If you recently opened or are planning to open a bar, you’ll need to be able to attract your future bar regulars. Who are these mysterious people? What do they like? How do you get them to come back? This article answers all your questions, and gives you tips that pack in the crowds.
Earth Day is right around the corner, will your bar be packed for the holiday? With the increased emphasis that America is placing on planet stewardship, you can bet that your regular drinking crowd will be just as interested in saving the Earth as they are in trying the new springtime draft beers and cocktails. Here are four ideas to make sure your bar is the coolest place to be while helping to ward off Global Warming.
When people think about their small businesses, they usually talk about the “taste” of success, the “feel” of success, and the “look” of success, but they forget all about the sound of success. When guests come into your bar or restaurant, they decide if they like your business within 10 seconds—and that decision usually happens much faster. You already know that your guests are making snap decisions based on the décor, or the smell of the place, but one thing that also helps your customers decide whether they’ll stay or leave is the soundtrack. Here’s how to fix a few blunders your bar may be making. Read more
Is your restaurant doing well right now? Are you happy with its growth and profits? Even for those of you who said “Yes,” this industry is so dependent on public perception and the local economy that just one financial set back can push your restaurant from “trendy” to “end-y.” However, if you use the techniques that the most profitable restaurants are using, you’ll find a firmer footing to stand on when unexpected problems arise.
I know I’ve spoken before about upselling in your restaurant, but I can’t stress enough that if you want your restaurant to succeed, you need to teach your servers to be salespeople. Read more
Boston Restaurant Week 2014 (now called “Dine Out Boston”) is coming soon and with 200+ menus, your choices are prodigious. I’m sure you’ve picked out a few places you want to go for restaurant week, but you should celebrate Boston’s two weeks of deliciousness by making sure to go out every night. Dine Out Boston runs from March 16 to the 28, but Saturday nights aren’t part of the festivities, so the official dates are March 16-21 and 23-28. This year’s per-person prix fixe offerings fall into three tiers for lunch or dinner, and the pricing is dependent on how many courses are offered. For lunch, you’ll pay $15, $20, or $25; for dinner you’ll pay $28, 33, or $38.
I’ve looked through all the available menus for this year’s selections and listed my favorite choices in each price tier for lunch and dinner. Boston, let the feasting begin! Read more
Denver Restaurant Week is almost here, and this year is the tenth annual event. 2014 boasts a staggering number of participating restaurants, so Denverites, be ready to satiate. The prix fixe is the same for every restaurant ($30 per person) which makes it hard to narrow your options, but we’ve combed through the menus to help you make your restaurant week decisions easier. We only had room to include five restaurants on our list, but we wanted to mention two bonuses: an intriguing restaurant that we figure must be wrangling alligators in the kitchen so they can hand-trim alligator tail for their guests (Bayou Bob’s), and a restaurant that must employ wild-snail catchers, enabling them to serve locally-sourced wild snail (Coohills). Denver, you’ve got some incredible menus. Read more