No one ever said opening a bar was going to be easy. In Texas, you’ll need to fully understand the Texas liquor law rules and regulations and you’ll have to follow them to the letter. The same holds true for the current liquor laws in every state in the US.
There are also employees to keep track of his well. Using Clockspot to track employees when they clock in and clock out as well as other payroll related needs will make this aspect of your business run much smoother.
We’ve barely scratched the surface of things that need to get done correctly in order to successfully start your own bar. We have other tips that we’d like to share with you below, so please keep reading to discover a few more important tips that will lead to your overall success in this industry.
1: Make Sure Your Bar is Always Stocked
By fully stocking your bar, we mean much more than just having enough liquor, wine, and beer on hand to serve your customers. It’s obviously important to have plenty of alcohol for everyone to drink, but you also need to stock up on other essential items to guarantee you have everything on hand for your customers.
Besides alcohol, you also need to have cocktail mixes, liquor pours, glassware, bar napkins, garnishes, cocktail shakers and strainers, straws and stirrers, and other odds and ends on hand at all times. Otherwise you’ll have to continuously run to the store and pay top dollar for some of these items just to meet your customers’ needs.
2: Reduce Over Pouring and Save Money by Measuring Your Liquor
Pouring a really strong drink for your customers every once in a while isn’t such a big deal. But if you’re bartenders consistently pour more liquor than necessary when they mix every drink, this is going to create a major problem for you. In fact, constant over pouring can lead to bars losing hundreds of dollars a week or even thousands of dollars a month if this happens regularly in a busy bar.
But this doesn’t need to become a consistent problem. It is possible to avoid wasting liquor through an ounce of prevention. Make sure you use the right glassware to cut down on liquor expenses. Or you can teach your bartenders how to use jiggers when creating cocktails. Or even better, have them use measured pourers because they prevent spilling and also make it easier to determine the ideal proportion per drink.
3: Host Special Events and Happy Hour
Certain customers come to a bar and they just want to drink. They could care less about anything else going on around them as long as they have a seat at the bar and a cold drink in their hand. In a perfect world, every bar patron would be this easy to please.
Guess what? Most of your potential customers want more than a few drinks. They want to come to a place with the right ambiance, atmosphere, and good deals too.
So, you should definitely offer happy hour to your customers and provide a low-cost menu for them every day. But that’s not all, because they also want to be entertained as well.
So you should host regular events like karaoke nights, speed dating, trivia night, open mic night, sports and tailgating parties, board game and arcade game nights, and anything else you can think of to attract new and interested customers while keeping your existing customer base happy.
Final Thoughts
Opening a bar is possible but you will undergo trials and tribulations as you find the right footing in this industry. Use the suggestions we’ve shared today and you’ll be off to an amazing start. Before long, your bar will be considered a big success and you’ll be glad that you took our advice right from the very start.
