Should Your Bar Run A Happy Hour??

Pros and Cons

Happy Hour Facts and History

A recent survey showed that 38% of adults go out to happy hour at least once a month. In addition, 35% of those will stay for dinner and more drinks. Simple math dictates if you DON’T run a happy hour you’ll be missing out on over 1/3 of the population.

So, the obvious answer to that question is a resounding YES!!! Now that this blog is done, go on out there and sell lots of food and beverages!!!

Just kidding guys…about the blog being done, not about you running a happy hour. I’m not going to beat around the bush and only reveal the pros and cons at the end. Of course you should be running a happy hour in your bar. That’s just basic Bar Management 101. But what are those reasons you may ask?? Continue reading and you’ll learn a thing or two that you may or may not have known about happy hour.

Here’s a little history lesson for all you newbies out there, or those who often wondered where the term originated. The main reason you run a happy hour is to put butts in seats. If you’re a sports fan you’ve probably heard that term before and know what it means. People=$$$. Happy Hour as you may have guessed is used to attract more guests to your establishment during slower hours. It is accomplished by enticing them with food and drink specials that are perceived to be of high value. I’ll talk more about this later in the blog.

“Happy Hour” can be traced back to the late 1800’s, when primarily women would meet at “Happy Hour Social Clubs”. The term “Happy Hour” wasn’t used in the bar business until it showed up in the Saturday Evening Post in the 1950’s.

Now that I taught you a little history lesson, let’s get back to the business at hand. Why should you run happy hour in your bar??

I wouldn’t be a very good Bar Consultant if I didn’t run through both the Pros and Cons of happy hour so that you can make the ultimate decision as to whether or not to run happy hour. Hope you’re ready, because I’m gonna start with the Cons. So I hope you’re ready to hear the “bad” news first. Here we go!!!

THE CONS OF HAPPY HOUR

Happy Hour Image

The main problem with happy hour is that the phrase itself is denoted as being synonymous with “cheap”. That can draw an obnoxious crowd only there to get blitzed as fast as possible as cheap as possible. And you definitely DON’T want to be known as “That Bar”. So for that reason alone, your staff will not be as fired up about the crowd as the crowd is for the specials. This is usually because with cheap drinks come cheap guests who will actually tip LESS.

Another con, which can actually be tied back to the above con, is this: if people can get wasted on very little money, that can cause MAJOR liability issues for your establishment. And once again, you don’t want to be “That Bar”. Be sure that your bartenders and servers are trained on how to notice when your guests are becoming overly intoxicated and what steps and measures should be taken to handle these situations.

And believe me, they will happen more often than you think, and that’s why you need the services of Food and Beverage Serve, as we offer a wide range of services including: Inventory Auditing, Drink Menu Design, Staff Trainings, Marketing, Promotions, Employee Handbooks, and more.

Now I know that anytime someone says cut your prices to make more money people tend to look at you weird. But, let me explain it to you like this. You’re taking your well, or house brands, and only offering them on your happy hour, not your more expensive, or call and top shelf brands. Remember what I said earlier?? The purpose of happy hour is to get butts in seats, thus happy hour becomes less of a sales and profit tactic and more of a marketing ploy, although it is possible to increase sales AND make a profit during happy hour as well. You are enticing people to come into your bar so you can WOW them with a great experience and they will leave telling all of their friends about you and your awesome bar!!! Sounds fantastic doesn’t it?? Good!!

The only other Con I can think of about running a happy hour is the extra work and organization it takes to run a successful happy hour promotion in your bar. You’ll need to sit down with your chef (if you have one), your managers, and bartenders to come up with plausible specials. Plus, you’ll want to have menus printed up, and you’ll want to promote it on your social media and website as well as possibly even with table tents and signs. But don’t worry, Food and Beverage Serve can handle all of this and more for you. Be sure to contact us for your FREE Consultation TODAY.

This is all par for the course of not only running a bar, but running a SUCCESSFUL bar. If your competition down the street, or even next door is running a happy hour special and he’s packing them in while your bar isn’t, maybe you should consider starting a happy hour of your own. But don’t just “copy and paste” his happy hour specials into your establishment. Brainstorm, be creative, and original. We’ll get into that a little later.

But right now I’m gonna tell you..

THE PROS OF HAPPY HOUR

We’ll just start off with the most obvious Pro, which I alluded to earlier. Butts in Seats=$$$. And with a good food and beverage offering, happy hour is going to get butts in seats and make not only your guests happy, but you as well. The better the happy hour the more often your guests will show up, which leads right into reason number 2..

Happy Hour can create regulars, which if you have spent any time whatsoever in the bar business know are the “life’s blood” of the bar business. It costs 4-5 times as much money to acquire new customers as it does to keep existing customers. Not only is gaining more regulars a smart financial strategy, but when your bar is packed full of regulars who all know each other’s names, it becomes more communal, and people like to go places where they feel comfortable and “everyone knows their name” like Norm on the TV show Cheers showed us on a weekly basis.

And it all starts from there and can grow as your regulars tell their friends and family about your cool bar with the awesome happy hour specials that they just gotta check out someday. And everyone knows how valuable word of mouth marketing can be. There’s no better advertising for your business than FREE advertising.

And finally, the last reason you should have happy hour, and I’ve mentioned this earlier as well. People will often stay after happy hour and enjoy dinner and more drinks, at full price, which means more $$$ in your pocket. And isn’t that why you own your own bar to begin with??

And now, another question I often get asked..

WHAT TIME SHOULD I RUN HAPPY HOUR??

Happy Hour times can vary from state to state, city to city, and bar to bar. But are typically run between lunch and dinner and the hours of 3pm-6pm. Although some places will opt for 12pm-7pm, 4pm-7pm, 3pm-5pm, etc., you get the idea. There is no “set time” for happy hour, just see what works best for your establishment and go with it. In my opinion running happy hour until 7pm can overlap with dinner service when you want guests to pay full price. Most places will only run happy hour during the week as it is used to put butts in seats. But if you think you need or should run one on the weekends, by all means do so.

Another strategy you can use is to run a reverse happy hour, usually late night. This will attract people to your bar who don’t normally go out early, but still want to have a good deal. This appeals to younger crowds like college students, or even fellow hospitality employees. Decide what time(s) work best for you, your establishment, and the clientele you want to attract. Just make sure to plug it during your slow days and times.

Another question I often get asked..

WHAT SHOULD I SERVE FOR HAPPY HOUR??

This is where you sit down with your chef and managers, or contact Food and Beverage Serve to handle this for you, and figure out what you can serve that’s both tasty and affordable for both your guests and your bar. Your cost percentages may go up a little since you’re discounting prices, but if you’re smart and creative, there are ways to keep your costs down as well.

For example, it’s not always smart to put wings on your happy hour (because they are expensive). Although I know “everybody else is doing it”. Yeah I know, but is everyone else making a profit during happy hour or are they suffering bad losses?? I’ll answer it for you…they’re suffering bad losses. Why do you think they quit offering $.25 wings?? That’s why it’s so important to item cost every item. Offering a cheaper, yet just an appealing option such as nachos, street tacos, pretzel bites, etc., allows you to offer up some tasty snacks at a lower cost. Plus, don’t serve a full size portion. Instead, offer a happy hour size. Instead of a full plate of nachos at $8, offer a happy hour size for $4. Portion control is key to making a profit during happy hour, while still giving your guests a perceived value.

For your bar, you can offer $2 off domestic beer, wine, and well drinks, or 1/2 off, or whatever you come up with. Just make sure that the offer is enticing and gives your guests a perceived value. Now read that last sentence again until you understand what I mean because it is very important. You don’t want to be “That Bar” that offers up a “Happy Hour” special of $1 off all drinks and food, as that’s not very enticing at all. It’s definitely NOT gonna get people to bum rush your doors, and I’m gonna explain to you why.

Imagine you and a group of your friends go to “Joe’s Bar” after work for happy hour, and you buy an appetizer and a craft beer. The appetizer normally costs $10 and the craft beer $6. During happy hour you pay $9 and $5 respectively, and instead of paying a grand total of $16 you save a whopping $2!!!! You keep that up and you’ll be vacationing in Miami in no time (and that my friends is sarcasm).

What I’m getting at is that this happy hour special isn’t really that special once you get down to it, especially if “Ron’s Bar” next door is offering 50% off select appetizers and drinks to your 10% off. Where do you think the people are going?? That’s right. To “Ron’s Bar” next door.

Again, don’t give away the house, but don’t lock it up either. Make your happy enticing, memorable, and unique.

Which brings me to..

OFFER A HAPPY HOUR COCKTAIL MENU

One thing that I always liked to do when I managed bars and nightclubs was to offer up a separate happy hour cocktail menu. These are usually just some simple single liquor drinks that are fruity and refreshing, and they can be made at a happy hour cost by using flavored well liquor that only costs about $5-$6 a bottle when bought by the case. I then pair it with a pucker or liqueur of some kind, throw in some kind of juice, and POW.. happy hour cocktails you can sell for $2-$4 each, and if not make a profit at least you can break even.

Some examples of drinks you can use are things like a Sunkissed Peach Martini (vodka, peach pucker, pineapple juice, and sour), Apple Martini (vodka, apple pucker, splash of sour, and splash of sprite), Green Tea, shot or cocktail, (Irish whiskey, peach schnapps, sour mix, and sprite), and so forth. You get the picture, or you better by now.

This list can go on and on and you can change it seasonally, for the holidays, or anyway you wish. Just look up some good refreshing cocktails online and make them on the cheap. And the good thing about most of these cocktails is that the ladies will find them to be attractive, which in turn will bring more ladies into your bar, thus bringing more men into your bar. This may sound cheap, because it is, but this is happy hour and your guests aren’t expecting to get a $2 Grey Goose Martini, or at least they shouldn’t be expecting that.

And now onto the final section..

HOW SHOULD I PROMOTE MY HAPPY HOUR??

Most importantly, make sure it’s on your website. And I don’t mean hidden away in some far off corner of your website where no one knows it’s even there. Make it front and center, or better yet, make it a tab at the top of your page so your visitors can just click on it and are taken to a separate page dedicated solely to your happy hour specials. Show your food and drink specials on this page, including pictures (this is a website ya know and people eat and drink with their eyes), and be sure to include your happy hour times as well. And if for some reason you DON’T have a website..

You should always post on your social media. What?? You say you don’t have a social media presence either?? No worries, Food and Beverage Serve can help with that as well, contact us for your FREE Consultation today!!! Just make sure to take pictures and post them on your Facebook and Instagram pages. You can even enlist the “help” of your guests by asking them to take pictures of the food and drink specials and allow you to use those pictures/testimonials as well. With Facebook you can actually target people within a set radius of your bar/restaurant that are interested in happy hour specials and more. Make up an offer like a free appetizer (up to $8 value) if they like and share your post, and then come in and mention the post. In this day and age, it’s very important to have an online presence.

You can also use table tents and signage, which I’ve found to be very helpful in spreading the word about happy hour to guests who may not know that you have such an offering available. Another popular, and cheap form of advertising, is to use a chalkboard setup in front of your business that lists your happy hour times and specials. This is extremely useful if your business is located in town with a sidewalk in front, as this can catch passerby’s attentions, especially if you use your staff’s creativity and make it humorous.

And last but not least, I touched on this free form of advertising earlier, don’t overlook the power of word of mouth. Or in this day and age, the power of the online review. During your pre-shift meetings with your staff, remind them to talk to and remind their guests about your happy hour specials. Your staff can be your best marketing ploy as it’s beneficial to not only you but them as well to promote happy hour and get butts in seats and $$$ in the pockets!!!

So there you go, a happy little article about the joys, and pains, of having a happy hour program in your bar. If done properly, happy hour can not only grow your profits, but can also grow your regulars as well. Just remember that the endgame is to create an experience that will WOW your guests and make them want to return again, and again, and again. And all great experiences and memories start with a great happy hour.

I hope you found this blog to be informative. If you liked it, go ahead and subscribe to stay up to date on when I publish new articles. I will be offering up articles to help ease your pains as an owner and/or manager on a regular basis. Whether this is your first or hundredth bar we can help!!

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Until next time…