How to Improve Your Bar

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the principle that your business has a responsibility to the greater society. Traditionally, CSR programs refer to the triple bottom line: profit, people, and planet. Historically, these initiatives centered around sustainability along with safety, ethics, and compliance.

However, in today’s environment, responsible business practices are expanding beyond these traditional themes to include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Incorporating holistic CSR strategies throughout your business plan will help you assess and determine ways to cultivate a positive impact on the community you serve.

So where does social responsibility, specifically DEI strategies, belong as part of your business plan? The answer is quite easy – everywhere.

One of the best tools for your restaurant, brewery, brewpub, bottle shop, or beverage company, Untappd for Business is a digital platform that allows you to create print, digital, or QR code menus and share them with the world’s largest community of beer enthusiasts.

Using our database of over 3,000,000 beers, you can quickly build a menu for your establishment that you can publish to your website, digital menus, Facebook, and the Untappd app. Leveraging QR codes and well-designed custom contactless print and digital menus helps you create a safe environment for your customers and staff.

Most importantly, with Untappd for Business, you can easily track the most popular beers in your area and stay up to date with the latest beer trends. Understanding your customers’ purchase behaviors will help you make strategic customer engagement and inventory decisions.

Plus, you’ll boost your bottom line and increase your sales by maximizing your inventory visibility online to drive new customers to your venue.

With Untappd for Business, you have access to an immense world-class beer database, robust analytics, and custom digital and print menus. All in one powerful tool.

Interested in learning more? Here is the definitive guide to understanding Untappd for Business.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced many breweries, restaurants, and bars to close their doors to the public, business owners had to come up with creative solutions to continue generating revenue.

Many beefed up their ecommerce platforms, started using QR codes, or leaned heavily into direct-to-consumer delivery. Another handful thought even further outside the box, instituting drive-thru alcohol programs that provided a safe, contactless, efficient way for customers to purchase alcohol.

While very successful during lockdowns, drive-thru alcohol is less practical, especially now that taprooms have reopened to the public. However, if the past year and half has taught entrepreneurs anything, it’s that it can’t hurt to always be prepared.

It might be helpful to take a look at a couple successful drive-thru alcohol models. Just to keep this tactic in your backpocket. Here are the top considerations if you ever need to create a drive-thru alcohol initiative.

The latest buzz in craft beverages, whether beer, wine, or spirits, is the rapidly growing “better for you” category of drinks. Consumers want tasty choices when they go out for a drink. But that doesn’t always mean they are looking for the alcohol to go along with the flavor.

According to research done by FiorMarkets, non-alcoholic drinks are expected to grow at about eight percent per year, globally, through 2028. That means huge opportunity for non-alcoholic producers and plenty of room for exciting new brands to get in on the game.

Especially when it comes to cocktails, the health-conscious trend has led to lower-calorie and low- or no-alcohol refreshments.

Often dubbed “mocktails,” these alcohol-free drinks are simply cocktails without the alcohol. They can run the gamut from mimicking a classic cocktail like an Old Fashioned (minus the whiskey) or be a completely from-scratch recipe. Either way, the mocktail has opened new creative doors to bartenders all over the country and helped business owners boost their bottom lines.

In the past, non-alcoholic drinks have been an oft-maligned category, dismissed as flavorless, bland beverages. Drinking booze-free used to mean sacrificing flavor and enjoyment. But in the midst of the craft beverage revolution we find breweries and bars proving that notion entirely wrong. Today, bars, restaurants, and breweries across America have developed flavorful, inventive, and attractive mocktail menus that cater to everyone.

These sober drinks are something that you should consider adding to your menu to attract a variety of consumers.

As many breweries, bars, brewpubs, and restaurants reopen and business owners strategize around how to successfully run their companies in a pandemic climate, finding the best way to safely and efficiently display menus has become essential.

If you’re the person making a decision about menu displays for your organization, you’re probably asking yourself several questions. Should you start or continue using paperless QR codes? Go to a digital menu board? Or switch back to paper menus? The decision you make could have huge repercussions on whether or not you attract new customers, retain loyal ones, and boost your bottom line.

For the last three months, the CPG Restaurant Group has been leveraging Untappd for Business’ QR codes and digital menus to help organize and implement drink and food menus in a safe, contactless way across their two Cheesie’s Pub & Grub and Whiskey Business establishments in Chicago, IL. With over 45,000 menu views at Whiskey Business and both Cheesie’s Pub & Grub locations combined over three months, the CPG Restaurant Group reports that their experience with Untappd for Business has been overwhelmingly positive. For them, Untappd for Business QR codes have helped reduce printing costs and improve their bottom line, with whiskey sales for all of their locations increasing by a combined fifty percent.

But the PJW Restaurant Group, which operates twenty-six locations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has gone a different direction, using Untappd for Business software to create custom digital and print menus. In the last year and a half, they’ve racked up 300,000 menu views, almost 15,000 check-ins, and just under 10,000 unique users. However, like the CPG Restaurant Group, PJW reports that their experience with Untappd for Business has been very beneficial for a majority of its businesses.

Because businesses are unique, each of them have different needs. Below, we take a look at all three menu options available for Untappd for Business partners, along with the pros and cons of each.

Outdoor seating gives a distinct advantage to your brewery space. Even in pre-COVID times, brewery patios and beer gardens were uber popular. Often magazines and newspapers put together lists of the best places to eat and drink outdoors in their respective cities.

While there is a lot to be said for a well-crafted indoor space, outdoor spaces at your brewery or restaurant can add personality and artistry—as well as more customers. Plus, during the global pandemic, outdoor spaces have been crucial for breweries to safely reopen and once again welcome people into their establishment.

“People want to be outside now more than ever,” says Frank Scott Krueger, Co-Owner of Humble Sea Brewing in Santa Cruz, CA. Scott Krueger and his team just opened a new taproom in Pacifica, CA, and their outdoor beer garden has been incredibly important for their business.

So what are some things to think about when you’re looking to design the perfect outdoor space? We’ve got some ideas to get the ball rolling.

Updated: 5/20/2022

Hosting events at your brewery or craft beer bar is a great way to attract new customers and strengthen your brand. Breweries and craft beer bars have become increasingly popular choices for social gatherings among friends and family. And hosting and promoting events will help your business stand out in a crowded marketplace.

It can be as simple as including “plug-and-play” events in your monthly schedule, or as complex as customizing an event around a theme.Keeping events in line with your marketing strategy will help you decide the right mix that will appeal to your specific market and ultimately help you attract and retain new customers.

Many bars and restaurants offer a wide selection of alcoholic drinks, including beer, cider, wine, and spirits. While we’ve written extensively on exactly how to price your craft beer selection, finding the right price for your liquor drinks is a different game. Liquor prices that are too high could turn customers away while prices set too low could affect your bottom line. Because of this, a business owner needs to find a sweet spot in order to retain guests while simultaneously making a profit.

Mastering the pricing calculations of liquor drinks is an art because many factors go into determining the price, including how you serve your drinks, drink pour size, the competitors in your market, and your customer demographics. However, there’s also a science to pricing liquor drinks, and that’s what we’ll cover in this article.

Whether you own a brewery or a craft beer bar, your tap wall selection drives repeat customers to your business. Crafting a well-thought-out selection strategy will ensure your tap wall is an asset to the core of your business.

Like a business plan, a tap wall selection strategy is intended to be a living document, updated as various market factors change.