No Fun for Sale – Interview with August Rosa

No Fun for Sale – Interview with August Rosa – by Liam Sweeny.

We spoke with August Rosa of No Fun about the recent announcement of the sale of the business. This is what he had to say.

RRX: So you’re selling the business. I just want to give you a chance to say something about that to dispel like any rumors or any, you know, any misconceptions or anything like that.

AR: I’ve been saying, in caps, NOT CLOSING on every post. The venues, the decision to part ways, to the decision to list is more a work balance check on my side for my personal wellbeing. The venue is actually super busy. We’re booked out through the whole summer with 4 to 6 events a week. This fall’s booking up solid. I’ve booked shows next year. So until there’s pen on a paper, the operations at No Fun is business as usual. Nothing will get canceled. The business is driving to do really well. It’s just not a great fit for me personally at the moment and I think it will be a really great opportunity for somebody else and the place will be better served in that capacity for me. I could probably power through the initial period, right? And then that would just be it at that point, or we find somebody who wants to keep it going for the long haul. So that’s my whole reasoning for this and we’ve built something really special, something amazing, with an amazing community around it. Obviously, if anyone looks at any videos or photos from the space, they can tell that and sense that, and the goal here is to find the right operator so that this could continue for like decades, not just a couple more years.

RRX: Looking at the listing, the list itself, it said $149,000. I know other people are looking at that. What does that actually entail? Because someone will think that they can buy the building for $149,000 like they don’t really understand like what that actually means.

AR: So this is a turnkey operation. The business will come with future bookings. Obviously, this could go in different directions, right? I think there’s incredible value in the brand in what we’ve built as a community. And also just the headaches of, you know, we had opened into another pandemic surge and had to figure out how to navigate all that while live music was coming back into action. So all that work and work building up a customer base. That’s so much effort. Um Figuring out all the mistakes, you know. And that’s huge. I mean, we have a whole book of things, ‘don’t do this,’ it doesn’t work. I think that in the first two years, there is a lot of learning that comes with it as well. So it’s like somebody doesn’t have to worry about the build out or the permitting or all the headaches that are involved with building a business from the ground up. It’s a turnkey operation they come through. I would definitely be sticking around for a period of time to help with the smooth transition. And yeah, like I said, it’s business as usual, we’re prepared for a fully booked summer. I’m booking shows in the fall. I’m announcing some really sick shows in the next couple of weeks. One tomorrow, I booked the show in January and May of 2025. Well, 11 in January and one is in the work for May of next year. That’s why we could be patient with this. I am motivated. I do want the right buyer in there. I would love to still be still participate in a smaller scale. I’m not sure if you noticed in the press release, I said that. I’m gonna be throwing shows as Dive Presents. I would be responsible for a few events a month. I could do like 1 to 3 a month as they come through. I still wanna be engaged in this because I really do love it. I really like throwing shows. I just know operating a venue is not for me.

Now it obviously comes with all the equipment. Just about every everything that’s in there.

RRX: You mentioned your work-life balance. Do you have any other stuff that you can talk about goals or whatever that you want to pursue in life that is a little bit more difficult because of, or a little bit more challenging because of, of what you have on your plate?

AR: Yeah. So the entire decision is for me to scale back the amount of work that I’m putting in my life. I have three kids, a wife. Um, that’s the most important thing to me. I’m in my prime years here with my family. So I don’t want to be buckled down. I also have two other businesses, so it’s like 33 businesses and all that. It makes time move quite fast and it’s just too much on my plate. It’s really simple. That’s really all it is. I have a little bit too much on my plate, a little bit more than I can keep organized and it’s just like a constant scramble for me. But we do make it through every week. Have you been in for a show?

RRX: Yep, I have.

AR: Yeah, I mean, the place operates, it functions, it’s thriving. I think it’s probably one of the more active venues in the market. We’re gonna be at about 250 events this year. I’m hopeful we’re gonna find the right person for it. Time will tell on that. But we’re motivated, price is listed and we’ll see what happens.

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