Pub Business

Karen23

A friend of mine opened a pub last year , previously the pub did a roaring trade but was closed down to be demolished however the demolition never went ahead and it was closed for about four years until my friend took it over.
Since then he has really struggled to get the custom back , he has put on great bands , DJs , entertainment & drinks promotions. He got the licence for a nightclub and late bar which had always been packed in the past but business is just not picking up and his outgoings just keep going up and up and I dont know how much longer he can stay open , he's already closed the nightclub as people just weren't coming in.
Theres not much competition in the area but still people are travelling outside the area to other bars.
So my queation is can any business people give any ideas as to what else he can do before he has to close down and put people out of work.
All suggestions and comments welcome.
Thanks.

dh0661

A friend of mine in the same situation is toying with the idea of free drinks at some stage of the night.

IMO it's a crazy idea and if he was to go ahead with this, he should advertise the last drink "on the house".

kippy

Drop prices; advertise heavily;
Try get the local community groups to use the venues facilities for meetings/fundraisers/ support the local GAA/Soccer/Sporting teams, if there is a college nearby try meet with the students union to incentivise events.....

I dunno, things are tough all over the place at the moment for bars/pubs that arent in decent locations.

Karen23

He has dropped prices , cheapest drink in the area and he has advertised , business did pick up slightly but nowhere near what it should have done but I do agree with kippy about location , a few new upmarket clubs have opened up on the outskirts and thats where everyone heads. He had no admission fee to the club hoping it would entice people in to have a look but no. The club looks great , it could easily compete with the newer bars. I know it would do well if people just gave it a chance. The only people that eventually started coming in were barred from everywhere else.

Mr.Boots

Be honest with yourself, is it a $hithole?
any amount of cheep booze wont tempt people if it isnt THE place to go.
Pick a market and promote that heavly.
Its a different country to the Ireland of 4 years ago.

highlandseoghan

You need to look at it from a customer point of view. stand outside and think to yourself does this pub look like a pub I want to go into. Then inside is this a pub that looks nice and has a good feel to it. How does this pub compare to the competitors.

Organise quiz nights for local clubs or a karaoke with the proceeds going to the clubs or charity. If there is some people living in other areas that used to come to the pub maybe on the weekends put on transport or a mini bus to pick up customers at a certain time and drop them home.

You need to find out why the locals are going somewhere else that involves further travel. Do a questionaire and ask locals. maybe there not aware of the price being lower in this pub or the entertainment.

dh0661

highlandseoghan wrote: »

You need to look at it from a customer point of view. stand outside and think to yourself does this pub look like a pub I want to go into. Then inside is this a pub that looks nice and has a good feel to it. How does this pub compare to the competitors.

Organise quiz nights for local clubs or a karaoke with the proceeds going to the clubs or charity. If there is some people living in other areas that used to come to the pub maybe on the weekends put on transport or a mini bus to pick up customers at a certain time and drop them home.

You need to find out why the locals are going somewhere else that involves further travel. Do a questionaire and ask locals. maybe there not aware of the price being lower in this pub or the entertainment.

My friend has done/has all of the above. ATM he's wondering even if he gave drinks for FREE, would more people frequent his establishment.

IMO bar trade is so down now that anything you do will not create a pay back.

Chet Zar

Karen23 wrote: »

He has dropped prices , cheapest drink in the area and he has advertised , business did pick up slightly but nowhere near what it should have done but I do agree with kippy about location , a few new upmarket clubs have opened up on the outskirts and thats where everyone heads. He had no admission fee to the club hoping it would entice people in to have a look but no. The club looks great , it could easily compete with the newer bars. I know it would do well if people just gave it a chance. The only people that eventually started coming in were barred from everywhere else.

I think this could be your reason right here. People tend to choose pubs based on the crowd it attracts and the atmosphere, not on how cheap the drink is or what promotions are running (other venues can do this too anyway). Maybe try to attract a better class of punter, have a stricter door policy? +1 to the idea of getting groups in. Could he also get people from local businesses in, run promotions for their staff, etc?

The main thing though is to take a cold hard look at the venue itself and the reputation it has.

highlandseoghan

I don't think giving drink away free is going to do anything to help the business. When he asks people why they go to different pubs and asks them about his own pub, what is the response he gets. Why do people go to other pubs? Why do these people not go to his own pub? The answers from these questions should find the problem that needs to be addressed.

Tangled

I'd recommend you have a look at this thread from the Beer Wines and Spirits forum for an idea of what people want from a pub. Is he offering anything suggested here?

bayles

PM sent

hinault

My two cents worth.

The critical thing in any business is the relationship between price of a commodity and potential custom.
This may be simplistic but the cheaper the price of alcohol the better chance that a pub has of attracting a customer.

Alcohol sold in pubs has become relative dear (relative to drinking at home for example).
If a pub could sell alcohol at €3 a pint, they'd be jammed with customers.

Added value stuff like serving food might add custom.
Social nights like pub quizzes, fundraisers will provide "once off" added value.
All these things can be added/tweaked with as custom grows.
The immediate requirement is to get traffic in to that pub and to do it fast.

The danger with dropping the price of alcohol though is risky.
Lower prices means that more units of alcohol has to be sold in order to cover costs (utility costs, wages, rent, rates, stock, maintenance).

Jack Cohen (founder of Tesco) had a famous saying "pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap".

Karen23

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.
As some of you have said reputation is a major factor , Id say about 30% of people would have had a bad view of the pub when it was opened before and they have never changed their minds even after refurbishment and new management they still see it as the same old pub and I think customers who did drink there before had settled elsewhere while the pub was closed and its just been too long for them to change back now.
As for the wrong crowd I think he got to as point were any crowd was better than none.
He runs pool & karaoke competitions and a bingo night. The bingo night is a big success but one night is not enough to keep things going. The karaoke guy promised big crowds and it just never happened. The final is this week and prize money has to be paid and I honestly dont know where hes going get it from.
I've suggested a Mr & Mrs night for Valentines night which he's going to do so I hope it brings a few in that wouldn't normally be there and they might give it a chance plus all drinks €3.50.

Tangled , I'm just going to check out your link now. Thanks

Dtoffee

Karen23 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.
The final is this week and prize money has to be paid and I honestly dont know where hes going get it from.Thanks

Throwing money at a problem is madness, he needs to build a loyal customer base. Has he actually got pub trade experience or did he just think the opportunity to get the pub on the cheap was too good to turn down? anyone with an ounce of sense woud not throw good money after bad and it sounds like he thought he could buy his way to a successful pub business by doing the place up and and has got in over his head.

My advice is to cut out the crap gimmicks, spend the savings on two good barmen who have the ability to engage customers ..... change the name and relaunch without any fanfare. Build slowly and stop trying to attract customers with gimmicks, they will come through word of mouth .... and get rid of any trouble makers immediately.

It may well be that he is better off cutting his losses if he thinks hes going to get rich quick in todays market.

Peach Solutions

Karen23 wrote: »

A friend of mine opened a pub last year , previously the pub did a roaring trade but was closed down to be demolished however the demolition never went ahead and it was closed for about four years until my friend took it over.
Since then he has really struggled to get the custom back , he has put on great bands , DJs , entertainment & drinks promotions. He got the licence for a nightclub and late bar which had always been packed in the past but business is just not picking up and his outgoings just keep going up and up and I dont know how much longer he can stay open , he's already closed the nightclub as people just weren't coming in.
Theres not much competition in the area but still people are travelling outside the area to other bars.
So my queation is can any business people give any ideas as to what else he can do before he has to close down and put people out of work.
All suggestions and comments welcome.
Thanks.

Hi karen,

I have helped out a number of clients over ireland in relation to this. My contact details are on my profile, If your friend wants to get in touch.

kind regards

Neil