Setting up your bar to ensure your product range is placed in the best position to catch your customers’ eye will not only improve the customer experience, but maximise your sales opportunities.
Having the right products in the right place is what good ranging is all about, and a review of your backbar should be carried out three times a year and include your back-bar fridges, as well as your wine and spirit displays, says Star Pub’s Spirits & Soft Drinks Category Manager, Ben Ko-Nkengmo.
In the back-bar fridges, the key positions are top right and left, and this is where you should think about putting package ciders in the summer and sparkling wines for the weekend, for example.
Think about the hot spots on the back-bar – spaces where the customers’ eye will fall first – with premium products placed higher on the shelves.
With the rise in popularity of no-and-low alcohol products, Ben suggests placing these next to the parent brand or having a dedicated alcohol-free area. The same goes for the drinks menus, which he recommends should be on every table.
“Having drinks menus on the tables does substantially increase sales. And we would recommend that in addition to having a no-and-low section in your drinks menu, that you also include the alcohol-free version in the main body of the menu too,” says Ben, adding that table service, where possible, can create great customer engagement, especially when bar staff notice when a drink is nearly finished and offer to bring a refill, thereby increasing repeat purchases.
Always ensure customers have clear visibility of all promotions, from your new cocktails to wines. “Customers should move from a well-laid out bar, with a clear visibility of your fantastic range of drinks, your new cocktails and wines, etc, to a nice clean table, with a drinks enu and table service. This massively enhances the customer journey and potentially drives repeat visits,” says Ben.
Other tips include promoting staff recommendations, eg, “Sarah’s favourite Bloody Mary” – which you can promote on the back-bar as well as on socials, by posting a photo of Sarah’s favourite recipe Bloody Mary, served in a nice glass with wonderful garnish, and encouraging customers to come in and try it.
For your Fizz Fridays and other events, utilise your back-bar to promote your sparkling wines and offer in advance, and encourage your bar team to fully get on board with all your events and marketing initiatives by changing the hot spots on the back-bar to reflect what’s going on, from your Malbec to your cocktail nights.
This summer, an outdoor bar is the perfect place to offer customers a separate proposition from what’s available in the main bar, with a focus on bottled beers, single wine serves and maybe a draught beer, with functioning PDQ payment services to take the pressure off the main bar, says Ben.
