It is generally thought that there are three ways to make your pub successful
- Get your customers to spend more on each visit.
- Attract more Customers through your doors.
- Get your customers to make more visits to you pub
I also think there is a fourth
- Control your costs.
For today I will concentrate on the first one.
This was prompted after an article from Hospitality & Catering News landed in my inbox this morning. The Article was entitled “Menu Trends report reveals new focus on snack and side orders” (the full article can be read here ), the article reported the findings of the Horizons’ bi-annual Menu Trends survey. It revealed that Pubs had increased main course prices by 1.4% whilst starters had reduced by 12.5%, this is despite the rate of inflation having been higher than this. At the same time operators are seeing their costs rising as the National Living Wage comes into force and possible other supply cost increases post Brexit.
So what does this all have to do with up selling? Well if you have not increased your selling prices or indeed reduced them then you need your customers to increase their spend per visit. This should be one of your key KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and you should be calculating this on at least a weekly basis.
Last Sunday I saw a good example of up selling when we went out for Sunday Lunch with friends but I also saw several missed opportunities.
Firstly the good, as we were shown to the table by the landlady, she told us about the range of desserts they had and that we should leave some room for a dessert (it was a carvery ).
Now to the missed opportunities:
No member of staff ever checked to see if we wanted any more drinks. When they took the dessert order (we had all left room) they did not ask if we wanted any coffees. When we did ask for coffees they did not ask if we wanted any liqueurs.
Not every diner will want extra drinks, coffee or liqueurs, but if the staff were trained to also ways ask, I know that at least some diners will when asked but wont if not.
This will only take a little extra training and if you have a front of house team meeting before each service you can always gently remind your staff to try and up sell where possible.
I suggest that this would have a significant impact on your bottom line come the end of your financial year.