How mobile-friendly is your bar’s website?
It will come as a shock to no one that the use of smartphones is at an all-time high. At last check more than 1/3 of American adults own one of the devices. And according to at least one study, 90 percent of owners use their phones as an Internet portal, with 4 of 5 doing so every single day.
Which means if you’ve been listening to your friendly neighborhood social media marketing company and doing the right things with Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter, quite a few folks are going to be accessing your website with their phones. And it is up to you to make sure their experience is a good one.
Here are a few things you can do to ensure those who search you out on their cell phone (i.e. potential customers) are pleased with what they find:
Are you fluent in the language of hashtag?
If you aren’t a regular user of Twitter, you may be confused as to why you’re seeing more and more words prefaced by the “#” symbol in your daily life. On the screen during your favorite TV show, in advertisements of various types — the practice is seemingly growing at an exponential level.
The “#” indicates a hashtag, something used by Twitter to organize dialogue on the social networking site. With millions of 140-character messages sent each day, hashtags are a way to group tweets based on subject matter. Events are given a specific word, sports leagues establish “official” hashtags for teams, and celebrities designate themselves with the moniker of their choosing.
Last year, for example, a hashtag appeared for the first time during a Super Bowl ad.
Looking ahead to restaurant costs in 2012
One of the major concerns for the bar and restaurant industry this past year was a dramatic increase in food and beverage costs. A five percent (or more) hike with some areas hindered what some feel was a year of recovery.
An article this month from Nation’s Restaurant News paints a not-so-rosy picture of what to expect in terms of cost in 2012. NRN cites one study that expects a “year-over-year cost” increase of between three and five percent, while another predicted a jump in U.S. food and beverage costs to jump five percent or more.
This will obviously create a problem in an environment where customers remain concerned with menu prices. Drew Madsen, who is CEO of Darden Restaurants, Inc. (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse) put it this way:
“The fundamental strategic challenge we face this year is how to address the growing need for affordability that’s demanded by our guests, while also protecting our margins, given significant commodity cost inflation.”
Darden said his company’s plan is to look at ways it can trim costs in order to limit the need for price increases on the menu.
(NRN)
Irish Pub & Restaurant Workshop – January 2012
If you run an Irish Pub or Restaurant in the US, then you won’t want to miss this upcoming workshop in January in Washington D.C. I’ll be speaking there alongside a great lineup of speakers and vendors for hands on workshop designed to tackle your current operational issues and set you up for a profitable 2012.
Click on the image to register and reserve your place and see more details below:
Register now, space is limited to the first 75 applicants! (only $99!)
To reserve a reduced-rate room in the Phoenix Park Hotel for either Monday or Tuesday night, click here.
For more information, contact Brendan Barry at 571-296-8572 or bbarry@irishbusinesssolutions.net
Operations Tip: Comparing Ideal, Actual and Purchased Costs to Sales
Guest Post by Chuck Deibel, Senior Partner at BEVINCO
Often Bar operators will calculate what their costs should be by dividing their purchases by their sales. This is a flawed method. This paper provides the actual numbers for purchases, sales and costs used for 3 weeks to show how this doesn’t provide accurate information.
As you might recall the calculation for each is as follows”
Actual Pour Cost percentage (APC) is arrived at by dividing the cost of the inventory used by the sales. The cost of the inventory used is arrived at by adding the purchases to the previous inventory and then subtracting the ending inventory from that sum. So it’s Beginning Inventory, plus purchases subtract ending inventory.
Ideal Pour Cost percentage (IPC) is arrived at by dividing the cost of the inventory sold by the sales. The cost of the inventory sold is arrived at by adding the cost of the inventory sold, plus the cost of any comps or spills.
New analytics for Facebook’s ‘Insights’
We wanted to make sure everybody was aware of recent updates Facebook has made to its hub for analysis. Page Insights, which helps Facebook users to track information related to domain clicks, apps and referrals, has added several new features.
Mashable published a nice overview of the changes, but the most important new feature is that admins can now access metrics for the algorithms Facebook uses to determine what content gets preferred placement in the News Feed.
Facebook has also added a metric for what stories are being talked about and shared by users, and one that looks at the reach of a certain posts.
(Facebook)
Changing the tide on Super Bowl Sunday
Could there be anything better for a bar than the Super Bowl? An annual weekend sporting event that captures the attention of a huge percentage of the country and is geared towards television, food and booze?
But unfortunately as the size of High-Def TVs grows and the cost of gas increases, the Super Bowl has become increasingly a ‘have people over’ day. A manager for the Steelhouse Pittsburgh sports bar recently told the Wall Street Journal of Super Sunday “It’s increasingly difficult to find things that are worth it for people to come out of their homes.”
The sad truth is that the Super Bowl is unlikely to be one of your bar’s biggest days of the year. Even many of your regulars may gather at one of their homes for the day of pre-game hype, commercials, football and more commercials.
So the question becomes: How can you get the most out of Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012?
Is money the best way to motivate your staff?
We all know they wouldn’t show up for work each day if you weren’t paying them, but is money the most effective way to get the most out of your employees?
In a piece for Inc. magazine, Ciplex founder Ilya Pozen says not necessarily. Pozen details a handful of free carrots that could help you push your staff to be its best.
Here are a few of his ideas:
Don’t criticize or correct: Choosing different ways to handle a mistake – asking the employee to come up with better solutions on their own, should the issue arise again – can be superior to a strictly negative approach.
Like us on Facebook
About Barry Chandler
Barry Chandler works with bars and restaurants to bring more customers in the door through effective use of social media, online tools and customer engagement.
Since 2004, more than 2500 bars, restaurants and hotels have used his tools and services to improve their bottom line.
TheBarBlogger.com contains daily tips and strategies to grow a profitable hospitality business.
Connect with me
Attract more customers with Social Media
