear that we'll wreck the place.
 
Nice thing about bars is they often do not open until the afternoon, so you can usually arrange to shoot for several hours in the morning. As others have said, it helps tremendously if the owner knows you and/or others in your cast/crew. And most definitely have proof of insurance!
 
Meant to reply to this the other day but completely forgot, so apologies for that. I've been running on a feature for the past few weeks and I was asked to approach a few cafés and restaurants for shooting in. Biggest tips are to approach non chains, so independent places only. Also they will feel a lot better if they know you'll be doing lunch there. The crew I was apart of was 30 people, meaning quite a lot of money for them anyway. Your crew might be smaller but it's still an order they wouldnt have usually got.

Also never mention cash to them. A lot of people will let you shoot there anyway if its quiet and you wont take up the entire cafe/restaurant. If they don't seem keen then offer them something in the £50-£100 range. Hopefully your shooting locations are near roads full of greasy spoons, because even if they say no then you can move on and try elsewhere. Also it's probably best to do it on the day as it adds a bit of immediacy of them receiving money, whereas advance booking can lead them to want a fee as they wouldnt be getting your money that day, but of course that means it'd be an absolute nightmare for scheduling incase literally everywhere turns you away
 
I'll second the thought to approach first non-chain establishments. Locally-owned businesses sometimes pride themselves on being part of the community, and they don't require approval from Corporate Office before they can give permission.

On the other hand, I have shot in a Starbucks just by asking the manager. The stipulation there was that we couldn't show any "trade dress": no shots of their logos, staff, or menu board.

In short, it's always worth asking. The worst they can do is say no.
 
I agree with all of these great ideas.

Start with local places that you yourself frequent. Also, do you know anybody who manages, waits tables at, or does the books for a pub or restaurant? Start there, then widen your search.

We shot at a great bar once, it was closed on Sundays until 5PM.

Sometimes places are also just really slow at certain times, and won't mind you shooting during that time. Offer to order lunch there for the crew. A film I acted in shot at a busy bar from 10AM to 3PM. They were open, but during that time the customer flow was really only a low trickle, and they let the crew takeover a corner of the place. Make sure you let them know that you will need them to turn the music off during those hours though.

If you are going to be using a place in off hours, I will urge you strongly to try to get the keys. I repeat, try to get the keys. I'll say it again: Try to get the keys.

If you are shooting from, say, 5AM to 12PM (when the bar officially opens.) you don't want to be standing in the dark and/or cold at 5AM, with crew and actors, while you are waiting for the manager or owner to show up and open the place for you. They usually work pretty grueling schedules until late at night. As much as they are nice for letting you use the place, getting up to let you in is not their priority. And you could find yourself waiting around until 8-9am when somebody finally rolls by to let you in.
 
I currently run a restaurant, and over the years have run bars as well. From time to time I've been asked to allow my business to be used as a filming location. Most recently my restaurant was used for some behind the scenes footage for an upcoming major network talent search type show. Was cool, crew had two badass C300's all decked out. Any ways, the ones I usually say yes to, are the people who come in with a plan. When they come in or call, ill ask whatnthey have in mind. They know when they want to do this (time of day, how long they'll need, etc.). Those are the ones I'm inclined to give the ok too.

Find out everything you can about a location you want to use, and have a plan where you can insert yourself as painlessly as possible. My last one, they wanted to do it on a Friday night dinner time. The crew came in early, and the production company bought the crew dinner. Then they setup, and took over a small area. My customers got a kick out of watching. Was,an enjoyable situation, even while I was open for business.
 
We shot a scene of The Flight of the Flamingo in a posh wine bar and restaurant in West London. I was expecting it to be quite hard to find somewhere, but I shot off a bunch of emails saying 'We're a local production...won't take too long...we'll give a full credit to the restaurant...etc' and plenty of places got back saying they were interested.

The place we shot it in, in the end, was somewhere that during weekdays was very quiet before dinner. We needed food for the scene so I just offered to buy a few lunch for cast and crew (came to £100ish, so was more expensive than our normal catering, but also much nicer!) and they were chilled about it. Turned the music off for us, and the other diners didn't seem to mind at all.

For reference, this is the restaurant we filmed at (moral of the story, don't just think that your local diner will be interested- if you need somewhere fancy, go for it!): http://no11pimlicoroad.co.uk/
 
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