BarProfits: Building a Sustainable Bottom Line

In This Issue

Beverage Management

Increasing Sales in a Down Economy

By Robert Plotkin

Americans drink in good times and bad. Historically accurate or not, it’s nevertheless

safe to anticipate that in a slumping economy there will be fewer people on the street and they’ll have less money in their pockets. The moment the markets stumbled and crashed was when it was no longer became business as usual.
Perhaps the best piece of business advice for rocky times is coming up with a plan to increase revenue and sticking with it. Taking a breather and maintaining status quo solidly fixes you at a point in space, allowing competitors to surge past. This is no time to be tentative. Armed with the right plan, the only difference between financially under-performing and exceeding expectations is commitment.

So recession or not, here are a few field-tested strategies proven to send beverage revenues skywards.
• PASSÉ PRODUCT — A restaurant that doesn’t routinely change its menu always has plenty of open tables. The same holds true for a bar. Shake things up and add some pizzazz to your beverage line-up. Change spices things up and helps keep your guests interested. If yours is the only place on the planet where they can get particular libations, where else will they go? Likewise, bartending staffs typically operate without a clearly defined set of recipes. The result is a loss of product consistency, fluctuating costs and shoddy, hit-or-miss drinks. Determine what they’re to pour or they’ll do it for you.

If it’s true that the better the spirit, the better the cocktail, why not brand your signature drinks with super-premium spirits. Consider also switching to bottled mixers; despite their higher cost, they make crisper, livelier drinks. When in doubt, always opt for quality.

• SLASH MARKETING — The only marketing some operators do is to slash prices during happy hour. Promote your business from the inside out. People are open and receptive to timely suggestions on what to drink. Develop bar menus and table tents that market your house specialties. If you’ve created delicious signature drinks, make sure you announce your success. You’ll notice that sales for whatever you actively promote will skyrocket.

• ALCOHOL ORIENTATION — If you’re not actively marketing alcohol-free beverages, you’re leaving money on the table. More than a passing fad, they’ve become part of the dynamics of our industry. If you need incentive before jumping onboard, consider the magnitude of this untapped market. The demographics of alcohol-free drinkers include literally everyone, and today consumers are increasingly predisposed to socializing without alcohol. Consider also that alcohol-free beverages and drinks incur no liability and are chock full of profit.

• DRINK FLOURISHES — Swizzle sticks are enjoying a renaissance in bars and nightclubs across the country and rank among the coolest collectibles around. More than mere implements for stirring, swizzles are contemporary memorabilia for the taking, mementoes embossed with your company’s identity. Swizzles have function and provide a lot of impact for the buck.

Along the same lines, you’ll likely never spend less raising a smile out of your guests than giving them a groovy plastic orangutan in their drink. Hangers-on—those cute plastic chimps, lounging mermaids or blue whales that hook on the rim of a glass—are universally appealing. The kid in us is thrilled to get them (“You mean I can keep this pink flamingo fruit spear?”), while the operator in us appreciates their value-added aspect.

• CLOSE STRONG — The smallest nuances can make a lasting impression. Such is the case with garnishing. Give your Martini drinkers something to talk about by garnishing their drink with vodka-steeped, anchovy-wrapped green olives, or pepper-infused, almond-stuffed green olives. Put some pizzazz in your Bloody Marys with a shrimp and scallion garnish. Embellishing drinks affords an opportunity to add some sizzle without adding significant cost.

• SECRET INGREDIENTS? — Everybody loves secrets. No one guessed that the secret behind the Flaming Moe of The Simpsons’ fame was a splash of cough syrup. During the golden age of bartending, homemade elixirs, potions, syrups and infusions were the rage. They

helped distinguished one establishment’s specialties from the next. What if you followed suit and created your own orange bitters, agave-flavored syrup or rose petal tincture? The alchemy involved is uncomplicated. A little research on-line should send you in the right direction. Once you devise a winning concoction, keep the recipe in your vest pocket and don’t tell a soul. Now let’s see the competition try to duplicate your specialties.

• ADOPT A SPIRIT — Spirit sales, especially top-shelf brands, remain hot commodities. Per capita consumption is steadily increasing back to the highs of the early ‘80s. Now is the time to jump onboard and leverage their popularity into greater sales. Choose a spirit and become known as a great bourbon bar, tequilaria or single malt haven. Educate your staff and expand your back bar selections to offer guests an interesting array of brands from which to choose. Then prominently feature the rums or vodkas, for example, in your signature drinks. Tap into the guests’ sense of discovery and you’ll need to order more bar stools.

• SOLICIT FEEDBACK — Bartenders are the resident experts on every subject regarding operating the bar profitably. They have loads of firsthand, real-time information about your clientele and they’ll tell you everything you need to know. All you need do is ask. Not only do they possess credible Intel regarding drink prices, products and promotions, they also have the skinny on your competitors. Soliciting the staff’s feedback fosters a sense of involvement among the staff and often leads to a more positive work environment.

• WEAKEST LINKS — A business is only as strong and vital as the weakest employee. It’s especially true behind the bar. The bartending staff impacts every aspect of an operation, from portioning and marketing the bill of fare, to rendering prompt and gracious hospitality to the clientele. A crucial step toward improving the staff’s degree of professionalism is through on-going training and education. What your people don’t know will most certainly cost you. Their lack of expertise reflects poorly on your business and prevents them from reaching their potential. Ongoing training is a revenue-generating investment, not a financial hardship.

• STAFF TUNE-UP — If bartenders could be replaced by tuxedoed robots or drink-making holograms, someone would have done it by now. Fact is no machine, gadget or computer can generate the dynamics necessary to transform a body-filled room into party central the way a few great bartenders can.

Boost their capabilities with some working flair techniques and watch the magic happen. Guests are enthralled with bartenders who occasionally flip about a few bottles or mixing sets. It keeps people in their seats longer and reinforces they picked a cool place to hang out. Short bursts of flair translate to higher sales.

• WORK DEMANDS — Another method of increasing sales is removing any impediments bartenders have to deal with in executing their jobs. For example, bartenders are often required to provide beverage service to guests seated at the cocktail tables in the lounge. When business is brisk, it becomes challenging to interact with the people at the bar, prepare drink orders for servers, while still providing hospitable service to those in the lounge. In this case, the solution may be as simple as scheduling a barback or cocktail server to provide extra coverage during peak trade periods.

The more difficult and stressful it is for staff to perform their jobs, the more hassled they’ll be and likely to fall victim to “job burn-out.”

• VALUE MENUS — Who doesn’t want to think they are getting the most for their hard-earned money? Considering the nature of the economy and our collective sensitivity to prices, offering your clientele drinks with high-perceived value will become an increasingly important success factor. Value from a guest’s perspective means something is worth the price paid. Regardless of what the economy might be doing, marketing impeccable cocktails at reasonable prices provides guests ample reasons to return another night. A loyal clientele is an effective hedge against a soft economy.

In the final analysis, increasing bar sales involves exceeding people’s expectations and occasionally doing the delightfully unexpected. Your clientele will appreciate it more than you may realize.

For example, imagine applying the concept of random acts of kindness to your business. What if you unexpectedly bought a couple of loyal guests their dinner or a round of drinks? “It’s just our way of saying thanks,” you’d say. They’d be on the phone telling their friends what you did before they got home.