“This business (Book Cafe) cannot last beyond a year, maybe a year and half. This is me being proactive. I’m trying to deal with the problem before we get too desperate,” said Tomas Brickhill, the proprietor of popular arts venue Book Cafe.
Thomas, son to the late Paul, was thrown into the deep end upon his father’s death three months ago and is learning the ropes the hard way.
Debts, going back as far as three years, are threatening the survival of the popular venue, which is a home to hundreds of artistes, established and upcoming.
Workers’ salaries are also in arrears, while the place itself is in desperate need of renovations.
Even the PA System needs replacement or servicing, among a host of other problems.
While for months Tomas and his team have been running an online fundraising campaign and held a benefit concert featuring some of the top artistes to try and save the venue from folding, the 36-year-old guitar maestro, who is also a songwriter and a filmmaker, is now taking more radical actions.
He says the days of over relying on donor funds are over: “We want business partners. We can work with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), but only as strategic business partners and when we feel that the direction they are taking is not in our best interests we can just cut ties.”
Tomas, who acknowledges the trouble he is in – says he is changing things, “but not everything”.
“Back in the day our competition was Jazz 105 and Sports Diner, now we have all sorts of places sprouting up and we feel it is the time to adapt or die. I will not let Book Cafe die, because this company is how I honour my father,” he said.
He added: “This is how I remember him, honour him and his works, by making sure that Book Cafe stays alive and grows from strength to strength. He taught me that Book Cafe lives in the hearts and minds of the people.
“When we left Five Avenue, we thought the brand would die, but the people, the artistes kept it alive and now they are going to keep it alive again.
“Now more than ever we need their help and we will succeed in keeping this project going.”
Tomas says he and his team have managed to raise about 20 percent of their target and are certain that even if they do not get the whole amount – other ideas and strategies will get them out of the current mess.
“Online fundraising and crowd funding are just the beginning of the process, Book Cafe is changing and we are going to survive,” declared Tomas.
“As we pay off our debts, we will invest in marketing and branding because these are more important now.
“But apart from that, we are also venturing into merchandise; we are going commercial, building an industry around Book Cafe.
“I have been telling my colleagues that ‘this is the first year of Tomas’. Things are going to change. We will be hosting events outside the Book Cafe. Because our brand is strong we will do great as promoters.
“There are plenty of other measures we will be taking but those are trade secrets,” he said.
For someone who took over the management of Book Cafe in tragic circumstances after the death of his father in October last year, his energy and optimism is remarkable.
Tomas, who fronts the band Chikwata 263, a mbira punk group whose music is more inclined to rock, says he is taking over Book Cafe not as his father’s son but as an artiste. The Sunday Mail
