With rising costs, staffing challenges, and ever-changing consumer demands, maintaining profitability in your bar or restaurant is more difficult now than ever before. BrewLogix offers an integrated software ecosystem to help bars, restaurants, tap rooms, and breweries elevate customer and staff experiences that drive profitability and brand loyalty.
Based on our collective experience with thousands of some of the most successful hospitality professionals in the country, there are a few simple best practices from David Bower, Director of Growth at BrewLogix, that boost profits, increase guest loyalty, and improve ticket averages when it comes to your draft program.
Use Data to Curate Your Tap Assortment
Offering the appropriate variety on tap is a great way to increase profitability. We see the following common thread throughout top-performing draft programs: They use customer insights to inform draft beverage buying decisions. All too often, bar and restaurant operators make purchases based on the influence of personal bias, irrelevant national trends, or by falling prey to the sales pitches from the distributor rep who is eager to capitalize on their monthly incentive.
Allowing your guests to play a role in informing your tap selections via their purchasing habits will generate some surprising results. Paying attention to the details will allow you to cater your draft menu to your true audience (micro trends) versus an aspirational audience (macro trends) and consider seasonal changes and event-based surges. For example, are brown ales more popular at lunch? Should we provide lower-ABV craft options during home games? Does the sale of wheat ales slow down after August? Leaning on data will help you stay ahead of the curve and avoid reactive purchasing decisions, freshness issues, and running out of a staple on Friday night. Those taps behind your bar are prime real estate, and if you aren’t pulling that handle, it isn’t pulling its weight.
And what’s the opposite of a squeaky wheel? There is an entire generation of craft beer enthusiasts who do not engage with Untappd, complain to the bartender, or leave Yelp reviews. If their preferred styles and brands are slowly migrating off the tap list in favor of the hot new trend, you may begin to see them slowly migrating to the competition with little warning or fanfare. Not everyone loves a hazy IPA and that’s okay.
Use Technology to Improve Draft Performance
With software solutions in place for point-of-sale, staff scheduling, reservation management, kitchen inventory, payroll & accounting, e-commerce, and much more, bars and restaurants are eager tech stack consumers, with the ironic and glaring omission of their beverage program profit center.
We aren’t stabbing handwritten guest checks into kitchen slide check racks and shouting “order in!” anymore, so why is it still the norm to shake kegs and guestimate when it comes to one of the most critical sources of profitable revenue for a hospitality business? Making data-driven draft program decisions result in less waste, higher ticket averages, and an overall better guest experience.
We have found that many people in the industry are investing in technology solutions that are focused on solving the fear of loss & unprofitability versus solutions that are focused on the opportunity for growth & profitability. Top performing on-premise locations, however, don’t relegate technology to the operational essentials, but are also investing in growth and sustainability via revenue performance tools.
Do it Right, Keep it Tight
Don’t cut corners when it comes to draft system upkeep and preventative maintenance. Fluctuating temperature ranges, out-of-balance CO2 pressure, and dirty faucets and lines produce excess foam, off-flavors, and other harmful effects on your guest experience. At a minimum, be sure to maintain a regular maintenance schedule for your draft program, but if you want to be a draft program rock star, we recommend making the affordable investment into a beer line cleaning kit so that you aren’t entirely at the mercy of your third-party service providers. We have found that going this extra mile is especially critical for those who regularly rotate different beer styles on the same draft lines.
It's not all behind the bar. Simply training your staff how to properly pour a beer will go a long way toward profitability. For example, if your new bartender’s overpouring technique is resulting in 2 ounces of beer down the drain with each pour, that’s the equivalent of 15 pints of beer down the drain with every half barrel.
Using proper glassware is key to portion control, and portion control is key to maintaining predictable margins across different brands, ABV ranges, and keg cost variations. In addition, ensuring that your staff is serving drinks in clean glassware is essential to providing a competitive guest experience. All of those bubbles collecting on the sides of your glass are bits of otherwise invisible grime, oil, dish soap, and other contaminants. Yuck!
Staff Education is a Must
There are two important reasons why staff training is an absolute game changer. With more operating breweries than ever before, consumers are spoiled with choice. It no longer requires a carefully orchestrated road trip to find world-class beer, as it is increasingly likely that there is something special on tap nearby. With good beer menus everywhere, as a draft program operator, how do you differentiate? As the saying goes, “good is the enemy of great,” and those industry leaders who strive for greatness lean on their staff to elevate the experience.
For your servers, an ever-changing array of draft beverage selections can feel impossible to master. Many default to offering samples when guests inquire about the flavor notes of a new option, but the cost of those pours can add up quickly. We have found that managers who take full advantage of their pre-shift meetings to educate their front-of-house staff on changes to draft options, tasting notes, and food pairing suggestions have higher ticket averages due to intentional upselling. And for those guests looking for an authentic craft experience, being forced to Google beer descriptions has an impact on customer retention.
The second, less obvious reason why staff education is a must is employee retention. As managers and owners continue to navigate the new normal of staffing challenges, creating an intentional employee experience is becoming as critical as the guest experience. Educating your staff challenges them, feeds their curiosity, and demonstrates that you are willing to go above and beyond to engage them as meaningful contributors to the health of the business. If your staff feels engaged and taken care of, chances are your guests will receive similar treatment.
Think Outside the Box
It’s easy to get trapped in old habits, but now more than ever, there is a wide world of options available to populate your draft menus. No- and Low-alcohol options are increasing in demand as consumers seek beverages to complement a variety of occasions, including those of a more sober variety. Draft kombucha appeals to those who are after a better-for-you option – and who wouldn’t rather sell a lunch guest an $8 kombucha versus a $3 iced tea? A draft program with the intentionality to offer something for every guest produces a more memorable experience, not to mention higher ticket averages.
Some of the most successful draft programs expect each draft line to perform a specific task, whether it’s driving traffic or volume, increasing off-peak sales, offering upselling and pairing opportunities, etc. Each of your selections should serve a specific purpose that supports your business objectives.
Every draft program has a top selling and a bottom-selling product, but strategic draft operators will leverage those otherwise underperforming handles to lift the overall experience and boost profitability. Your draft program will never be full of selections tied for first place, so own this reality and use it to your advantage.
David Bower is the Director of Growth at BrewLogix, responsible for driving growth including go-to-market strategy development, sales operations, deal coaching, and marketing consultation. BrewLogix® is a technology solutions company influencing the next trajectory of growth in the beverage hospitality and craft brew industries.
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