There are always new and exciting trends coming out to help restaurant, bar and nightclub owner offer new experiences to their patrons. Not only does embracing the latest trends in the bar industry cause new customers to walk through your door, but often times it can cause your staple clientele to spend more money during there next visit. By focusing on only bringing in new customers, you miss out on a huge opportunity to make more money by encouraging existing customers to spend more money than the last time they were in. By leveraging new trends on a regular basis, you can get the best of both worlds and really watch your profits skyrocket.
The thing you need to keep in mind is that there are going to be a lot of trends that pop up throughout the years, but only a handful will have the staying power to become and industry standard. Sometimes the trend will be a new type of alcohol, while other times it will have to do with the way alcohol is served. The only way to ensure you ride the big wave for the next hot trend is to try them all and weed them out as they surface as a fad. However, the few actual trends that stick around will quickly make you money as you become the only bar or nightclub in town to offer that service or product.
Powered Alcohol
Though it isn’t approved by the US government just yet, powdered alcohol is making huge waves throughout the industry. Essentially, it’s like and alcoholic Kool-Aid packet that allows you to make your favorite drinks such as margaritas, kamikazes, or tequila sunrises by simply adding water and stirring the mixture. There are many benefits to using powdered alcohol rather than bottled alcohol, but no benefit is more apparent than the shipping costs. Rather than having a large and heavy bottle of vodka, you can have a small packet that you mix with water on demand. It weighs less and is more compact, meaning the shipping company can fit more on a truck and pass the savings on to you.
Bottle Service Sparklers
Offering bottle service to your top VIP customers is nothing new in the bar and nightclub industry. In fact, businesses have been offering bottle service on a fairly wide scale since the early 90’s after the trend became popular in the clubs of Miami. A newer addition to the service is the inclusion of bottle sparklers attached to the champagne or liquor bottle necks to draw more attention as they are being delivered to the tables. Not only does this draw more attention to the bottle service and cause an increase in sales, but it also makes the customer who purchased the service feel special and like they got their value from the expensive service.
Self-Serve Beer Taps
Self-serve beer taps are literally the cutting edge of bar and nightclub technology. The way it works is that you ID everyone in the group, run a credit card to authorize their payment, and give them a key to the self-serve dispenser. Each time they fill up a beer, their account gets charged and even can include an automatic gratuity for the service. Though the equipment and concept is still in its infancy, many industry insiders conclude that it is the future of hospitality in the bar and nightclub circuit.
