How to Offer Discounts and Still Make a Profit at Your Bar

Running a successful bar involves two very important strategies. First, you have to get customers interested in your bar. This is often the hardest part of getting an establishment off the ground. If you live in an area where sports bars and pubs are quite common, it can be hard to infringe on the traditions of bar-goers in your area. Many social drinkers have a few favorite pubs and bars, and it can be tough to convince customers to try a new establishment.

Once you have your customers, the second part of a strategy to make your bar a profitable establishment. This involves encouraging consumers to purchase large quantities of food and beverages. The more a customer orders, the more profit you will make at the end of the night. While this may sound like common sense, bar owners often employ the discount strategy to raise the total ticket price for a customer. Offering discounts to make more money is actually a very effective and highly used marketing strategy. Even though consumers are getting more for their dollar, their total spending increases when discounts are offered.

Customers Love Discounts

In a tough economy where every dollar counts, customers value discounts more than ever. Even the smallest discount or special deal may be enough to encourage customers to patronize your restaurant rather than a competitor's. Here are some simple discounts that you can offer to customers to encourage them to spend money in your bar.

Offer Discounts on Food 

One of the easiest ways to make a profit by offering discounts is to discount the food offered at your bar or pub. Food at a bar is often overpriced, and it usually features the largest profit margins of anything on the menu. Liquor is quite expensive, so bars cannot afford to make a huge profit on individual drinks. Instead, they make a profit on the quantity of drinks sold. Food, on the other hand, is a very profitable menu item. If you can encourage consumers to order food, you can entice them to order more cocktails and alcoholic beverages. This is the whole point of food discounts. Offering half-price appetizers or percentage discounts on your food menu will keep customers drinking for longer periods of time.

Discount "Well" Drinks

You can discount cocktails while still making a profit. Many bars offer discount nights for "well" drinks. A well drink is a cocktail that is made with the lowest quality liquor on the shelf. For example, a martini that is typically made with high quality gin may be made with cheap gin for a hefty discount. Even with the reduced price of well drinks, bars can make a profit because of the low price of low quality liquor. Customers won't feel cheated when they receive low quality liquor in their cocktails because they are getting a discounted rate for choosing well liquor.

Offering discounts is a great way to boost bar profits. It may seem counter-intuitive to make money by cutting costs, but discounts encourage consumers to purchase more from your bar, which hikes up the profits that you will make.