Adam Gold keeps Funk ‘n Waffles present and alive amid small venue closures
Adam Gold keeps Funk ‘n Waffles present and alive amid small venue closures
Despite the post-pandemic closure of venues nationwide, Funk ‘n Waffles still hosts live shows five days a week, thanks to creative strategies from its owner.
Amid recent reports of small music venues’ revenue declining and eventually shutting down, there is a Syracuse, New York, household name whose doors remain wide open. Funk ’n Waffles, a waffle restaurant that doubles as a live music venue, has managed to stay afloat despite unfavorable odds.
Owner Adam Gold, a musician himself, says that high inflation across the country since the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire music industry’s supply chain. Expenses are up for small business owners across the board, with Gold being hit as both a restaurant and venue owner.
Pre-pandemic, Funk ’n Waffles was open seven days and nights a week, but now it closes on Tuesdays and operates only during the day on Wednesdays, with live music down to five nights. While the restaurant’s profit margins have been steadily improving, the bar is only making around 50 percent of what it did pre-pandemic. Gold attributes this to both fewer people willing to be around strangers since the pandemic and bands not touring as often as they used to.
“I mean, there’s way less bands existing,” Gold said. “You know, a lot of them broke up during Covid, and just touring and traveling, and the cost for a band to go on tour is also affected. So just in general, there’s less artists.”
Despite economic pressures, ticket prices at Funk ’n Waffles have remained relatively the same, largely due to the waffle part of the business. Gold explains that what is lost in bar and ticket sales is compensated by food sales at the restaurant and the Funk ’n Waffles’ food truck—hired for private events and regularly appearing around Syracuse at places like the Fingerlakes Mall and Great Northern Mall.
Being a musician gives Gold a competitive edge
Gold and his team, composed primarily of musicians, say that what has really kept their venue alive is their ability to constantly find new ways to accommodate artists and audiences. Talent Buyer and fellow musician Charley Orlando, who has worked alongside Gold for 11 years, attributes their success to staying flexible and adapting to the changing landscape.
“I spend all day talking to musicians, and I’m a musician,” Orlando said. “So it’s like for me, I know what I would want when I walk into a venue and I know what I would want post-Covid for a venue to do for me. And that’s kind of how I think we stay present is because all of us are still touring, and all of us are still playing music.”
Their newly renovated green room, for instance, gives performing artists a home base for their time at Funk ’n Waffles. It features two pianos from Gold’s antique piano collection, a vanity, a kitchenette and a private bathroom.
“I think we’ve seen already that [the green room] helps a lot,” Gold said. “Just giving them a space that, you know, inspires them, to kind of prepare them to entertain. I mean, there’s not a lot of amazing green rooms. And I think this is one of them.”
The green room has also opened up revenue opportunities for the venue as a place to host VIP fan experiences. For some performers, fans can purchase a more costly VIP ticket that allows them to listen to the music in a more intimate setting before the real show. This experience also gives fans the chance to meet the band, get their photo taken with them and get their autograph. Additionally, the space can be rented out for private parties.
“I’ve never seen a green room that was that well outfitted, really, to have, like, its own performance,” Gold said. “Once it was done, we’re like, wow, this place is really dope. Let’s throw a Fender Rhodes up there. Let’s throw, you know, a clavinet up there, and an amp and see what happens. And it just kind of naturally was like, this is actually such a sick space that we should offer it for VIP performances.”
Having toured the country with Sophistafunk, Gold has spent time in countless green rooms at a variety of venues. The funk hip-hop band, formed in 2007, features Gold on keyboards, Emanuel Washington on drums and Jack Brown as the lyricist. Every time he performs in a new place, good or bad, Gold picks up lessons he brings back to Funk ’n Waffles—including details like logistics of his own green room.
From the second he walks into a new venue, Gold says he can tell how his performing experience will go. For him, it all depends on the attitude of the people working there, how they use their space and how good their marketing is. There are common mistakes that venues make that frustrate performers and attendees, which Gold says he detects and is able to prevent at Funk ’n Waffles.
“I’m always able to see everything from both sides,” Gold said. “I’m both the guy who hands the money to the bands, and I’m the band waiting to get paid.”
Ithaca-based concert promoter Dan Smalls credits Gold’s background as a musician for his ability to treat both the audience and artists right at Funk ‘n Waffles. Smalls, the owner of DSP Shows, says that venues who are prioritizing the artists’ experience are the most successful. He attributes a venue’s long-term success to taking better care of its customers and musicians than other places in the area. While people will go anywhere to see a band they love, they will only be consistent at a venue that does it right.
“The venues matter, sure, but they also don’t,” Smalls said. “It’s like people will go anywhere to see somebody that is that hot, and I think that law works for a one off, but not in the long term. I think the long term is definitely about doing it better than everyone else and taking better care of people.”
Why music venues are vital to a city’s cultural identity
On Thursday, Sept. 26, Sophistafunk performed at “Westcott Thursdays,” a free outdoor music series in the Westcott neighborhood. Orlando, along with his friend and fellow musician Joe Driscoll, started this series in 2022 in Hanover Square, dubbed “Hanover Thursdays.” In its new home in the Rise N Shine Diner parking lot, the concerts occur every Thursday in September. It is made possible largely by grants from Assemblymember Pamela Hunter; Orlando says her support shows taxpayers where their money is going and gives them something free to enjoy.
The crowd was made up of people of all ages, with children dancing in the front and elderly couples enjoying the music from seats in the back. Gold came alive on stage, alternating between several of his vintage keyboards and periodically contributing with deep, funky vocals. His smile rarely wavered as he fed the energized crowd. Sophistafunk’s lyrics about the Syracuse community reflected how one-of-a-kind it is. The music scene, in particular, is extremely diverse, which residents like Yolanda Stewart, a recent SU alum, appreciate.
“I think [the music scene] is very eclectic. I think everyone has their thing, and depending on the venue it caters to specific people,” Steward said. “There’s folk music, there’s hip-hop music, there’s country music. It all depends on what you like and the venues that cater to you.”
Shannon Knickerbocker and Michael Jupim, longtime fans of Sophistafunk and frequenters of Funk ’n Waffles, say the Syracuse community would not be the same without the existence of stages for local, upcoming artists. For Jupim, these are spaces where he can meet local people who are interested in the same things as him.
Although Syracuse is smaller than neighboring cities like Rochester and Buffalo, it has a distinct and local music scene that is the backbone of its cultural identity. Small venues like Funk ’n Waffles can foster Syracuse’s emerging artists, acting as the first step to success in the music industry. When asked how a city without independent music venues would affect the local culture, Orlando said, “There would be none.”
Smalls, who got his start in the industry in 1988 as a student at Cornell University, says that small venues are integral to ensuring artists build a relationship with their audience. He has seen firsthand how playing in those smaller rooms gives artists an advantage; it allows them to interact with people who will eventually become their long-term fans—the people who will stick by them even when they release a bad album.
“To grow acts that have a long term, you know, lifeline, or a long lifespan in the industry, there has to be places to play and places to grow a real audience. And I think that happens in those smaller venues much easier,” Smalls said.
Funk ‘n Waffles’ venue capacity of 200 people is able to create an intimate environment between its artists and the audience. The relationships created at the beginning stages of an artist’s career, largely facilitated by the atmosphere of venues they perform at, are pivotal to their long-term success.
“I remember one time we were like tired or something. We finally got down to the venue to see a band that played there all the time. The room was just packed. Like, the vibe was so thick,” Gold said about his original Funk ’n Waffles location on S. Crouse Ave. “It was so vibey, you know, low ceilings, very hot and sweaty, reggae bands playing super heavy dub music. People just jumping and going wild.”
“We just showed up to the party and saw our business thriving. And we were like, wow! We built the space and they came and did that,” Gold said. “I enjoy it every time.”