New bars are always looking for new ways to drum up the finances to open, but one upcoming TriBeCa waterhole's scheme is a new one to us. Until it is fully funded, The Elevens is selling off a limited number of "seats" for $500 bucks. Those "seatholders" are then entitled to 25 percent off of everything they buy for life, the ability to make reservations, access to events and tastings and the promise of a warm welcome. The catch is that the bar will stop selling the "seatholders" once they are funded...
It is an interesting idea, selling the option to become a regular, that seems the logical thing to do in this age of fancy cocktail bars. To become a "seatholder" all you have to do is pay up over here. But before you buy in—since who wouldn't like a quarter off their cocktails for life?—you should ask yourself a few questions. Like: in a year or two will I still be interested in going to a bar on Lispenard Street? Would my $500 be better spent on getting toasted at an already existing bar rather than at one that is opening in the spring of 2012? And what happens if The Elevens tanks in five weeks and then reopens as The Twelves, would you be okay having blown half a grand on drinking privileges you barely got to make use of?
Besides our questions about the prudence of spending $500 to become a "seatholder," The Elevens (whose website calls itself "New-Victorian, but not fancy. Detailed but not precious. Civilized yet playful.") actually sounds fun. And the sample food menu doesn't look bad for a watering hole by any means.
