There is no instant formula for success - it takes lots of hard work and patience. Running a bar is a "Get Rich Slow" scheme.
In today’s busy world, probably most of us are afflicted with some degree off Attention Deficit Disorder. There are so many things demanding our immediate attention, and we find ourselves multi-tasking and switching gears all day long. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the most common mistakes people make is that of not giving things enough time to work.
Imagine a farmer who plants some seeds in his field. After a few days, when he doesn’t see a bountiful harvest growing, he fires up the tractor and replows. Then he plants some different seeds. He believes the first batch of seeds must have been defective. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Yet it happens in businesses across the country every day.
But we are drinking today, so let’s confine ourselves to discussing how this affects the business of selling alcohol to hospitality customers.
A bar must be a comfort zone: People go there to escape from the less comfortable zones in their lives. You must make them feel comfortable. It’s hard to establish your bar as a comfort zone when the whole place changes drastically every few weeks.
One former club owner I know said she was going to “try” karaoke on Thursday nights. She tried it for one week, paid the karaoke guy $100, and dropped the idea. Afterwards, any time somebody suggested karaoke, she would say “I tried it, it didn’t work.” Next, she decided to try a blues band on Thursdays. Another week, another idea that “didn’t work”. So she tried a rock band. Nope. Next country music. Another one week failure. Eventually, the club folded, and the owner went back to civilian life. Probably the poor lady still doesn’t know why her club failed – after all, she had tried everything!
The best advice I can give a club operator is to put your best idea on your best night, and stick with the plan until it works, because it most likely will work if you give it time to grow.
As a real-life example, let me cite the Last Concert Café in Houston. On Wednesday nights, a jam band named Pot Roast plays. They’ve never been accused of being the best band in town, although they are pretty cool. When this gig started a few years ago, there weren’t too many people attending. After a year, it was still one of the club’s slowest nights. But the band and the club worked together, kept promoting it, and attracted new regulars one at a time. Slowly it grew. The last time I went, they were turning people away because the building had reached maximum HFD capacity. Pot Roast on Wednesdays at Last Concert has become an “event” – but only after years of nurturing. If the folks at Last Concert had been dumb asses, they would have pulled the plug after a couple of weeks, and there would probably be a vacant building sitting there instead of their groovy place. Another excellent example is what Mike Armstrong and his crew at Cruisers have done with their Sunday Jam. Slowly, this event has grown until now it is known to musicians all over Texas. When it first started, it was just Mike and a couple of his friends playing a few tunes in a mostly deserted beer joint. Again, it would have been a simple thing to try it for a few weeks, pronounce that it “didn’t work”, and drop it. But Cruisers persisted, and their persistence has brought success.
The moral of the story is: If you’re going to try a new idea, give it enough time to start working. Whether it’s a new machine, entertainment, advertising, drink specials, or anything else that is “new” to your place, you should allow some time for it to get some traction and start pulling its’ weight. There is nothing you can do that is going to be an overnight sensation.
If your plans don’t seem to be working quickly enough, realize that your ideas are probably great, but it always takes some time. Have confidence in yourself and press on.
Your regular customers will appreciate the fact that “their bar” is running on a steady course, with an even keel. Folks will know what kind of bar they‘re going to. It makes a drinking man or woman feel very comfortable to know what to expect when they arrive at your place.
Consistency in products, service, price, cleanliness, entertainment, hours, advertising, specials, and staff are the hallmarks of any successful club.
It is also obvious that this is particularly true of female clientele. They don’t ever want to feel insecure in a bar, and any major changes tend to make them feel insecure – which means it will run them off. You can’t run off the women and have a successful bar.
So don’t second-guess yourself. Keep working at your plan – success lies directly ahead if you have the fortitude to stick to your guns.
