When Lil’ Ba-Ba-Reeba opened in Chicago’s River North neighborhood in 2021, the pandemic was still impacting dining out, and the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant was just trying to fill up for dinner.
“We didn’t do happy hour at first, but we noticed it had become more popular than ever at the original Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba [in Lincoln Park],” said partner Mark Sotelino. “So we added a happy hour menu from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and we pack the place.”
Instead of the typical happy hour fare of 2-for-1 drinks and cheap, uninspired snacks, Lil’ Ba-Ba-Reeba offers its menu of Spanish tapas and Basque-style pintxos for $1 to $2, with $5 glasses of sangria and wine.
“People’s schedules have changed,” said Sotelino. “More people are working flexible hours. We’re getting residents, tourists and office workers in for happy hour, and business has doubled or tripled on some days.”
Pre-pandemic, most restaurants and bars promoted happy hours around deep discounts and BOGO deals, aiming to get the after-work crowd to drink a lot of beer or margaritas and fill up on chips and salsa. With many offices allowing employees to work remotely all or part of the time, operators can no longer count on that old model. Some, like Lettuce Entertain You, are trying a revamped approach.
“It may be time to place less reliance on office workers during key dayparts and more on local residents and community groups,” said Technomic principal Donna Hood Crecca in a recent “Trends in Adult Beverage” presentation. “And rather than relying on discounted happy hour drinks to attract customers, maybe it’s time to pivot to higher-margin offerings, including signature cocktails, fine wine and craft beer.”
Happy hour markets the menu
Americans seem eager to again socialize over drinks and light bites in the late afternoon or early evening. According to the Cocktail Index, a study on U.S. consumer preferences and trends conducted by Top Data, happy hour visits to bars have risen significantly since before the pandemic—in the neighborhood of 54%. And July saw the highest visitation numbers in the last two years.
At Lil’ Ba-Ba-Reeba, the $5 deals on glasses of wine and sangria—with $20 sangria pitchers on Mondays—have been a draw, Sotelino says, but the pintxos are what's propelling repeat visits.
“There are lots of restaurants in the neighborhood, but many are much pricier,” he said. “We’re underpricing the competition and familiarizing people with our food through happy hour, motivating them to come back for a meal.”
The Happy Hour Crowd continues to rise
Currently, Lil’ Ba-Ba-Reeba’s happy hour pintxos include its signature Chorizo-Wrapped Dates and Spanish Deviled Eggs with Crispy Serrano Ham, as well as a seasonally rotating selection—Roasted Figs with Jamon are a current example. “The profit on $1 to $2 items is about half what it would be on the regular menu, but the marketing is worth it,” said Sotelino.
With inflation impacting consumers’ spending, happy hour provides a restaurant experience at a lower price point—which may be driving this daypart's surge in popularity.
New York City’s Osteria Morini seized the opportunity post-pandemic to launch its happy hour, with a new menu to match.
“We noticed that people were going in a more casual direction, meeting friends for drinks and light bites,” said Bill Dorrler, executive chef with Osteria Morini's parent company, Altamarea Group. Osteria Morini is located in NYC’s Soho neighborhood, a mecca for pedestrians and visitors to the park across the street. A top goal of the new happy hour was to engage with the neighborhood through the menu and ambiance, and have fun with it.
With happy hour's launch this summer, it was natural to hold it outdoors. The restaurant set up an Aperol spritz bar serving frozen and classic spritzes for $10, but customers can also order off the Sips side of the happy hour menu, featuring craft beers for $5, house wines for $7 and cocktails like Negronis.
For the Snacks lineup, Dorrler mimicked some happy hour classics, giving them a regional Italian spin. There’s a quartet of Tigelle Sandwiches, which are a take on sliders, he said: “These are very unique to the Modena area of Italy. I bought a press to cut out the scalloped bread rounds and bake them in house.”
The downsized, lightweight carriers are filled with prosciutto, porchetta, mortadella or grilled eggplant, garnished with condiments like salsa verde or pesto, or layered with balsamic-dressed arugula. Guests can order one for $6 or three for $15.
Spiedini is another popular Italian finger food that aligns with the brand, said Dorrler. Like kabobs, the small skewers are threaded with skirt steak drizzled with peppadew peppers or Scottish salmon accompanied with olivetta, an olive relish.
“You can put anything on a stick and add any other condiment,” he said, and he intends to change them up for fall, perhaps skewering bay scallops. Each Spiedini goes for $9.
Osteria Morini also serves oysters on the half shell, which seem to be ubiquitous at New York City happy hours this summer. “There's a need for a crisp, clean snack in summer, particularly,” Dorrler said. He changes up the presentation by making the mignonette—a traditional raw oyster accompaniment—with Lambrusco or Barolo wine, indigenous to Italy.
While a number of bars offer half-price oysters during the late afternoon-early evening daypart, Osteria Morini’s are priced six for $24.“There’s a trick to pricing at happy hour,” said Dorrler. “Offering food and drinks at half price can get confusing. Our idea is to build the menu around smaller bites, keeping the food small to make it affordable.”
As at Lil’ Ba-Ba-Reeba, the bites give guests a chance to sample the food and come back for dinner—and that is happening. In the colder weather, happy hour will move indoors to the bar, and Dorrler will evolve the food and cocktails to fit with the season.
Bar food gets an upgrade
Chains are revamping happy hours, too, enhancing the offerings and sweetening prices to entice customers.
“During the pandemic, happy hour was the furthest thing from guests’ minds, but we’ve seen our bar business reinvigorated in the last six months,” said Stephen Loftis, VP of marketing for Charlotte, N.C.-based Firebirds Wood-Fired Grill.
While the polished-casual chain has always offered bites and drinks at Firebar, the branded bar concept within its restaurants, the culinary team is expanding and elevating the bar menu. The revamped version will debut at Firebirds’ 55 restaurants on Sept. 26.
“We’re going from single appetizers to shareables, as we see more folks socializing at the bar,” said Andy Seiple, regional chef for the chain. “The new items reflect the best of our wood-fired steakhouse cooking at a lower price point than dinner.”
The new Prime Rib Sliders are a good example. They feature thin slices of herb-rubbed prime rib layered on mini buns and topped with housemade horseradish sauce and fresh fried onion strings. The sliders cross-utilize the slow-cooked prime rib served as a dinner entree, down to using the same sauce.
Steakhouse Meatballs showcase Firebirds’ in-house butchering program, cross-utilizing filet, sirloin and other beef cuts. The meat is ground, formed into balls and roasted in the oven, then served with a creamy smoked tomato sauce. Also in the mix are Crispy Cauliflower Bites, a plant-forward holdover from the previous menu.
“For our shared plates platform, we’re going from six bar bites to 12,” said Loftis. All will be discounted systemwide during happy hour, which runs from 4-7 p.m. on weekdays. Prices may vary by location, but they will range from $7 to $10 during those hours, along with drink specials.
Guests can also order the shareables post-happy hour at Firebar, which typically seats around 30 inside and 25 on the patio.
Loftis has noticed a trend toward “round-the-clock dining” post-pandemic, attributing it partly to more flexible schedules. “Lunch may be slower, but it’s extending longer—sometimes until 4 p.m.—when happy hour starts,” he said. That’s one of the reasons Firebirds is putting more attention to detail on that menu, he added.
The ultimate goal is to introduce guests to or reacquaint them with the Firebirds brand through the elevated shareables so they will then progress into the dining room, said Seiple, noting that “we’re really leaning into this post-COVID.”
Going beyond the sports crowd
Buffalo Wild Wings has traditionally attracted sports fans with deals and discounts on wings, beer, and chips and salsa. But with this summer’s launch of a new happy hour menu, the chain is focusing more on menu innovation.
The chain's launch of Bird Dawgs, which coincided with its rollout of happy hour at the end of June, showcases a grownup version of chicken fingers in a bold application. The hot dog-shaped snacks, which are filled with chicken tenders instead of a wiener, come in three choices: the Loaded Bird Dawg topped with beer cheese and wild honey mustard; a Honey BBQ Dawg topped with fries and honey BBQ sauce; and a Buffalo Bird Dawg topped with ranch, Napa slaw and medium Buffalo sauce. Happy hour patrons are also invited to create their own Bird Dawgs.
The new item goes for $5 during happy hour, which is 3-6 p.m every weekday. Also on offer are tall drafts of Goose Island beer, margaritas and more; everything is priced between $3 and $6.
Earlier in August, BWW launched its first pizzas, also targeted for the bar crowd. The Buffalo Boneless Bar Pizza and Honey BBQ Boneless Bar Pizza each boast a thin crust topped with boneless wings and other items that cross-utilize the chain’s popular wing sauces. The pizza and Bird Dawgs are both a departure from BWW’s signature bone-in wings—a product that has experienced wild price fluctuations in the last two years.
“We are excited to roll out our new happy hour menu, designed to bring guests together with friends and colleagues to enjoy delicious, high-quality food, cocktails and beer at a great value this summer,” Rita Patel, BWW’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.
Restaurant operators in Massachusetts would most likely applaud the new direction happy hours are taking. The state wants to re-legalize happy hours after a 38-year ban, but higher-end restaurants fear that two-for-one drink promotions by bars will cut into their post-pandemic recovery.
Focusing on smaller portions of high-quality, chef-inspired food and signature cocktails may give them a competitive edge during a slower time of the day.