On-premise dollar sales coming from the bar at chain restaurants are projected to rise 2.3% in 2018, according to Technomic. Sales by volume, however, are expected to drop 0.2% this year. At a time when the number of alcoholic beverages sold is basically flat, some chains are trying to raise the bar to get more sales—at their bars.
The problem with sales at the bar is double-edged: Not only is traffic down at restaurants, but many of those customers who are coming in are also trying to cut costs by ordering fewer drinks, says Donna Hood Crecca, associate principal at Technomic. “Everyone is talking about folks not coming through the door as frequently,” Crecca says. For those who do go out to eat, one of the easiest way to control restaurant spending is to order fewer drinks, she says.
Perhaps that’s why some chain restaurants that have long specialized in alcoholic beverages, such as TGI Fridays and Eureka Restaurant Group, are getting even more creative with their attempts to stoke sales of liquor, beer and wine.
Spotlighting the bar
TGI Fridays is in the process of revamping its entire brand image to refocus on the bar, says Rebecca Latacz, Fridays’ senior director of bar and beverage brand marketing. “We’re on a mission as a brand to make the bar front and center of all we do,” says Latacz. With good reason: Fridays wants to boost bar sales to about 25% of overall sales, even as bar sales at some locations are as low as 20%.
Currently, about 55% of Fridays’ bar sales come from cocktails, with about 40% from beer and only 5% from wine, Latacz says. The goal is to solidify cocktail sales even as the chain attempts to boost beer and wine sales.
Step one: making the bar—and the bartender—the focus in Fridays advertising. “We want to make the bartender the hero,” Latacz says. “The bartender is the one who makes the guest experience a winning one.”
In a marketing environment so focused on Instagram and other social media platforms, Fridays also is busy creating drinks that are designed to be shared via social media. That was the logic behind its Black Friday cocktail, which used activated charcoal to give off an impression of smoke. And customers may soon be able to share photos of such eye-catching drinks with others in the restaurant: The chain is working with a social media TV platform that allows customers to share posts on in-house TV monitors.
Speeding service
Meanwhile, Eureka Restaurant Group, a 23-unit casual-dining chain, is focused on how it’s serving its drinks, says co-founder Paul Frederick. The key, he says, is to get cocktails to the guests’ tables within four minutes of their arrival. That way, by the time food comes, many diners have finished their first drink and are ready for another.
To help with the fast service, the chain relies on some prebatched cocktails, such as its Eureka Punch. Sales of the premade drinks—kept in barrels where they are aged two to three days—have skyrocketed, Frederick says, giving liquor sales a boost.
Eureka also does well localizing its beverage menu, Frederick says; at some locations, as much as 50% of its beer and liquor sales are local menu items. Seasonal drinks marketed as unique offerings also help boost its bar sales. The chain offers two seasonal drinks on its menu of about 15 craft cocktails.
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