Please Help Setting Bar Prices. Or:The Biggest GQ Ever.

Factual Questions
1

As I have mentioned in several other threads I recently started my first job as a bartender. There are only two problems:

  1. The place sucks.
  2. I barely know what the heck I am doing.

Although I do have MANY other questions about troubles I am having there. However, the biggest problem right now are the prices. They make absolutely no sense. Below you will see the alcohol’s that are listed in the computer. Well, almost, I corrected a few of the spelling errors and listed some things that we sell but are not in the list.

I have no idea what I should be charging for them. Any of them. But I do know that virtually everything is WAY overpriced. This is a bar that is part of a Denny’s type restaurant. It has no customers, and with the way things are going, will never get any. I need to know what I should be charging for such a bar that is trying to build up a clientele of regulars, and if there are any significant alcohol’s or beers missing from the list. There are nearby bars that charge $1.50 for a Bud. We should as well. Please, please, please help me! I am terribly lost, lucky if I come home with $20 at the end of the night, and need help to get this place hopping again. However I have a terrible suspicion that if I try to change any of this the owners are going to be offended and shoot me down, especially for lowering prices (we were charging tax for God’s sake!). But I no longer care what the hell they think, if I do not charge decent prices and get some customers this bar will be shut down.

I know that this is a lot to ask, and I will be terribly grateful to all those who can help.

The question marks mean that, although the item is in the computer, no price is listed.

Bud Draft – 2.50
Bud Light Draft – 2.50
Domestic Pitcher –7.95
Import Pitcher – 10.99
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Pitcher – ???
Bud Bottle – 3.00
Bud Light Bottle – ???
Coors Bottle – 3.00
Coors Light Bottle – ???
Coors Banquet Bottle – ???
Corona Bottle – 3.00
MGD Bottle – 3.00
Michelob Bottle – ???
Michelob Light Bottle – ???
Doc Otis Hard Lemon – ???
Guinnes Stout – ???
Smirnoff Ice – 4.00
Heinekein – 3.50
Sierra Nevada Bottle – ???
Sierra Nevada Draft – ???
Sam Adams Glass – 3.50
Sam Adams Pitcher – 11.99
O’Douls – 3.00

Absolut – 4.50
Absolut Citron – 4.25
Amaretto – 3.50
Amaretto Di Amore – 4.75
Amaretto Di Saronno – 4.75
Amareto Royal – ???
Anisette – 3.50
Bacardi Limon – 4.50
Bacardi 151 – 5.75
Bacardi Light – 4.50
Bacardi Black – 4.50
Bacardi Dark – 4.50
B&B – 5.00
B&B Dom – ???
Bailys Irish – 4.75
Ballantine – ???
Barenjager – 3.93
Beefeater – 4.50
Belvedere – 8.00
Benedictine – 4.50
Black Jack – ???
Black Velvet – 4.00
Blue Curaco – 3.75
Boggs – 5.00
Bombay – 5.50
Boodles – ???
Brandy misc. – 3.50
Brandy Apricot – 4.25
Brandy black*(berry?)* – 4.25
Brandy C.B – 3.75
Brandy Cherry – 4.25
Brandy Peach 4.25
Brown caco – 3.50
Brown & White menthe – 3.50
Bushmills – 5.00
Campari – 4.00
Canadian Club – 4.00
Captain Morgan – 3.50
Chambord – ???
Chivas Regal – 5.50
Chopin – ???
Christian Brothers – 4.00
Cantreau – 4.50
Courvoisier – 5.50
Creme De Caco – 2.78
Creme de Coco – 2.78
Creme de Menthe – 3.00
Creme de Noyaux – 2.78
Crown Royal – 5.50
Jose Cuervo – 4.50
Cuervo 1800 – 4.50
Cuervo Gold –3.75
Cuervo Mistico – ???
Cuervo Traditional – ???
Cutty Shark – ???
Drambuie – 4.50
Dewars White – 4.50
Early Times – 3.75
Frangelico – 5.50
Galliano – 3.93
Glenfiddich 4.00
Glenlivit – ???
Godiva – 4.75
Goldshlager – 3.93
Grand Marnier – 8.00
Green & White Menthe – 3.00
Hennessy – 5.00
Herradura – ???
IW Harper – ???
Irish Mist – 4.50
Jack Daniels – 4.50
J&B Rare – 5.75
JW Black – 6.00
JW Red – 4.50
Jaggermeister – 4.00
Jim Bean – 3.75
Beams Black Label – ???
Kahlua – 5.50
Ketel One vodka – ???
Knock and O – ???
Korbel brand – 3.50
Macnaugtons – 2.78
Makers Mark – 3.48
Malibu – 3.50
Metaxa Ouzo – ???
Meyers – 3.48
Meyers Dark – 4.50
Monte Albon – ???
Mount Gay – ???
Old Grand Dad – ???
Parrot Bay – ???
Patron Tequila – 10.00
Pinch 15 year – ???
Rich And Rare – 2.78
Rumpleminze – 3.93
Sambuca – 3.93
Bombay Sapphire – 4.50
Schnapps Butter – 3.00
Schnapps Cinnamon – 3.00
Schnapps Misc. – 3.00
Schnapps Peach – 3.00
Schnapps Pepper – 3.00
Seagrams Crown – 4.00
Seagrams 7 – 4.00
Seagrams VO – 4.25
Seagrams VO Gold – ???
Sheridans – 5.50
Sky - 5.25
Sloe Gin – 3.00
Sloe Gin Driner – ???
Southern Comfort – 4.00
Smirnoff – 5.00
Smirnoff Citron – 3.48
Sterling – ???
Stoli – 4.50
Stollchnas – 4.50
Talisker – ???
Tanqueray – 5.25
TQ Hot – 4.00
Taos – ???
Taos Currant – ???
Tia Maria – 4.25
Triple Sec – 3.00
Tullamore – 3.48
Vermouth Dry – 2.75
Vermouth Sweet – 2.75
Wild Turkey – 4.25
Whidbeys – ???
Yukon Jack – 4.00

So, is their anything missing? What should we be charging?

I cannot fully explain to you what a horrible, half-assed job has been done running this bar. I have been told by some of the long time workers that it was once a very popular after-work karaoke bar, but has been run into the ground by the new owners. I believe it. Someone spent a lot of money setting up what was once an upscale restaurant bar, but it has since suffered criminal neglect.

2

OK, I’ll throw in my advice, I’ve been in quite a few bars, and behind 4 different ones of differing quality. I’m currently working in a really crappy one that makes alot of under-the-table money.

First, I’m not quite clear in just how new at this you are, so if I’m saying things that are beneath you, my bad.

The most important thing to remember in managing a bar’s stock and prices, is to make it simple, consistent and fast. You always want to plan for the occasion where the bartender is swamped…sounds unlikely in your case, but that’s the way to bring in cash. Also, you want the price structure to be fairly simple and obvious to the customers. The last thing you want is a customer who walks away baffled by the prices, and wondering why the Captian and Coke cost $5.25, and the Citron and Seven cost $4.75. It’ll make them worry that they are getting screwed.

This is why virtually every bar uses the Well/Call/Premium price structure. Ergo, assigning one price to drinks of each quality of liquor. Some I’ve seen expand this to Well/Call/Super Call/Premium/Super Premium. Thats usually more trouble than its worth.

If you’re Captain costs $21.00 a bottle, and the Barcardi costs $19.00 they should still be priced the same. Usually the ultra crappy booze, McCormicks Vodka, Montezuma Tequila etc. are the Wells. The really popular stuff, like Jack, Beam, Cuervo, Captian, and Smirnoff are usually your Calls. Then your upscale drinks Sapphire, Absolut, Johny Walker Red, 1800, your popular shots like Jager, Rumpleminze, Goldshlager and so on are your Premiums. Noticing that you guys seem to have a pretty wide selection of top shelf liquors, they’ll likely have a Super Premium category for the Patron, Black Label, and Grand Marnier type drinks.

The fact that your listed prices are so varied, and the fact that they charge tax and have prices ending in .78 (though I wager this is actually supposed to be .75) really makes life difficult for a bartender and a customer. When dealing with drunk customers and regulars, you’d like them to always know what they are going to be paying for a certain drink. Unless of course you’re working a really upscale bar where money is no object (think Chicago’s financial district) then all these points are moot.

Now, I almost garauntee that the owner/manager isn;t going to let you “change” the prices. Granted, if you make a really strong case, he might simplify things, but I get the impression he’s calculated the prices based on the exact cost of each bottle. That makes things too complicated and cumbersome.

Where you should approach him regarding prices to try and build business is the draft beer. Bottles are generally fairly consistent in cost, and you can’t really adjust the price much unless you wheel and deal with the distributer. You won’t know this one way or another, but perhaps you might want to approach him about setting up a “dollar” bottle night on one of the big domestics. If he can arrange it, he’ll go for it. However, bottle specials are usually dependant on what price the distributer is willing to sell at, not the demand. However, draft beer has massive amounts of profit built in. The owner can usually do draft beer specials in order to fill the bar and make his profit on food and other drinks sold.

The longwinded point, is that you probably shouldn’t attack him saying “lets cut prices”. You’ll have much better luck, and the bar will have a gimmick to promote, if you look for daily specials. Say “$5 pitchers of Bud”, “$1 Miller bottles”, or $2 Jack Daniels Drinks". Those are the kinds of things that will bring in weekly regulars who are a fan of the given special, and they’ll bring in friends who would rather spend money on the other brands and liquors.

Sorry this isn’t more focused and precise, but its a big issue that is hard to judge without knowing the backend books. And most of what you’re hoping for isn’t within the grasp of a new, inexperienced bartender to change.

Here’s what I’d suggest for the pricing structure. Round everything to the nearest $0.25.. Make all the popular mixed drink liquors (Jack, Jim, Jose, Captian, Barcardi, Smirnoff) the same price, probably in the ball park of $4.50. The beer prices seem OK, but the’ve got to just make the pitchers $8, $11 and $12. I don’t know the area, so if they are high you’ll have to adjust accordingly.

Now, as to bring people in. Ask for a weekday beer special. Either $1.50-$2 domestic bottles, $1 domestic drafts or $5 domestic pitchers. Maybe a Thursday Call liquor special, $2.50 Jack and Captian, or $5 doubles. Advertise those to death, and I promise you’ll grow a crowd as long as its cheaper than all the competition on that given night.

Hope this helps.

3

I’ve been away from the biz for abt 20 yrs.but here’s what you need to do/what I’d need to know before you price drinks.

What is the bar like that charges $1.50 for beer?I mean the clientele and overall appearance/decor of the place.

Are you looking for the same trade-or higher end.I mean you say the bar’s in a Denny’s.This doesn’t smack of upscale to me.Possibly the white collar woker bees.

You could build a clientele catering to them,esp.the females.They’ll attract the guys,and probably their superiors (in payscale) at work.You could build from that.Offering ladies drink free/half price at happy hour or special weeknights.

House drinks are good for the bottom line.Make a new wrinkle on whatever’s popular with the funny drink set.Everybody has frozen daquiris and that Mexican slush they pass off as a cocktail (margaruitas).Make a variant with some other flavors-making sure the base liquors are cheap.

One hint here.When you make any funny drink use more sugar than usual.Like in processed food,people will swear it tastes better than the last one they had.Another hint-make your own mixes,it’s cheaper and will taste better,esp.with the aforementioned Bam! of sugar.

One pricing ratio I used was 4/1 retail to wholesale on liquor,3/1 on beer.Give the real drinkers a good shot,make it up on the cocktails,which should be marked up 25-50% from the shot price.Those prices,in my day were enough to ensure a decent profit.

Any additional overhead,entertainment,upscale furnishings,glassware,etc,should make that ratio higher.

Can’t help right now on the liquor list,it seems so long,but judge your customers tastes before you start ordering more than about 4-6 labels of rum,tequila and vodkas.Whiskey drinkers(bourbon,scotch,gin and blends) should demand more labels-but they can turn into your hardcore everyday customer.Those people, generally, are daily drinkers
Just took a quick look at your liquor list as I’m previewing the post.Your list is overloaded with cordials that you’ll rarely sell-unless you come up with a drink besides the fuzzy navel for all those different schnappes flavors.You need to pare it down.

4

No fucking reason Citron should cost less, they should be the same.

Not sure how screwed up the computer system is (frankly a computer register is more trouble than its worth IMHO) but these are probably the same damn thing.

This makes no sense, the “Jose Cuervo” and “Cuervo Gold” are probably the same thing, and should be the same “call” price. Likely $1 cheaper than the 1800.

I’ve looked closer at your liquor list, and while my previous post about having a 4 tiered price structure still applies, I see a handful of exceptions that should probably have cost-specific prices. Items such as Belvidere, Talisker, Patron, Pinch, etc. It doesn’t really change things, but while 90% of your things should fall into the 4 tiers, these are going to be more expensive and should be priced accordingly, at my current bar we just have extra little tags labeling their costs for display. Maybe you’ll just print them only the table tents or menu.

5

Are you in a large, medium or small California town? My first advice would be take your bartending experience elsewhere. The whole service industry has a pretty high turnover rate & experienced bartenders can usually find work. Bringing home $20/night is not “bank” by any means. Are you sure your bar’s owners aren’t using the place as some sort of tax rightoff? Lots of beginning bartenders start out in crappy places, but it doesn’t take long to move up to something better. I’d spend my time finding a better place. If your owners are morons, there’s not much you’re going to be able to change, and not worth your time trying.

Other than airports or hotel bars or other snooty “we gottcha” places, why would you charge some miscellaneous amount of tax? Where I’ve worked/patronized, the bar prices were always pretty simple & straightforward. If it’s a restaurant/bar & the customer orders food, then the whole bill can be taxed. But many places will total the liquor & food separately, add tax to the food portion, then add the two together.

Around here, it’s about $3 for a domestic draft beer, $4 for imported or premium.

Liquor is $4 for well, $5 for call, $6 or so for medium shelf, maybe $7 for top shelf.

Sometimes they add .25-.50 if you use juice with the drink. Sometimes they add a "pain in the ass charge" of .25-.50 for shaken or blended or complicated drinks.

I like prices to be as close to an even dollar amount as possible, as you’re hoping the change is your tip. If the drink is $4, and they pay with a 5, 10 or twenty your tip is usually a dollar. It’s simple math for your drinking customer, and a good tip for you. If you charge x.75, you risk your tip being the .25.

Happy hour crowds are very fickle. Daily or weekly drink specials can help, but when it comes down to it, the crowds come or they don’t. What makes the difference is your personality as a bartender, the environment in the bar & consistency. Do people want to be there? You can get drinks anywhere, after all.

6

That is not necessarily the stuff we have; that is only what is in the computer. We have very little and there is no rhyme or reason to what we do have. I can’t quite explain it. You are wrong if you think that anything is calculated. They know NOTHING about the bar. They seem to not care. The prices are set for any reason whatsoever. It is almost random. The prices that were not rounded to the nearest $0.25 are that way because they are some of the very few that were set up to take tax into account. For example, something that is listed there at $2.78 will ring up at $3.00 with a %7.775 tax. Something listed at $2.75 will ring up at $2.96, exactly. They honestly expect me to charge tax on the drinks, they did not know that this is not done. One guy got furious when I told him that his Bud was $2.69 and not the $2.50 he expected. He thought that we were trying to scam him and pocket the “tax” money. So the computer prices are completely screwy, it looks like someone did a half-assed job of filling it out and no one ever bothered to correct it.Their attitude about the place is surreal. We don’t have some basic, basic stuff, like no Jack Daniel, Seagram’s (any kind), Bacardi, or ANY vodka beyond the swill we serve for well.

Nothing they do there is planed out.
They do not have a reason for anything. I am not exaggerating, they really do not.

I appreciate the advice so far (and believe me, it would be hard to talk down to me in my current state), but do you have any concrete’s? I was going to try and determine the prices myself, but they will not let me see the prices they pay. So I have NO idea what to charge. I asked if I could see whatever catalog she uses, or if I could speak to the distributor myself and she out and out refused (but not in a rude way, it was as if she felt that it was none of my business or concern. Almost as if I had asked to see the restaurants tax records). I understand that I should have it teared, but I do not know what to charge for those steps.

Arrgghh!!! Last week I left them a big long list of alcohol we need, and I came in today to find THAT THEY DID NOTHING!!! FUCK! I call the woman and ask about it and she mumbles something about “well the bar is not doing well” So you are going to starve it? Do you know how embarrassing it is to say to some one “no sir, we have no Jack Daniel’s. No sir, we have no SKY vodka. No sir, we have no Bailys and cream.”??? WE HAVE NO MORE FUCKING BUDWEISER! THAT WAS ON THE LIST! DO YOU REALISE HOW FUCKING STUPID THIS IS??? THESE ARE NOT GOD DAMNED LUXURY ITEMS THAT ONLY HIGHCLASS BARS THAT ARE PACKED WITH PEOPLE CONTAIN!!! I have had people get pissed off and leave with eyes rolled heavenward and a look of disbelief when I told them that we have no Jack!
Whenever I ask about or for something they say they will take care of it but do not. It is as if they expect me to forget about it and the problem will go away. The problem of us not having enough pour spouts for bottles will not go away! (do you know how embarrassing and weird it is to have to pull a spout off of one bottle and put it on another in front of a customer?) The problem of a broken window will not go away! The problem of burnt out lights will not go away! The problem of everything out coming out of the soda gun tasting rancid will not go away! Their attitude is not one of conscious neglect, it is as if they really do not understand the sort of dire straights we are in (the restaurant portion does fine though). I was fucking chewed out for coming into work a half-hour early so that I can set everything up before I open. They get mad if I try to spend any amount of time cleaning up afterwards! “We only did $65 in buisness last night” NO FUCKING SURPRISE YOU IDIOT NO ONE HAS EVER CLEANED THE PLACE BEFORE I GOT HERE!!! No one had ever even wiped down the bar! It was so dirty and sticky that the lacquer had become corrupted. I had to spend days and use many nasty chemicals grinding that down until it was to the wood, so that you could place a napkin down without it becoming permanently stuck! Parts of that place were so dirty it was obviously ILLEAGEL!!! (The restaurant portion is fine though)
I could go on for much longer. I am just so frustrated. I am the only one who cares at all about the place, how it looks, how it is presented. They seemed to feel that if they set up a bar type area, they do not have to do anything and people will just show up and be happy with whatever they are offered. God I am tired of them.

Damn it, this is turning into a rant.

Anyway, what you said is great advice, but what I really, really, need (well more advice like that too) is hard facts. What exactly should I be charging for those different alcohols and are their any that should be on that list. I will make another thread later detailing what we have and what I have asked for.

BTW, if you are interested, here are some pictures of the place. You have no idea how much work it took for me to get it looking as it does in these pictures. They are still very deceitful. If you were to enter that bar your first impression would be “Wow! What a great little place!”. Then you would begin to notice things, grime here, a loose board there, a burnt out light above, and you would realize that this **had[b\] once been a great bar, but had been neglected and almost ruined. It could be restored so damned easily! But I seem to be the only one who cares.
Here is a pic of the front of the place. Unfortunately it was obviously taken at night and you cannot see it to well.

Now as we go through the front doors we see the entrance of the bar…

And here we are. I cannot even begin to completely list the dozens and dozens of things I did to fix this place up. From actually having stools their in an orginized way, to having lights (oh, there were plenty of burnt out lights. In fact, almost every flourescent light was half-dead and buzzing and flickering so as to cause a migraine), to having those hanging glases washed and put up in some organized way.

That is the eating area, you can see the beer signs in the first picture.

This is a blurry and crooked picture of the entire barroom.
That there is the TV. I think I run the only bar in town where you are far more likely to find CNN or Star Trek on rather then sports.

That is the rear of the bar. I am not sure if it works or not, but the box below the small TV is connected to digital receiver.That is another example of how things are surreally screwed up. They have a bunch of this audio and video equipment yet none of it is either hooked up or used. There are four large expensive speakers in there, yet no one knows how, or if, they work. They were using a damned boom-box (which has a broken left speaker) for music when they have thousands of dollars of professional stereo and sound mixing equipment that is lying around in disarray! I was told that they are actually paying for that digital cable service, but it is just not used. The big screen is hooked up to a regular analog box!

This is the lovely couple that does karaoke on Fridays and Saturdays.
The karaoke is a new thing and has its own long nasty story over why they started it behind it.

And this is a picture of the set-up behind the bar.None of this was setup in any way when I first got there. All of the metal was covered in a thick layer of sticky goo that no one ever cleaned up (The manager will try to kick me out at the same time as the customers). The juice bottles, there were only three when I arrived. I had a very disorganized and messy looking set up with pitchers of different juices. I was desperate for new bottles (and ones that had lids so that the juice and milk would stay fresh over night. No one ever cared about that before. I don’t know how old some of that stuff in the fridge was.) Then one day I was trying to organize the “cage” where we keep some of the alcohol locked up when I found a box filled with brand new juice bottles, spouts, and lids. Still in the plastic. Also their was a brand new bar spoon (no more having to use a tea spoon!), a mixing cup (no more having to use a milk shake cup!) and a bartenders utility knife. All brand new, and no one knew that the stuff existed. It must have been sitting up there for years. Possibly decades, they were also with a large box of “brand new” stuffed toys that looked like they were from the seventies or early eighties. The kind of toys that you would find in those annoying crane devices, where you try to grab one of the toys using the crane and hook.
sigh
When I got this job what I looked forward to most was working with someone who knew what they were doing and could teach me all of the many, many things I do not know about bartending. All of the work I have done (like spending 18 straight hours cleaning out that fridge. shudder a drain had been leaking old beer in there for years, it was like it had an inch of vomit inside. And they still let the beer bottles sit in it!) and the improvements I have made are not because I am a good bartender. Frankly, I suck at it (for now…). But good God, I am still the most competent person there, mainly for no other reason then giving a damn and using common sense. I am very frustrated and angry.

Bah, I am tired. I did not intend to spend an hour writing and editing this rant.

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

7

levdrakon, I am in Sacramento.

8

I should change part of that. It is not that they “honestly expect me to charge tax”, the idea of it never entered anyone’s mind. They just did what the computer said. Never mind that the computer is obviously inconsistent. They just assume that there must be some reason for it to be that way.

Again, I can’t quite explain the nature of them and their attitude towards the bar. These are not bad people. These are not lazy people. This one manager must put in 14 hour days almost everyday. And they do seem to realize that I am doing a good job. But still, to chew me out for being there a moment longer then they (wrongly) deem necessary? I stayed later the other night so that I could compile this list and find out exactly what we have and what we need. She asked me too.
I can go on and on with more stuff. I probably should.

It is just bizarre, that is all I can say.

BTW, I also have some pics of how I set up the bottles on the island area. I will try to post that later.

9

Well, three things.

Its is going to be completely impossible for anyone to tell you what you should be charging without knowing what they pay. Liquor prices are frequently negotiated between the distributer and the bar owner, and often bar owners buy large quanities at promotional prices that sit for many months. You’re asking the impossible.

Next, yur customers were right to be angry. It may be a state-to-state rule, but everywhere I’ve wokred, or heard tell of doesn’t charge sales tax on liquor. If your bar is doing so, I assume it is going stright into the owners pocket.

The tax is built into the price the disributor sells it at, and bars do not charge sales tax ontop of that. I’m no lawyer, so I can’t back this up, but the entire concept is shady.

Lastly, ditch the place. Find a better job, its a hopeless situation if she’s not interested in putting effort into it. Don’t waste you time, especially if you’re flying blind.

10

I would go on my “all prices are determined by supply and demand” rant, but will sustain for now…

11

MD- I know a few folsk in the Sac area, as I am also a Sactown dweller.

Is this the Denny’s that’s on Bradshaw (I think)?

I can think of a few things right off the top of my head…

1- take a stand with the management. You have a good set up, though it could use some work. The place looks nice, I’ve been there before.

2- I think we may have found the place for our first Sacramento Dopefest… I think with you we have like 6 Sactown folks now.

Hmmmm… it may be a week or two before I talk to my bartender friends… let me put out some feelers and I’ll see what kind of advice I can give you. Do you think that the management would let you bring in a cheap consultant for a few hours just to get an idea of what you need?

Get yourself a few bartender books.

I’ll also talk to some folks I know that hook up audio-video. They may be willing to trade service for booze(I know cool people!).

If the thread drops out of site, drop me a line at Criticalpedestrian@yahoo.com

12

IANAB, and I can’t really give you any meaningful advice above what has been already said, but…

Are the lights always on that bright in the bar???

That alone would probably scare me away. Bars aren’t supposed to be that well lit! Dimming the lights a bit would probably give it a little better atmosphere and help hide some of the numerous imperfections you’ve noted.

13

I looked at some of the pictures again…

It looks like it could use some more decor of some sort. It looks like it has some potential but it’s too plain. Too plain and too bright.

Just my opinions, although I don’t know how many changes the owners are going to let you get away with…

14

Change your job.

Change your job.

Change your job.

15

MD, you’re doing a great job, but it sounds like without a commitment from management the situation will never get better.

Go find another bar to work in, with a bartender that will show you the ropes.

16

Go to three tiered pricing:

cheap beer
modest beer
top end beer

Have beer specials that get people in the door to establish a busy enviroment. People want to go where there are alot of people, no matter what you think about people hating crowds.

Alcohol, esp beer, usually has so much profit that you can wildly vary the price.

Better yet, you should start pushing DRAFT beer to people, and manage the amount served, rather than the price.

1.50 drafts or .75 drafts get people in the door.

17

I have no idea how big your pitchers are, but I think $7.95 might be a tad too much considering what your draft prices are. It would assuredly be too high if you lowered your draft (draught? Eh, whatever, I hate that spelling) prices.
You can get about 3-4 drinks per pitcher and that’s how much you’re charging. There’s no discount and so there’s no incentive to spend more.

I agree with just about everything Omniscient said. The one minor quibble I would have is that I don’t consider Absolut an exclusive vodka. Popular? Sure. But it’s a call level drink, not a premier. I wouldn’t fork over extra money for it, I can tell you that. Now Ketel One or Grey Goose (which isn’t on your liquor list, I note), I would pay extra for.
Smirnoff is, IMHO, worse than Absolut and yet it costs more. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

And for God’s sake, even the prices out! $3.93? Unless the parking meter costs .07 I’m really not going to miss that money. Charge me $4 and I’ll be glad to give it to you.

But I agree wholeheartedly with a tiered, but uniform system. Make it simple, make it consistent. I mean, what do you do when someone orders a Long Island Iced Tea? Do you have Deep Blue running full time in the kitchen to handle that calculation?

18

Gotta tell ya, this is wrong. Most bars however, sell their drinks as a tax inclusive price and let the POS system back the tax out. This is how you come to the nice round numbers. Much easier for everyone involved. I assure you the company is remitting that tax money to the state. They risk loosing their liquor license if they don’t.

Items purchased for resale are not taxed (wholesale liquor or food invoices). Items are taxed upon use by the final consumer and the establishment collects and remits those taxes on behalf of the consumer.

That’s all I can help you with, except to say that you might want to read up some on beverage cost potentials and such before you make your pitch. You’ll be able to show bottom line impact which may get their attention.

19

Look’s like you have a long road ahead of you. The bar looks to have a lot of potential though. If you are going to stick it out, document everything you’ve been doing and take better pictures. If you can turn that place around it will be very impressive on a resume I imagine.

I agree with the above post on lighting and you could use a few more televisions in other areas. Just flat out ask management what they expect of the bar. Are they happy to turn away potential repeat customers because they lack basic things like popular liquor and bottle spouts. All your best efforts are for not if management won’t back you.

20

slight detour

I think the bar’s main problem is the couple doing the karaoke!! Did you get a LOOK at those goons?
(Though I do sorta like the “fuzzy Doris Day effect” over the guy on the right.)

:smiley: