Tips and Guides For Restuarant Owners and Operators

When it comes to storing and serving beer, whether for distribution or in your own taproom, there are plenty of options.

Half-barrel kegs, sixtels, quarter barrels, 50-litre kegs, and more all hold a different number of beers in different volumes—ounces, gallons, liters, pints, cans, and even growlers.

Putting it all down on paper can seem a little daunting. But it’s essential when running a brewery or bar to understand the capacity of each of these different vessels. And to also learn the different purposes and situations for each of these varying kegs.

So we did the legwork for you!

We’ll break down all the different types of kegs and when it’s best to use them. Plus, reference our handy infographic below for a quick look at how many beers go into all different sizes of kegs.

The above infographic is handy whether you’re a seasoned beverage business owner or just getting into the game. Know what else is a super helpful business tool? Our new Untappd for Business E-Book: The Ultimate Start Up Guide for Breweries in 2022. And you can download it for free. Right now!

For many business owners, cutting the ribbon and throwing open the doors to your brewery, bar, restaurant, or bottle shop will be a dream come true. Most likely, your grand opening will be the most exciting and simultaneously scariest day of your life.

We understand that building a business from the ground up can be stressful. You’ll be faced with many challenges and hurdles along the way. But your grand opening is your first shot to shout from the rooftops that your establishment is ready to rock n’ roll.

And while planning the perfect grand opening can certainly be fun, it’s actually a very important day for many reasons.

When done well, hosting a grand opening will generate buzz for your establishment and set the tone for months to come. For that reason it should definitely be a part of your overall business plan.

But like we said, it can certainly be a fun day if you implement one of these seventeen grand opening ideas for your brewery, bar, restaurant, or bottle shop.

Attracting consumers to your bar or taproom on busy days like Friday, Saturday, and even Sunday is one thing. But don’t overlook driving foot traffic into your establishment on slow days during the week.

Bringing folks in to drink Monday through Thursday puts pints in hands and boosts your bottom line when you need it most.

Luckily, it isn’t that hard to find ways to increase your foot traffic with events. Just follow these handy tips. Plus, sixteen of the best event ideas we found to help increase traffic and revenue to your bar.

In early 2020, the pandemic forced many breweries to refocus their business strategies. As taprooms closed across the country, breweries either increased their packaging options or focused on them for the first time. But even before the pandemic, large-format packaging had been trending. Crowlers (32oz) and growlers (64oz) have become popular drinking vessels at breweries because they encourage consumers to take home a high volume of liquid to go while simultaneously keeping that beer fresh and carbonated for a certain amount of time.

“One of brewers’ greatest fears is they spend all this time crafting a delicious beverage, but they have no control over what happens to it afterwards,” says Caroline Macdonell, Director of Marketing at DrinkTanks, a popular company making premium, insulated growlers.

Both a crowler and a growler help ensure that consumers can take beer directly from the brewery while keeping it fresh and carbonated with the flavor the brewer intended.

“Beer is such a passion industry where what you’re making is your heart and soul and you love it,” says Ian Crane, Account Manager: Beer, Wine, and Spirits at MiiR, a design-forward company making premium stainless steel vessels for beer.

But what exactly is a crowler and a growler? And most importantly, what are the advantages of each of these packaging options?

Cracking the code on crowlers and growlers could help beverage business owners make a pivotal decision on the right beer-to-go opportunity for their taproom.

One of the best advantages of joining Untappd for Business is that it gives you access to a wealth of data on the world’s largest social networking platform for craft beer drinkers.

With over 9 million registered users, Untappd can easily tap into the trends and insights of drinkers in your city, state, region, and beyond.

How does this benefit your brewery, beverage company, bottleshop, or restaurant?

Tracking the most checked-in or popular beers in your area can inform your purchasing or brewing decisions.

Analyzing your own customers’ purchasing behaviors for the last 30, 60, 90, or even 365 days can help you figure out what to brew next, what to stock on your shelves, or what to put on tap.

Untappd’s analytics help you make strategic customer engagement and inventory decisions.

Interested in learning the top styles folks are drinking nearby in New York? We can show you.

Trying to decide which beer to brew next? We’ll find the most popular beers in your area.

Want to know the most checked-in beers in Chicago over the last ninety days? Well, we already gathered that data for you.

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.