While a rather more legitimate caper these days, Happy Hour brings connotations of swill fests and unruly behaviour. Yet they are, in their most basic form, an aggressive attempt to boost business during normally slow parts of the day. They should, however, be much more than that. So here are a few tips to maximise your Happy Hour smiles and leverage even greater business.
What is Happy Hour?
It's an hour or three of discounted drinks to encourage customers to buy far more than they normally would and maximise short term takings. Right? Wrong! Happy Hour should be a taste; a teaser; an early evening highlights reel of all your establishment has to offer through the evening. In other words, it should feature the best bits of what your bar, restaurant is all about. Basically it should be a low price lure laid tantalising in the shallows of your evening to tempt patrons to wade deeper into the night and a full price experience.
Make it a Happening Hour
Happy Hour isn't a time to discount some random beer your brewery supplier gave you at a great price. Well, unless your bar is Mexican and that beer is Carona. Otherwise such a one-off promotion serves no short term or long term purpose. So discount what you want to be known for – be it a rare boutique beer, cocktail or signature dish. That is what you want your opportunistic Happy Hour crowd to try. So tempt trials of your signature drink with slashed prices, and offer bite-sized tastes of your signature dish as discounted snacks or free sample platters.
Make it a pilot episode
Happy Hour is not a weekly budget edition of your entertainment either; quite the opposite, it should be a one hour special. If you have great live music in the evening, showcase your best acts during Happy Hour. If you want to entice your early evening patrons to stay once the bargains are gone, show them exactly what they stand to gain.
Sell up through your staff
Again, Happy Hour should present your establishment at its finest, so have all your star staff on to make the best impression. Be it bartenders or wait staff, train them to up sell your evening menu and entertainment. Remember, the idea is to get people to stay a little longer, or a lot longer. So make sure everyone sells the night, not just the price.
