Expert Advice on Hospitality Topics

Bar Management Tips: Fill a Local Need

Posted by Nick Kaoukis on Mon, Aug, 27, 2012 @ 08:08 AM
By Douglas Robert Brown
Atlantic Publishing
 

busy barThere are many bars that go out of business each year. This is because the market for new bars is a challenging one. If you are in an area that has new bars opening all the time and a clientele who is always seeking the latest thrill, you need to work extra hard to ensure that your establishment stays exciting enough. There are many small details that can mean the difference between a bar that is merely surviving and one that is prospering beautifully. In this chapter, you will learn the small details that can push your success higher than ever. Not all of these tips are expensive. Many take only ingenuity and some effort, but the results can be spectacular!

Distinguishing Your Bar from Others

One of the first steps to ensuring that your bar is a success for a long time to come is to look around and make sure that you are offering value in the local area. Most of your business will be from people who can easily drive, walk, take a cab, or ride a bus to your bar. These same patrons will have the choice of many other bars in the area. There are a few ways to make sure that they select your bar:

Research the competition. Take the time to sit in every competing bar. After you order your drink, take notes: Who frequents these bars? Older patrons? Younger patrons? Yuppies? Tradespeople? What sort of bar is it? How much do they charge? What does the bar look like? What are the drinks and food offered? What are the promotions? What kind of entertainment is offered? How busy are they and on which night are they busiest? What are they doing wrong? What are they doing right?

Consider lower prices. If your competitors' prices are high, consider lowering yours. It will often get people to try your establishment for the first time. Your service and the quality of your bar will decide whether
they return.

Service. If your bar is known as the friendliest bar in town while your competitors tend to slack on service, you will make a profit. If your competition is already offering great service, you have to make your service stellar in order to compete.

Focus on what the competition is doing wrong. If you notice something that the competition is doing wrong, make sure that your bar is doing that same thing right. It will encourage patrons to see your bar as the local establishment that offers more.

Set your hours to take advantage of times when your competition is not available. If the competition stops food service early, think about extending your food service hours. Being able to provide something that the competition cannot or is not willing to provide is a great way to make sure that you lure in new regulars.

Do you know what the local patrons want? If you do not ask them and conduct regular market research, you have little hope of knowing the very things that will draw patrons to your bar.

Look at the bars that are succeeding elsewhere. What works in other cities and towns may work in yours. Pay special attention to the types of bars that are doing well in areas similar to your own (in towns or cities with the same demographics). These bars may have hit on an idea that may work well in your area as well.

Special promotions. Avoid using your best ideas and resources trying to compete on someone else's strongest night. Offer special promotions and discounts on nights when other bars are not offering anything. It will help lure in customers looking for something great on a slower night.

Remember, if you can offer something special, you are more likely to get more customers. It pays to make the extra effort to find out what is needed in your area—and then supply that need. Customers will flock to you.

 

 

This article is an excerpt from the The Professional Bar & Beverage Managers Handbook: How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Bar, Tavern and Nightclub, authored by Douglas Robert Brown, published by Atlantic Publishing Group. This excerpt has been reprinted with permission of the publisher. To purchase this book go to:

Atlantic Publishing Company
Amazon.com

Topics: nightclubs, NightClub Management, bar business, Bar Management, Bar products, Nightclub trends, opening a bar, Increasing Profits, bar location, Bar Promotion

Loss Prevention: The Bar Manager's Key to Quick Profit Growth

Posted by Nick Kaoukis on Thu, Aug, 16, 2012 @ 13:08 PM

How Keeping Close Tabs On Your Liquor Supply Can Both Cut Costs & Generate Revenue

Inventory ControlIndustry studies have consistently shown that a full 25% to 30% of a bar's liquor inventory never converts into registered sales. That is the equivalent of about six to eight 1.25 oz portions per bottle (which should yield at least 25 portions.) This loss of liquor volume--due to unauthorized comps, over-pouring, spillage or theft--should be of great concern to any bar manager. 

While losing 25% of a $25 bottle may not seem like a very serious problem--an unavoidable cost of doing business--the true cost is much greater than that $6 or $7 per bottle. The question you need to ask yourself is: Where is this lost liquor going? And how is it affecting sales? For instance, if your bartender is not pouring 1.25 oz portions, but is instead pouring 2 oz portions (say, perhaps, to curry favor with clients and receive a bigger tip), you're not just losing liquor volume, you're also losing potential sales. Where the customer may have been disposed to buy three drinks (3.75 ounces), he may now be content to buy just two 2-ounce drinks. Your bartender's actions, in this case, haven't merely cost you a dollar's worth of liquor, they may well have cost you $6-$8 in lost sales revenue (depending on how you price your drinks). And that's just for one customer buying two drinks. How often is this occurring? What if your bartender also happens to be giving away free drinks without your knowledge or authorization? The point is: "shrinkage" does not only affect supply costs, it can also affect revenues in a big way. 

That's why loss prevention is so important. The profitability of your business depends on whole bunch of variables--the location of your establishment, the overall economy, ever-changing customer tastes.... Achieving profit growth can be difficult and can rarely be accomplished overnight. Increasing the price of your drinks is risky, and can prove more harmful than helpful as far as your bottom line is concerned. And growing your clientele usually takes time. The best way to increase profits in the short-term, therefore, is not to try to fiddle with pricing or to increase your client base. (Of course, this is something you should always be doing. But it is not easy to do in the short-term.) The quickest way to increase revenue is to make the most of the clients you're already serving. And one way to do this is to improve operations by getting tighter grip on your inventory. Loss of liquor supply at double-digit levels is not an "unavoidable cost of doing business". It is "bad business". And it is entirely avoidable. Put simply, loss prevention can pay big dividends. What's more, it can be achieved quite quickly through the implementation of a quality liquor inventory control system.

Topics: liquor inventory, Bar inventory, bar inventory levels, bar efficiency, bar profitability, Bar Management, Liquor cost, Liquor Inventory savings, alcohol cost, Increasing Profits, Reducing Liquor Costs, bar control, inventory control, managing liquor costs

Myths About Managing a Bar That Could Hurt Your Business

Posted by Nick Kaoukis on Thu, Aug, 02, 2012 @ 16:08 PM
By Douglas Robert Brown
Atlantic Publishing
 

Myth: Bartending School Is Vital for a Bartender

FalseMany of the best bartenders learn most of their useful trade while at work. This is because bartending schools vary widely in quality. Some emphasize the preparation of rarely requested drinks without stressing useful skills such as bar management, customer satisfaction, and customer safety. If you are hiring a bartender, you should consider the school he or she has attended, but testing practical skills will give the best clue of how many useful skills the person has for waiting on your bar. If you are considering attending a bartending school, investigate the school to make sure that you will be taught skills such as organization and techniques of serving. A good bartending school or course will emphasize dealing with customers. Be wary of a bartending school that is more of a "drink mix" school, stressing mixing many types of drinks without teaching anything besides drink preparation. There are many of these sorts of schools out there, which claim that a bartender's greatest asset is knowing how to mix an endless variety of drinks. Learning to mix the latest drink is relatively simple once one looks up the recipe, and most patrons will order the most popular drink of the moment rather than some obscure mix. A bartender with a good grasp of people and basic bartending techniques is usually more useful than the bartender who only knows how to mix hundreds of drinks from memory but has few skills besides. In some cases, an employee with a hospitality degree is better able to handle the bar job than someone who has attended a bartender school.

 

Myth: If You Hire Experienced Employees, There Is No Need to Train Them

 You still need to train your employees to ensure that they understand what you want them to do. In cases where an employee has worked at another establishment for a while, you may actually need to provide additional training to allow the employee to get used to the way you want things done versus how they did things at their previous job.

 

Myth: Hiring Younger Serving Staff Is Best

Many bar managers mistakenly believe that hiring young female servers will help ensure a high customer loyalty. This is based on the belief that middle-aged men are the main patrons of bars, which is no longer the case. When hiring servers or other staff, you should consider experience and skill over age or physical appearance. In most states, hiring based on age or appearance is discriminatory and can lead to lawsuits.

 

Myth: The Customer Is Always Right

Bar managers want the customer to be happy enough to return and satisfied enough to recommend the establishment to others. It is never wise to argue with a customer, and if the difference of opinion is something quite small, it is better to humor the customer in order to avoid making him or her feel embarrassed. On the other hand, if the customer insists that he or she is not intoxicated and can drink more, for example, then they should be refused further drinks.

 

Myth: Security Staff Is Vital in Today's Bar

Security does add a certain peace of mind, but at many establishments, it is still the bartender who acts primarily as the security force of the bar. Where your security comes from depends on your location and bar. If you decide you do not need a separate security staff, however, make sure that the bartender or some other personnel are willing to help customers in case of an incident.

 

Myth: To Run a Successful Bar, Just Serve Great Drinks

While quality drinks are a key to bar success, many people go to bars to spend time with others. If you serve good drinks but offer exceptional atmosphere and service, you are likely to do well. In today's competitive world, great drinks alone are not enough. Bar managers need to have good financial planning and careful advertising and marketing and offer great customer service in order to be a success.

 

Myth: You Can Cut Corners to Increase Profits

Reducing costs or cutting corners (reducing the size of drinks or firing staff) is unlikely to help. Customers expect more from bars than ever before. Offering them less is unlikely to bring you the results you want. If you are just starting out, it may take months to see a profit. If you have been in business for a while, increasing customers and getting more from each customer by encouraging spending and lingering are far better strategies than downsizing in order to make a profit.

 

Myth: You Must Keep Expanding in Order to Make a Profit

Many bar managers think that in order to make a large profit, they need to dabble in everything. For this reason, many bars spend large amounts of money setting up dance floors, live acts, larger establishments, and restaurants. When you are just starting out, though, it is often best to keep things simple. Do not expand randomly, assuming that spending more money will bring in more money. Only expand after careful research and weighing the potential risks and benefits. You do not want to get into debt for a venture that is unlikely to work for your bar.

 

 

This article is an excerpt from the The Professional Bar & Beverage Managers Handbook: How to Open and Operate a Financially Successful Bar, Tavern and Nightclub, authored by Douglas Robert Brown, published by Atlantic Publishing Group. This excerpt has been reprinted with permission of the publisher. To purchase this book go to:

Atlantic Publishing Company
Amazon.com

Topics: Bar staff, bar profitability, NightClub Management, bartenders you can trust, bar business, Bar drinks, Liquor cost, Bar products, drink recipe, liquor products