Increasing Bar Revenues One Step at a Time

It's hard to imagine that there's a restaurant or bar owner who would suggest that his or her business wouldn't greatly benefit from increasing revenues. The adage, "food covers overhead, but the bar is all profit," actually has its basis in fact.

It would seem, therefore, that since no restaurant operates under the burden of too much profit, finding ways to increase bar revenues is a nearly universal imperative.

So while you may perceive the need, exactly how to go about increasing beverage sales might not be so clear. There are essentially only three ways to go about it. First, you can look to increase your customer count. The more people you serve will likely augment your beverage sales. It is, however, an "iffy" proposition, one that entails hiking your advertising and promotion budget. The downside to this particular strategy is that when the advertising and promotional dollars are eventually withdrawn, gross sales typically drops back to its normal level.

The second way to augment beverage sales is to increase how many drinks your clientele purchase. Again, this is not a practical strategy. Accelerating service and encouraging the over-consumption of alcohol is a practice fraught with liability.

Any strategy to increase ticket average must include developing a plan for boosting premium liquor sales. -- Robert Plotkin

The only viable, long-term approach is increasing customer ticket average. Enticing your clientele to spend more dollars per drink is the surest avenue to success. Any strategy to increase ticket average must include developing a plan for boosting premium liquor sales.

Bolstering call brand sales makes good sense. Premium liquors carry a bigger price tag, so your gross sales will increase. Also, your staff will likely appreciate pouring the good stuff, since the higher the tab, the larger the tip. There's another reason to concentrate on selling call brands, namely that they're loaded with profit.