Blue Note Hawaii
Blue Note Hawaii is a live jazz entertainment venue and upscale restaurant in Honolulu, one of ten Blue Note jazz clubs operated globally by Bensusan Restaurant Group, serving patrons with nightly performances, dining, and private events.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1981
- HeadquartersHonolulu, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Blue Note Hawaii does
Blue Note Hawaii is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bensusan Restaurant Group, operating a live jazz entertainment venue and full-service restaurant in Honolulu under the Blue Note brand, which was founded in 1981 by Danny Bensusan in Greenwich Village, New York. The Hawaii venue is one of ten Blue Note jazz clubs worldwide, alongside locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Rio, São Paulo, Milan, Beijing, and Shanghai. The company offers nightly ticketed jazz performances paired with upscale American Continental dining and a full bar, plus ancillary revenue from group reservations, private event rentals, branded merchandise, and music-focused cultural travel via Blue Note Travel.
The business model is event-driven and anchored on ticket sales, food and beverage, and private event rentals, with pricing including a per-person consumption minimum, elevated food-and-beverage minimums on group packages of eight or more, validated parking rates, and a per-bottle corkage fee. Distribution is direct-to-consumer via the bluenotejazz.com website and on-premise box offices, with TicketWeb serving as authorized ticketing partner and Shopify powering the shop.bluenotejazz.com e-commerce channel. Marketing relies on organic social (Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube), earned media managed by Sacks & Co, email/newsletters, and festival/event marketing tied to the Blue Note Jazz Festival and Black Radio Experience.
No proprietary technology is in place beyond commodity SaaS integrations (Ticketing, e-commerce, accessibility tooling, and Google Analytics). The platform extends beyond core venues through presented venue partnerships (Sony Hall, Arthur's Tavern, The Howard Theatre, Quarry Amphitheater, Henry J. Kaiser Center), festival products (Blue Note Jazz Festival NYC, Hollywood Bowl festival, Black Radio Experience), and the Blue Note Travel subsidiary. The company is privately held and founder-controlled, with no disclosed venture or private equity investment.
Blue Note Hawaii firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Blue Note Hawaii
- Legal name
- Bensusan Restaurant Group
- Website
- https://bluenotejazz.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1981
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Blue Note Hawaii is a live jazz entertainment venue and upscale restaurant in Honolulu, one of ten Blue Note jazz clubs operated globally by Bensusan Restaurant Group, serving patrons with nightly performances, dining, and private events.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Blue Note Hawaii industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Live Entertainment Venues
- NAICS
- Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (72241), Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Live Music Clubs & Venues (MPAGAIAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Live Music Venues & Concert Bars (THAFAEAD), Live Music Bars & Venues (CRANACAH)
Keywords
Where Blue Note Hawaii is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Honolulu
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices13 records
Markets served
Blue Note Hawaii business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Ticket Sales: Revenue from ticket sales for nightly live music performances at multiple venues. Tickets sold through TicketWeb ticketing platform.
- Food and Beverage: Full-service restaurant and bar operations. Upscale American Continental menu with full bar including premium liquors, domestic and international beer, and fine wine selection. Dinner served during shows, plus brunch and late-night menus.
- Private Event Rentals: Private event, meeting, and party rentals for groups. Main floor is 2,500 square feet with full bar and stage; second floor is 1,800 square feet with kitchen and additional space. Cabaret-style venue seats 246 guests.
- Group Reservations: Elevated food and beverage minimum packages for parties of 8 or more attending concerts.
- Gift Shop Sales: Merchandise sales including branded items at physical gift shop locations and online at shop.bluenotejazz.com.
- Blue Note Travel: Cultural travel experiences around the world with emphasis on music, including trips to jazz festivals and cultural destinations globally.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | General Admission / Table Seating |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Late Night Shows |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Group Packages |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Parking |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Corkage Fee |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels8 records
Blue Note Hawaii product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Blue Note Hawaii operates a live jazz club and full-service restaurant in Honolulu, hosting nightly world-class jazz performances paired with upscale American Continental dining and a full bar. The venue also provides private event rentals, group reservations for parties of 8 or more, and access to the global Blue Note brand's festivals and travel experiences.
Product overview
Blue Note is a jazz club and restaurant chain with a platform-plus-venues architecture. The core product is the Blue Note Jazz Club experience, offering live jazz performances with full dining and bar service at multiple locations worldwide including New York, Los Angeles, London, Hawaii, Tokyo, Rio, São Paulo, Milan, Beijing, and Shanghai. The platform extends through several venue partnerships (Sony Hall, Arthur's Tavern, The Howard Theatre, Quarry Amphitheater, Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts), three distinct festival products (Blue Note Jazz Festival - New York, Blue Note Jazz Festival Hollywood Bowl, Black Radio Experience), and Blue Note Travel experiential packages. Ticketing is handled through TicketWeb and merchandise through a Shopify-powered online store.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Blue Note Hawaii Jazz Club & Restaurant Nightly live jazz performances featuring world-class musicians paired with upscale American Continental dining, full bar service with premium liquors and fine wines, and brunch and late-night menus. Located in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Private Event Rental Full venue or partial venue rental for private events, corporate functions, parties, and meetings with custom menus and drink packages. Cabaret-style seating capacity of 246 guests.
- Group Reservations Reserved table seating with elevated food and beverage minimum packages for parties of 8 or more attending scheduled concerts. Groups larger than 8 without a package are subject to group surcharges.
- Blue Note Jazz Festival Annual jazz festival featuring performances across multiple venues including Blue Note Jazz Club, SummerStage in Central Park, Sony Hall, Town Hall, Lena Horne Bandshell, and National Sawdust.
- Black Radio Experience Three-day music festival in Napa Valley featuring jazz, hip-hop, R&B, soul, spoken word, and live DJ sets, with proceeds benefiting Aldea Children and Family Services.
- Blue Note Jazz Festival at Hollywood Bowl Two-night festival event at the Hollywood Bowl featuring performances under the stars with all-inclusive hotel packages at the Hollywood Roosevelt.
- Blue Note Travel Cultural travel experiences around the world with emphasis on music, including trips to jazz festivals and cultural destinations globally.
- Online Gift Shop Branded merchandise including apparel, accessories, gift cards, and tickets available at physical gift shop locations and online at shop.bluenotejazz.com, powered by Shopify.
Quantifiable outcome
- 40+ years of continuous operation as NYC cultural institution
Companies that use Blue Note Hawaii
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Blue Note Hawaii technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Blue Note Hawaii partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Meritage Resort and SpacoreHome venue for Black Radio Experience festival at 875 Bordeaux Way, Napa, CA 94558. Multi-day partnership hosting annual festival featuring jazz, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and live DJ sets.
- TicketWebcoreOfficial ticketing partner powering the ticketing system for Blue Note events. Blue Note's privacy policy discloses sharing personal information with TicketWeb for ticket processing.
- ShopifycoreE-commerce platform powering Blue Note's online store (shop.bluenotejazz.com) and online operations. Blue Note's privacy policy discloses sharing personal information with Shopify for payment processing.
- Aldea Children and Family ServicesminorBlack Radio Experience benefits Aldea Children and Family Services. A portion of the festival proceeds benefit Aldea Mental Health Fund.
- Hollywood BowlcorePartnership with LA Phil Presents for Blue Note Jazz Festival at Hollywood Bowl. Two-night festival event scheduled for June 13 & 14, 2026.
- SummerStage in Central ParkcoreBlue Note Jazz Festival NYC uses SummerStage in Central Park as one of the festival venues.
- Sony HallcoreBlue Note Jazz Festival NYC uses Sony Hall as one of the festival venues.
- TicketmastercoreOfficial ticketing partner for Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts events and Hollywood Bowl Blue Note Jazz Festival events.
- Sacks & CocorePR and media inquiries handled by Sacks & Co for Blue Note New York.
- Robert GlaspercoreRobert Glasper serves as the heart and soul of Black Radio Experience festival, returning annually to lead the iconic weekend with visionary energy and lineup curation.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Blue Note Hawaii competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Jazz at Lincoln Center: Broad incumbent in jazz presentation and education operating multiple venues (Rose Theater, Appel Room, Dizzy's Club) plus a festival/education platform — overlapping with Blue Note's artist programming and corporate-event reach but at a larger institutional scale.
- Live Nation Entertainment: Global live-entertainment promoter/operator that defines the broader live music market context in which Blue Note competes for touring artist attention and festival share, though focused on larger-venue concerts rather than intimate jazz clubs.
Emerging players
- Soho House: Global members-club operator combining premium F&B, live music/programming, and event space across international cities — a comparable high-end hospitality-plus-entertainment club model targeting similar affluent urban audiences, though broader in theme.
- Yoshi's: Oakland/San Francisco jazz club-restaurant pairing with a Japanese-accented menu and live programming. Compares as a regional jazz-club-with-restaurant concept that validates the same combined format outside NYC.
Direct peers
- Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club: London's most iconic jazz club with dining, late-night programming, and an international artist roster. Closest peer to Blue Note's London venue and the international benchmark for premium jazz-club-and-restaurant concepts.
- Village Vanguard: Legendary Greenwich Village jazz club and a direct same-neighborhood competitor for the same legendary-artist booking slate, tourist traffic, and jazz-enthusiast audience that Blue Note New York courts.
- Smalls Jazz Club: West Village live-jazz venue built on nightly programming and artist development; competes directly for the same Greenwich Village jazz audience and emerging-vs-legendary artist balance that Blue Note NYC anchors.
- Dizzy's Club: Jazz at Lincoln Center's intimate jazz club in the Time Warner Center with full dining service and world-class jazz programming — comparable on concert-plus-restaurant model in the NYC premium jazz market.
- Birdland Jazz Club: Iconic midtown NYC jazz club offering nightly live performances paired with full-service dining and bar service. Direct head-to-head competitor for tourists, locals, and corporate private-event clientele in the New York market.
- The Iridium: NYC jazz club with live performance, dining, and full bar, sitting in the same tier of intimate jazz venues competing for the same artist rosters and tourist/enthusiast audiences.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Blue Note Hawaii social profiles
Digital presenceBlue Note Hawaii financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Blue Note Hawaii leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Blue Note Hawaii subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries13 records
Blue Note Hawaii funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Blue Note Hawaii M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Blue Note Hawaii
What does Blue Note Hawaii do?
Blue Note Hawaii operates a live jazz club and full-service restaurant in Honolulu, hosting nightly world-class jazz performances paired with upscale American Continental dining and a full bar. The venue also provides private event rentals, group reservations for parties of 8 or more, and access to the global Blue Note brand's festivals and travel experiences.
Is Blue Note Hawaii a public or private company?
Blue Note Hawaii is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Blue Note Hawaii founded?
Blue Note Hawaii was founded in 1981. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Blue Note Hawaii based?
Blue Note Hawaii is headquartered in Honolulu, United States, in the North America region.
How does Blue Note Hawaii make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Ticket Sales are the primary driver. The others are food and Beverage, private Event Rentals, group Reservations, gift Shop Sales and blue Note Travel.
Who are Blue Note Hawaii's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Jazz at Lincoln Center and Live Nation Entertainment. Emerging players are Soho House and Yoshi's. Direct peers are Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Village Vanguard, Smalls Jazz Club, Dizzy's Club, Birdland Jazz Club and The Iridium.
Does Blue Note Hawaii have an API?
No public API is recorded for Blue Note Hawaii.
What industry is Blue Note Hawaii in?
Blue Note Hawaii's product category is Live Entertainment Venues. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAGAIAB, Live Music Clubs & Venues, with a secondary code of THAFAEAD, Live Music Venues & Concert Bars. Its NAICS code is 72241 and its SIC code is 7900.