Managing Your Bar Business

© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedCHAPTER 15MANAGING YOUR BAR BUSINESS© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights Reserved© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedCreate and use a workable business plan for a bar.Determine the worth of your business.Position your business favorably in relation to your competitors’ businesses.Create an atmosphere and menus.Attract customers through marketing activities.Use pricing as a merchandising tool.Make decisions about protecting and expanding a successful bar concept.THIS CHAPTER WILL HELP YOUCREATING A BUSINESS PLANIt should serve as your basic operating tool.It should be useful for communicating exactly who and what you are.It should be useful in obtaining financing.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedUSING THE BUSINESS PLANLocation analysisCompetitor analysisSWOT analysis: SWOT is an acronym for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.” The first two items are internal: factors that you control. The other two items are external: factors that you can notice and react to.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedWHAT IS MY BAR WORTH?An appraisal is a procedure used to determine the value of something tangible or physical.A valuation analyzes both tangible and intangible aspects of a company.Business valuation also involves adjusting the assets of the business to reflect its fair-market value, not the depreciated value often used for tax purposes.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedMARKETING A BAR BUSINESSDefine your market. A market segment is a subgroup of the total consumer market.Determine which products and services this market segment wants to buy.Shape everything about your enterprise to attract customers and sell the product at a profit.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedPOSITIONING YOUR BUSINESSThe PatronThe components of the guest experience are:The service encounter.The delivery system.The service scape, also called the landscape.The product itself affects the guest experience.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedTHE COMPETITORSPrimary competitors are those bars with concepts similar to yours. Secondary competitors are those bars that could be considered competition simply because they are located near your proposed site.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedCOMPONENTS OF ATMOSPHEREAn image is a subjective impression based on something unique or memorable about your place.Address two major components when creating atmosphere: Physical factorsHuman factors© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedDÉCOR, COMFORT, AND SERVICEThe packaging creates the first impression. It is one of the most potent marketing tools. Décor, comfort ,furnishings, lighting, temperature.Human encounters provide the second and most lasting impression. Focus your marketing efforts on attracting a certain clientele, and you will have a compatible mix.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedBAR FOOD AND SNACKSUnderstand your limitations.Set hours, at least for serving hot food.Restaurant/bar combinations should function as a team.Be willing to update the menu regularly.Merchandise drinks and foods together.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedMARKETING TOOLS TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERSWord of mouth—that is, people telling other people about your place.News, Reviews, and Feature Stories.Personal Contact.Promotional Events.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedPRICING AS A PROMOTIONAL TOOLCustomers must feel that the value they receive from you is equal to or greater than the prices they pay: perceived value.Bundling, or packaging two or more items together.The multicourse prix fixe (fixed price) dinner.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedPROTECTING AND EXPANDING YOUR CONCEPTProtecting Business Identity; the name of the bar can be trademarked.A trademark is “a word, name, symbol, phrase, slogan, or combination of these items used to mark and distinguish goods or services to indicate their source or origin.”Trade dress is the image of a product or a business that makes it distinctive.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedBRANCHING OUTDetermine whether its appeal may be broader than in your existing market area.Establish a system to replicate the initial unit’s success.Ensure that you can deliver the same to the second unit as the first one enjoys.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights ReservedSUMMING UPCreate a business plan.Identify a target clientele.Utilize marketing tactics.Take into account legal considerations in protecting the distinctive elements of the concept.© 2011 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Rights Reserved