With overheads soaring and customers looking for other ways to entertain themselves, bars need to try harder and harder to make a profit. Putting up prices or cutting staff hours will only help so far. 

However, by upscaling some of the services that you already offer, enlarging seating areas, or targeting certain niche customers to fill the bar on your quiet evenings, you could find that your revenue increases with very little output or effort on your part.

#1 Complimentary snacks

Reward and encourage customers to frequent your bar earlier in the evening by providing them with free snacks at the bar. Having customers appear earlier in your bar will encourage them to spend more and stay longer; not only this, but if you are cunning with the choice of snacks, you could increase the bar tab value even further. For instance, salty snacks like hot French fries will have your customers unwittingly craving more fluids. Although, you will have to be careful and mindful of allergies when choosing the snacks for the sake of your customer base.

#2 Theme nights 

Many bars do have the odd theme night, such as ladies’ night or quiz night, to get customers in their bars on what would normally be a quiet night’s bartending, but there are other themed evenings you can do to get your establishment full to brimming. 

For instance, if you have a large TV, you could offer your customers sports nights, like football night or baseball night. If you have a pool table, setting up pool tournaments could be another hit amongst those who could turn out to be your locals.

#3 Outdoor seating areas 

It is important to be able to offer your customers the ability to sit outside should they wish to. You will find that if you provide a sheltered area for your outdoor seating your customers will enjoy it all year round, making this investment a thoroughly good idea. 

However, to encourage this, you will have to provide some outdoor event heating to keep customers warm and comfortable, especially during times when the weather might be a little nicer but it isn’t quite summer yet, such as that in-between period around May. Serving some hot drinks and offering warm snacks during cool weather could also boost your outdoor area.

So, to wrap it all up

All it needs is some clever thinking. Adding free salty snacks on the bar for opening times for your customers to help themselves to will not only gain interest and thirsty customers but will have your bar filling up earlier with those individuals that like a freebie with their beer. 

Filling up your bar on evenings that are well known for their lack of trade is every bar owner’s dream. So select these nights to have as theme nights and get some new customers under your roof and more money in your till.

Providing outdoor seating areas will give your customers somewhere else they can sit that is not in the bar. These areas are very welcome on warm or hot evenings, and with the use of a carefully placed event heater, they can be just as warm and welcoming during the cooler evenings too.