Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/662062
www.cheersonline.com 12 • March/April 2016 THE BAR RESCUE HOST WEIGHS IN ON TRENDS, PROMOTIONS AND THE CRAFT CRAZE. Jon Taffer thinks mixologists take too long and that craft beer is coming up on a bubble. And this industry veteran tends to be right. Taffer, best known for his starring role on Spike TV's Bar Rescue, helps failing bars reverse fortunes by dishing out hard truths coupled with savvy business advice. Cheers caught up with Taffer to get his take on about how bars can improve, and what 2016 holds for the beverage alcohol industry. CH: What is something bars can do right now to improve their business? JT: Promotions. As I always say, focus on dollars, not dimes. In the bar business, a good promotion can increase a night's revenue by 20%. In other industries, it can take three to four months to roll out a promotion. In the bar business, you can roll out a promotion within two weeks and immediately start increasing revenue. And revenue is the cure-all. That's why I always stress top-line promotions. A promotion isn't $2 beers. That's dis- counting. And that comes with diminishing returns. The next bar over will start offering $1.50 beers, and then where are we? We both lose. Promotions have to be experimental and environmental. Let me give you an example. I believe that if you can have a bar with 200 women in it, you'll never go broke. I try to build promotions around women. So let's take Monday Night Football. Say you own a bar in the Dallas area, and the Cowboys are playing on Monday night. Every bar in Dallas will be showing the game, and advertising it. That doesn't attract women. So I would promote an "I Hate Football Mondays" in my bar. That'd fi ll the bar with women. And then I would still show the game somewhere! Tell me, which bar would you rather go to on Monday night? CH: What trends do you see for on-premise in 2016? JT: Nightclubs and dance halls are taking a huge hit—even in Las Vegas, where the market is now looking to go in a differ- ent direction. There is an environmental change happening right now in this business. Millennials do not respond to the traditional "thump" environment of a club or dance hall. Rather, they prefer environments that are more "mix and mingle," energetic, or more casualized. These are the trends of today. They're much more story-based, image-based. CH: What is something that many bars are doing wrong? JT: Besides discounting, I would say that the days of sexual- ized promotions are diminishing. And listen, this is coming from someone who once gave away breast implants at a bar! Instead, it's about "fun sexy," or product-based. Bars should focus on what fascinates their audience in terms of culinary products. Because at the end of the day, it's all about ego and image—especially for Millennials. CH: What do you see for craft cocktails in 2016? JT: The speed of mixology has to be addressed. Listen, I work with some of the best in mixology, so I'm not anti-mix- ology. I'm just anti-ticking clock. Think about it this way. A bar makes 70% of its week- ly revenue 16 hours per week—happy hours on Thursday through Saturday. Now take two bars. One can make a cock- tail in one minute; the second is a mixology bar and takes three minutes to make a drink. Well, that second bar had better charge 300% more for their cocktail, or they'll never make as much revenue as the fi rst. That's why I support craft-cocktail batching, cocktails on tap, work stations, anything to speed it up. It drives me crazy when I see bartenders making love to their orange peel as they make a four-minute cocktail. Instead, I use quality mixes in my prebatched cocktails, and in drinks you can mix in the glass. You gotta look at ways to get things out quicker. CH: What are your thoughts about beer in 2016? JT: I fi nd the whole craft-beer craze fascinating. A lot of the core beer brands in America—Budweiser, Coors, etc.—have taken a real hit from it. Craft beer has created a culture, not a trend. A trend grabs market share and then disappears and gives it back. A culture grabs market share and then keeps it. The craft-beer culture isn't going anywhere in America. The problem is that people are now looking at craft beer as an investment opportunity and are getting into it to make money and not for the love of making beer. That's why I think there's going to be a wash out in craft beer over the next two years. Half of the craft breweries are going to disappear. And the word "craft" will become known more for spirits. —KS DRINK CULTURE Q&A: JON TAFFER PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. caught up with Taffer to get his take on about how bars can PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. caught up with Taffer to get his take on about how bars can PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. CH: What is something bars can do right now to improve PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. CH: What is something bars can do right now to improve Promotions. As I always say, focus on dollars, not dimes. PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. Promotions. As I always say, focus on dollars, not dimes. In the bar business, a good promotion can increase a night's PHOTO OF JON TAFFER PHOTO COURTESY OF BY SPIKE TV. In the bar business, a good promotion can increase a night's PHOTO COURTESY OF SPIKE TV