Keeping profitable when recession hits is the great challenge for bar managers and landlords up and down the country. The pub and restaurant trade is never without worry and it is easy to feel unloved by the population when they begin to tighten their belts. We have compiled a few ideas that we think might help you to bring additional patrons across the threshold and to maximise your income.
Ever since the 90’s, we have witnessed a sharp decline in pub attendance and changing tastes in consumers seeking a different experience from their local. Considering the other difficulties, from rising duty to cheap supermarket deals on beer wines and spirits, the publicans that are remaining in good shape are those with a creative attitude to survival by enhancing their offering. There is hope should you be one of the entrepreneurial souls that can adapt and meet challenges and there are opportunities to be had.
Beer festivals
Holding a beer festival in your establishment offers a world of opportunities to gain new customers. You will attract people that may not have visited before and you have an opportunity to impress them. Your reputation as a host and purveyor of interesting fine ales and/or cider will go a long way to boosting business. You have a captive audience of folk that just love beer and it is an opportunity to demonstrate your passion for the products you sell.
Unless you’re planning regular events throughout the year, hiring the required equipment is likely to be the right path, easily organised through guys like these at A-Cask
With so many micro-breweries keen to show case their new offering, the possibilities to obtain good deals on good cask ale are endless. The obvious worry for most people is the planning that will be required. Here is a good checklist for planning that will help you to cover everything. We have all experienced a bad beer festival marred by poor weather conditions, sheer weight of numbers that cause horrendous queues, beers that have been poorly stored; a good plan will maximise your chances for success.
Beer talk
Not the conversation of someone that has drunk too much, rather the talk given by experts that offer the opportunity to expand one’s knowledge. The brewing industry is full of people willing to share their insights, ideas and methods as well as there being many willing drinkers who know how much more enjoyable drinking can be when the character and providence of an ale is explained to them by the person who created it.
Another possibility, should a suitable brewer not be available, is to host a speaker with a different expertise, a local historian for example, who can draw a crowd to enjoy a few drinks while being entertained and enlightened. Try here to get a list in your area.
Beer tastings
If you’re a publican already with a fine selection of ales, tastings are a good way to talk to interested consumers and offer a selection of different styles to compare and contrast the wide variety of beers available. The Craft Beer Company is one such chain that offers an opportunity for groups to book a session with an expert and enjoy carefully selected beers with friends, colleagues or even family members.
Food matching events
The British countryside is bursting with passionate food producers and many top pubs are sourcing fantastic local produce to serve in their restaurants. How food is enhanced by the beer that is served as a compliment to flavour should be the object of every landlord and head chef working together. Food and beer matching truly enhances the product package and offers real value to consumers.
Stop wasting beer
If you’re still performing a weekly line clean by hand, you will be throwing good beer, and therefore money, down the drain. At Beer Piper we have created a solution to your wastage by allowing you to sell all the beer in the line, schedule a beer line clean and then get straight back in to serving your thirsty customers, all with the doors still open.
If you’re serious about your beer, you need to be serious about your lines so we’ll even let you try it out for free with no obligation.
Downturns needn’t be a disaster, contact us today.
