Rum Boogie Cafe

What Rum Boogie Cafe does

Rum Boogie Cafe is a privately held, single-location full-service restaurant, bar, and live music venue operating at 182 Beale Street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, since 1985. The business combines a Cajun and Memphis barbecue kitchen — featuring signature dishes such as seafood gumbo, smoked ribs, fried catfish, and red beans and rice — with a strong rum and beer bar and nightly live Memphis blues performances featuring house bands and guest acts. The venue is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. (2 a.m. on weekends) and operates with 16 employees across an integrated downstairs dining room and upstairs live-music stage.

The venue's core differentiator is its collection of music memorabilia, including over 200 autographed guitars from legendary performers such as Elvis, Bo Diddley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Billy Joel, alongside the Isaac Hayes Academy Award-winning cape, STAX record company neons, and original Memphis concert posters from the 1920s through the 1980s. Rum Boogie serves three customer segments: out-of-town tourists visiting Beale Street, local Memphis regulars, and organized tour groups and private events. The business generates revenue through one-time food and beverage purchases at the venue, supplemented by group party packages (managed through River City Management Group), DoorDash delivery, and branded merchandise. Marketing is primarily organic, relying on the Beale Street location, a Facebook presence, a website, and earned media coverage including a feature in Forbes Magazine.

Rum Boogie has no disclosed ownership structure, no parent company, no funding history, no mobile app, and limited documented technology investment beyond a WordPress website (copyright 2015). The seafood gumbo has won twice at the International Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival and Gumbo Cookoff, and the venue was recognized as a must-visit Beale Street destination in Forbes. The business operates within the geographic scope of Memphis, Tennessee, with no documented plans for geographic or product-line expansion beyond incremental channel additions such as third-party delivery.

Name

Rum Boogie Cafe

Legal name

Rum Boogie Cafe

Website

https://rumboogie.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rum Boogie Cafe is a privately held full-service restaurant, bar, and live Memphis blues music venue located at 182 Beale Street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, established in 1985. The 16-employee venue serves tourists, local regulars, and tour groups with Cajun/barbecue cuisine, a rum-focused bar, and nightly live blues, supported by a collection of 200-plus autographed guitars.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Music Bar & Restaurant

NAICS

Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) (72241), Full-Service Restaurants (722511)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Neighborhood Bars & Taverns (CRANACAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Nightclubs & Dance Clubs (CRANACAG)

Keywords

• Live blues music venue
• Cajun barbecue restaurant
• Beale Street bar
• Memphis live entertainment
• Group event booking

Headquarters

HQ city

Memphis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Food and Beverage Sales: The primary revenue stream comes from food and beverage sales, including Cajun and barbecue dishes (gumbo, smoked ribs, fried catfish, red beans and rice), alcoholic beverages (rum list and beer), and late-night service. The restaurant serves lunch, dinner, and late-night menus seven days a week.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Rum Boogie Cafe is a full-service restaurant and bar on Beale Street in Memphis serving Cajun and Memphis barbecue cuisine (gumbo, smoked ribs, fried catfish, red beans and rice) alongside a strong rum list and cold beer. The venue pairs its dining operation with live Memphis blues music performances seven nights a week featuring house bands and guest acts, and anchors an extensive collection of over 200 autographed guitars and music memorabilia. It also offers group party and tour booking services, branded merchandise, and DoorDash delivery in addition to walk-in dine-in service.

Product overview

Rum Boogie Cafe is a unified restaurant and entertainment venue offering a combination of Cajun and Memphis barbecue dining, a full bar with an extensive rum selection, and live blues music performances. The venue operates as a single integrated establishment featuring a downstairs dining area with Delta-style cooking and full bar, a live music stage hosting nightly blues performances, group event booking services for parties and tour groups, and branded merchandise. The business was established in 1985 as the cornerstone of Historic Beale Street.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rum Boogie Cafe Restaurant & Bar Full-service restaurant and bar on Beale Street in Memphis serving Cajun and Memphis barbecue cuisine with a strong rum selection and cold beer, open seven days a week from 11 a.m.
• Live Memphis Blues Music Live blues music performances featuring house bands and guest acts playing guitar-driven blues most nights of the week, with a dedicated stage for nightly music sets.
• Food Menu (Lunch & Dinner) Cajun and barbecue menu featuring signature dishes including seafood gumbo, smoked ribs, fried catfish, red beans and rice, and Southern-style blue plate lunches.
• Group Party & Tour Booking Private event and group party booking services for tour groups, reunions, and corporate events, including lunch, dinner, and buffet group packages, coordinated through River City Management Group.
• Rum Boogie Merchandise Branded merchandise items available for purchase featuring Rum Boogie Cafe branding.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• DoorDashminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDoorDash partnership allows Rum Boogie Cafe to offer menu delivery services, expanding customer reach beyond the physical location to those who cannot visit in person.
• River City Management GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRiver City Management Group manages Rum Boogie Cafe and handles booking inquiries for tour groups and private events. Located at 162 Beale Street (upstairs), they can be reached at 901-525-3891. Music artist press kits are submitted to Preston Lamm at this entity.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• Rendezvous BBQ: Iconic Memphis BBQ restaurant that competes with Rum Boogie for tourist visit and Memphis foodie attention, but without the live music and memorabilia component. A regional benchmark for Memphis-style food positioning.
• Ground Zero Blues Club: Co-founded by Morgan Freeman in Clarksdale, Mississippi - the Delta blues home. Runs the same live-blues-plus-Cajun/soul-food formula as Rum Boogie but in the source-of-the-genre location, drawing a related but geographically distinct tourist base.
• Buddy Guy's Legends: Chicago blues institution combining live performances with a Southern/Cajun menu and bar service. Same core formula as Rum Boogie but in a different blues city with its own tourist base.

Direct peers

• B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street: The most direct competitor on Beale Street - a live blues music venue and restaurant featuring extensive memorabilia, serving similar tourist and local demographics with table service, full bar, and nightly performances.
• Jerry Lee Lewis' Cafe & Honky Tonk: Beale Street music-themed venue combining piano-shaped bar, memorabilia, full food menu, and live performances - a near-twin operating model to Rum Boogie anchored by an iconic music name.
• Alfred's on Beale: Beale Street bar and restaurant serving late-night crowds with music programming. Directly competes for walk-in tourist traffic in the same entertainment district.
• Blues City Cafe: Beale Street restaurant featuring live blues music nightly and a Memphis BBQ-focused menu. Competes directly for tourist visits and group bookings on the same block.
• Silky O'Sullivan's: Adjacent Beale Street establishment offering drinks, casual food, and live entertainment with an outdoor patio. Targets the same tourist and local bar crowd as Rum Boogie.

Broad incumbents

• Hard Rock Cafe Memphis: Located in the Gibson Guitar factory building in Memphis, it operates the same memorabilia-plus-live-music-plus-full-menu model but at national-chain scale and brand recognition, with global marketing reach.
• House of Blues: National chain combining Southern-inspired food, live blues/rock music, and music memorabilia. Competes for the same music-tourist demographic as Rum Boogie but with national marketing power and standardized operations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/TheRosetone
• Facebookfacebook.com/Rum-Boogie-Cafe-152388841490824
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rum-boogie-cafe

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Rum Boogie Cafe