How to Improve Your Bar

If you’re a restaurant or bar owner, your livelihood depends on customers year round.

Which is why, when it comes to federal holidays such as July Fourth or Labor Day, as a business owner you have an important decision to make: Stay open or close your doors for the day.

On the first Monday in September, restaurants and bars are often greeted by an influx of patrons ready to spend money on some well-deserved fun during a long weekend.

Staying open on that Monday could provide potential opportunities to boost your bottom line.

On the other hand, consider your employees. Should restaurant owners and staff also have the day off? Will that help with your team morale?

When it comes to Labor Day, a restaurant, bar, or brewery owner should weigh the pros to both staying open and closing for the day.

Luckily, we’ve started a list for you. And if you do choose to welcome guests, we’ve laid out a few ideas to set you apart from the pack.

When it comes to serving beer, glassware is important. Just like when a bartender makes an Old Fashioned or Margarita, they pour each respective drink into the right cocktail glass.

And while people in the industry debate the pros and cons of pint glasses, there is no denying that pint glasses are commonly used.

Plus, a pint is a ubiquitous industry measurement, meaning as a brewery, bar, or restaurant owner you should be familiar with this metric. But exactly how much is a pint? And why does the size differ depending on where you are?

Plus, what are the pros and cons of pint glasses? And what might be a good solution to the traditional pint glass?

We’ll break everything down in our guide to pints.

If you’ve ever been to a nightclub, you’re probably familiar with the term “bottle service;” and if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you’re probably familiar with the term “table service.” But what exactly is the difference between the two? And as a bar or restaurant owner, why should you care?

These may seem like simple or silly questions, but there is a distinct difference between bottle service and table service. Knowing the nuances of each can help you make better decisions for your business.

As a restaurateur, it takes considerable and thoughtful effort to build not just an appetizing menu, but also one that’s profitable.

With the cost of ingredients continuing to rise, business owners are seeking out more creative and strategic approaches to market their menu to patrons in high volume. But how to lure them in?

Like the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

While it’s common for menus to exclude pictures of the food, Instagram is a perfect platform to show off all the tantalizing dishes you prepare.

Taking attractive photos of food and posting them on social media is a low-cost, effective way to drive more traffic to your business—while also demonstrating your restaurant’s culinary skills and style.

If you’re a restaurateur looking to utilize the tools of food photography and technique to engineer your menu on social media, you’ve arrived at the right place.

There are a number of reasons why your patrons might enjoy bringing their own bottle of wine to your restaurant. Not only is it affordable, but it also enhances their experience.

As a business owner without a liquor license (or even one that has a license but still offers “bring your own bottle”), letting your customers bring their own wine or bottles encourages more traffic through the door. Plus, offering BYOB helps your restaurant’s profit margin so you can focus more on the quality of cuisine and dining experience.

But before popping the cork, make sure you understand how to determine a corkage fee and the proper corkage etiquette. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a complete corkage fee guide to help you get started.

A bartender is essential to any drinking operation. Of course you need someone behind the bar slinging cocktails, stirring glasses, and pouring beers. But a role that is just as important in a bar is a barback. Someone who might not necessarily stand front and center in the eye of the customers, but rather scurries around washing glasses, refilling garnishes, stockpiling napkins, and pretty much doing all the other little tasks that make sure a bartender can perform their best.

Similar to bussers in restaurants, barbacks fill in behind the scenes, performing necessary duties that keep your establishment running smoothly everyday.

For that reason, barbacks are one of the most important pieces of a bar team.

If you’re becoming a new bar owner or looking to improve your current bar staff, hiring a knowledgeable, hard-working barback is key.

Certain cocktails benefit from a wide range of glasses that enhance both their appearance and taste. Picking the right drinkware boosts a beverage’s aroma and temperature. All this means that using the right cocktail glass is incredibly important.

But what type of glass does your bartender need for some of the most common cocktails on your bar’s menu?

Read on to learn about the most common types of cocktail glasses and how their design brings out different aspects of each beverage.

As consumers, we love federal holidays because it means an extra day for relaxing, hanging with friends, and drinking. For brewery, bar, and restaurant owners, however, the prospect of a federal holiday poses an interesting question: Should you stay open?

More often than not, for those who work in the hospitality industry, restaurants, bars, and brewery owners often decide to swing the doors open on traditional federal holidays to maximize a potential increase in traffic and sales.

But keeping a restaurant or similar establishment open during a federal holiday means understanding a few considerations. For example, recognizing that overtime requirements can mean you might need to pay your employees more than the average weekday. Consequently, staying open might only be profitable if you can ensure that you’ll experience increased traffic that day.

Overall, what are the advantages of keeping your bar, brewery, or restaurant open on a holiday? Alternatively, should you even stay open on these days. What are the potential benefits of choosing to give your staff the day off? And if you do decide to light up that open sign, how can you prepare?

We weighed both sides of the equation and offer a few tips and tricks on how to navigate those three- or four-day weekends.

“Excuse me. What’s your WiFi password?” How many times have you or your staff been asked this question by customers? The integration of the internet into the modern business model has shown no signs of losing connection.

Every business from coffee shops to breweries to public transportation and beyond are all optimizing free WiFi access to accommodate people’s desires for strong reception. While you have their attention, you might as well get a business opportunity out of it, right?

Nowadays, companies need to be able to provide easy access for their customers, and that’s where WiFi marketing comes into play.

Let’s dial in to the benefits WiFi marketing can bring your business in 2022.