7 tips and tricks on how to manage a bar successfully. Part II
Operating a bar effectively requires resolving various challenges, from high regulatory burdens and inflation to keeping pace with fast-evolving consumer preferences. To generate revenue, a food and beverage venue has to stand out from competitors and provide an exceptional customer experience. It is also vital to control back- and front-office operations, optimizing costs and maximizing efficiency.
We’ve already provided some recommendations about running a bar in the previous article. In this post, you will discover other critical tips on how to manage a bar successfully. Let’s get started.
7 important tips on how to manage a bar successfully
1. Purchase the best bar equipment
To manage a bar successfully, it is essential to ensure uninterrupted customer service and maximize efficiency. Bar equipment is a fundamental part of your venue, along with your staff. You probably don’t want to deal with breakdowns of your coffee machine, blender, juicers, dishwasher, or refrigerator.
With quality bar equipment, you will minimize potential risks and provide continuous operation for an F&B establishment.
2. Invest in expert services
If you are wondering how to run a bar successfully, it is important to realize that you cannot handle everything by yourself. When operating a bar, you will need assistance in a variety of tasks and activities, such as resolving legal issues, submitting complicated business taxes, and fixing dishwashers.
Therefore, it is essential to find qualified employees and reliable third-party service providers in areas like law, accounting, procurement, and equipment maintenance.
3. Optimize inventory management at your bar
Inventory tracking directly correlates with the bar’s profitability, operational efficiency, and consumer satisfaction. By enabling efficient inventory control, you will meet customer demand without overstocking, which ties up space and capital and space.
You will also prevent stock shortages, leading to reduced sales and guest satisfaction. Furthermore, this will allow you to minimize item waste.
In order to improve inventory management at your bar, it is possible to employ software solutions to monitor stocks in real time. In addition, you need to set minimum inventory levels, optimize order size, and perform regular stock checks. Following these recommendations, you will be able to manage a bar more successfully.
4. Continuously innovate
When thinking about how to manage a bar successfully, it is crucial to keep pace with the fast-evolving consumer needs. For instance, now the food and beverage industry in Europe is experiencing a shift towards sustainability and ethical sourcing.
In this context, bars are adapting to ecological realities by creating cocktails with sustainability in mind. F&B establishments are also using technical advances to control the production of raw materials and prepare the essences of herbs and spices efficiently.
This way, it is advisable to regularly update your bar’s menu, host special events, and integrate innovative business models. For example, you can implement environmentally friendly practices. For this purpose, you should conduct competitor research, analyze the audience’s preferences, and monitor market tendencies.
This will enable you to attract a diverse clientele and boost customer satisfaction. As a result, your F&B venue will maintain a competitive edge and a stable source of income.
5. Invest in the bar’s staff training
The quality of client service at your bar is one of the most important aspects that can either make or break the guest experience. In fact, your staff is the face of the bar.
Qualified, motivated employees can help create an awesome venue ambiance, boost consumer engagement, and increase retention by providing a courteous, attentive approach to customers.
Bartenders, servers, and sommeliers should be able to handle any issues or complaints politely and effectively. So, it is crucial to invest in comprehensive training programs that cover not just the technical aspects of staff roles but also soft skills like upselling techniques and conflict resolution.
In addition, well-trained specialists can handle a lot of issues on their own, allowing you to focus on core business activities. As a result, you will manage a bar successfully.
6. Leverage the power of technology
If you are wondering how to manage a bar successfully, a critical task is to automate workflows and delegate activities where it is possible. Employing technologies and software solutions, bars can also significantly enhance consumer service and, ultimately, engagement and loyalty.
For instance, a bar can integrate a point-of-sale (POS) system to allow staff to enter orders, process payments, and manage inventory. With POS software, food and beverage establishments minimize errors and provide valuable data insights.
Using contactless technology, F&B public settings enable customers to pay, order, and interact with the bar without touching anything. This way, guests save time and reduce the risk of infection.
In order to digitize processes and raise productivity, you can utilize bar management software for accounting, marketing, order tracking, and reporting. Thanks to this, you will be able to operate a bar more efficiently.
7. Play tailored music and automate its curation
To manage a bar successfully, it is vital to have attention to every detail. Background music is a powerful tool that helps enhance the customer experience and increase bar revenue. When playing brand-fit music with lesser-known songs, sales pushed up by over 9%, as found by a five-month study performed by HUI Research.
On top of that, dessert purchases went up by 15.6%. Meanwhile, experts found that sales decreased by 4.3% when venues were streaming random popular tracks in comparison with no music at all.
However, background music is still underestimated by many bar owners. So, you can not only use music to lure clients but also gain a strong competitive advantage. The key is to adjust music—genres, tempo, volume, and the way songs are interconnected—to your brand and consumer preferences. Then, it is essential to tailor it to the time of day and situation.
Furthermore, yon need to make sure the background music you select is licensed for commercial purposes. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and other apps of this kind, for example, serve for private usage only, so using them for business goals is simply illegal. Hence, you may encounter huge fines and lawsuits. Additionally, you should establish its smooth playback without ads and during Internet outages.
B2B solutions such as Moodby Play undertake background music management, taking care about licensing issues. It is worth noting that Moodby Play cooperates with professional DJs who compile playlists for bars, restaurants, coffee houses, retail stores, and other public places.
Moodby Play provides centralized music control across multiple locations, remote access from any devices, explicit lyrics filter, the possibility to add employees to the platform, and other useful features.
What’s more, you will get access to a jukebox app that lets guests request their favorite tunes when having a rest at your bar. With a digital jukebox, you will drive unique customer entertainment, stand out from competitors, and drive sales.
Summing it up
To manage a bar successfully, it is crucial to embrace strategic planning, automate workflows, and deliver an exceptional customer experience. By purchasing quality equipment, investing in expert services, automating workflows, providing staff training, and focusing on innovation, you will make your bar succeed and stand out from competitors.
Paying attention to details like background music will allow you to create a delightful, memorable atmosphere and increase sales. So, good luck on your way to boosting productivity and generating higher revenue.
