Buckshot

What Buckshot does

Buckshot Café is a privately held, single-location live music café operating at Gedempte Zuiderdiep 58 in Groningen, Netherlands since 1999. The company is positioned as "hét muziekcafé van Groningen" and has run weekly Sunday live music for over 25 years, hosting hundreds of bands and serving as a recurring stage for the GrunnSonic and EuroSonic festivals. Its offering sits at the intersection of hospitality and live entertainment for local consumers and small private groups.

The product surface is built around the physical venue. The core product is the café itself, with F&B sales as the baseline transaction layer. Around it, the company operates several sub-products: Buckshot Sessions (live music evenings with a rotating house band followed by jam sessions led by Marcel Smit or Rudmer van der Meer), a weekly Pub Quiz organized by partner Northern Sky Events, monthly Open Mic Nights for singer-songwriters, and Formula 1 screenings on Sundays. Private event hosting (birthdays, graduations, farewells, corporate events) with DJ/VJ hire and presentation capability represents a separate bookable revenue line, and is supported through a partnership with neighboring Grand Café Mr. Bakels for combined dining.

The business model is predominantly transactional walk-in F&B, supplemented by event-driven revenue from ticketed or cover-based programming and quote-based private bookings. Customer segments span music enthusiasts, pub quiz teams, sports fans, performing musicians seeking stage time, private event organizers, and corporate groups. Marketing is conducted through Facebook, Instagram, the WordPress website (buckshotcafe.nl), customer reviews, and event programming. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; private events are quote-based. No technology platform, app, API, or AI capability is present.

Name

Buckshot

Legal name

Buckshot Café Groningen

Website

https://buckshotcafe.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Buckshot Café is a single-location live music café in Groningen, Netherlands, operating since 1999. It serves local consumers and small private groups with weekly Sunday live music, pub quizzes, open mic nights, F1 screenings, and bookable private events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Music Café / Hospitality Venue

NAICS

Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (722410)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Independent Neighborhood Cafes (THAFADAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Lounge Bars & Hotel Bars (THAFAEAI)

Keywords

• Live music venue
• Café services
• Event hosting
• Pub quiz nights
• Hospitality venue

Headquarters

HQ city

Groningen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Food and beverage sales: Café serving drinks including beers on tap and presumably food items to walk-in customers
2. Event hosting and private bookings: Hosting private celebrations including birthdays, graduations, farewells, and corporate events with customizable food and beverage options
3. Pub quiz nights: Weekly pub quizzes organized in partnership with Northern Sky Events, with teams of 1-5 people competing for prizes
4. Buckshot Sessions events: Live music evenings featuring house band and jam sessions, showcasing young talent and experienced musicians

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Buckshot Café is a live music café operating in Groningen, Netherlands since 1999. It serves drinks and food to walk-in customers while hosting live music performances every Sunday, weekly pub quizzes, monthly open mic nights, Formula 1 race screenings on a big screen, and private event hosting for celebrations and corporate functions. The venue collaborates with neighboring Grand Café Mr. Bakels for expanded dining and catering options.

Product overview

Buckshot Cafe is a single-location music cafe venue in Groningen offering live music experiences. The core product is the cafe itself, which provides live music every Sunday. The venue operates several interconnected sub-products: Buckshot Sessions (weekly live music evenings with house band and jam sessions), a weekly Pub Quiz (operated by partner Northern Sky Events), monthly Open Mic nights for singer-songwriters, private event hosting for celebrations, and Formula 1 race viewing on Sundays. All offerings center around the cafe's role as a live music venue.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Buckshot Café (Venue) A live music café in Groningen, Netherlands, serving drinks and food to walk-in customers while hosting live music performances every Sunday. Features diverse music genres including funk, rock, soul, pop, jazz, indie, blues, and americana. Open since 1999 with hundreds of bands having performed at the venue.
• Buckshot Sessions A live music evening event featuring a rotating house band led by Marcel Smit or Rudmer van der Meer, followed by open jam sessions for musicians. Showcases both young talents and experienced musicians performing real music.
• Buckshot Pub Quiz Weekly pub quiz event organized by Northern Sky Events, featuring eight rounds including four trivia rounds, two music rounds, one photo round, and one varying round. Teams of 1-5 people compete for prizes. Held on alternating Wednesdays (19:00) and Thursdays (20:00).
• Open Mic Nights Monthly open mic event held on the fourth Monday of each month, designed for beginning singer-songwriters or poets to perform covers or original work, with accompaniment by a guitar duo.
• Private Event Hosting Event venue service for private celebrations including birthdays, graduations, farewells, corporate events, and other occasions. Offers customizable food and beverage options, DJ/VJ hire, and presentations on a large screen. Catering coordinated with neighboring Grand Café Mr. Bakels.
• Formula 1 Race Viewing Live Formula 1 race and qualifying broadcasts shown on a large screen in the upstairs hall every Sunday, catering to Formula 1 fans in Groningen.

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Northern Sky EventscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Since January 2019, Northern Sky Events organizes the weekly pub quiz at Buckshot Café. The partnership includes eight rounds per quiz (four trivia, two music, one photo, one varying round). Northern Sky Events also provides corporate quiz services that can be hosted at Buckshot or external locations.
• Grand Café Mr. BakelscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuckshot Café works closely with their neighbors at number 56, Grand Café Mr. Bakels, which is open daily from 11:30 for lunch, dinner, and café service. They collaborate on food offerings, allowing Buckshot to offer combined lunch/dinner packages with their venue for private celebrations and events.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Melkweg Amsterdam: Large Amsterdam music and culture venue with diverse programming. Comparable as a Dutch live music and events venue, though operating at significantly larger scale and with broader format mix than a single-city cafe venue.
• Paradiso Amsterdam: Iconic Amsterdam concert venue presenting a wide range of live music. Comparable in live music venue category but at much larger scale and broader programming; benchmark for how a Dutch live music venue can scale cultural positioning.
• Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht: Major Utrecht music venue complex hosting concerts across genres. Comparable in live music positioning but at multi-hall institutional scale; useful benchmark for the upper-bound of a Dutch music venue operation.

Direct peers

• Grand Café Mr. Bakels: Adjacent cafe/restaurant at Gedempte Zuiderdiep 56 and active Buckshot partner. Comparable as a similarly sized Groningen cafe serving the same neighborhood customer base, but offering a more food-forward rather than music-forward proposition.
• Vera Groningen: Long-running live music venue in Groningen operating as a concert bar/club. Most directly comparable peer: same city, same live music venue category, similar target audience of music enthusiasts and nightlife seekers.
• De Oosterpoort: Concert hall and music venue in Groningen hosting established artists and festivals. Comparable as a Groningen live music venue, though at a larger scale; relevant benchmark for festival affiliations like EuroSonic.
• Simplon Groningen: Live music venue and pop podium in Groningen presenting touring and local acts. Directly comparable as a Groningen-based live music venue competing for the same musician bookings and audiences.

Regional players

• Patronaat Haarlem: Live music venue in Haarlem presenting pop, rock, and indie acts. Comparable as a Dutch regional live music venue serving a similar mid-sized city audience, but operating in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/buckshotcafe
• Instagraminstagram.com/buckshotcafe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/buckshot

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Buckshot