Help Your Staff Increase Customer Spend

A higher tab at a table in your restaurant means more money for you and your staff. It's crucial you train your staff to help increase the amount of money guests spend in your establishment. If you want more profits to show for your hard work, you need to increase your outreach, encourage guests to visit more frequently and raise the customer spend during each trip. Let's explore three different methods of achieving these goals.

Make Your Establishment "The" Place 

Bulk culture is thriving in the United States. Everyone loves a bargain. It also helps your team identify their target audiences for specific product demographics. Offering a special promotion for imported beer on Friday and Saturday afternoons while playing a sporting event may help your restaurant draw in prolific socializing among the imported beer lovers.

Instruct your staff to be familiar with at least four imported beers as well as two non-soda alternatives. It may be helpful to conduct a taster session to give your employees a clear starting point for up-selling. Try offering a beer bucket promotion that includes six imported beers for the price of five during a restricted period of time. For example:

"Enjoy the big game day every Saturday and Sunday between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. for our imported beer match. Pick four of the most famous beers in the world. Enjoy the clean finish of a one-of-a-kind Pilsner with Harp Lager. Or sip the beer made by Louis Pasteur's student with the Dutch delight — Heineken. Gulp the deliciousness that is Corona Extra with a wedge of lime or be transported with the oldest brand of beer from Sapporo, Japan."

It's All About Awareness

An easy way to increase the amount of money your customers spend is by getting your team excited about the products. Hold brief weekly meetings before the start of a shift, make a sampling of an enhanced water, signature mocktail, apple cider, hot cocoa with a different syrup, creamer, or sweetener each day. 

Seasonal promotions are another way to bring the hidden products away from the unknown and unsold section of your business and into your profit margins. Take the opportunity in summer to mix quality bourbons with the refreshing zest of Reed's Extra Ginger Brew Ginger Beer. Or bring out the vanilla ice cream to be dished into a glass for a perfect root beer float with 1919's Classic American Draft Root Beer. In the autumn, offer a deal on fall ciders like Smith & Forge's Hard Cider or Sociable Cider to get your guests in the mood for fall.

Have Your Team Earn It

The last suggestion to help increase the amount of money your guests spend in your establishment is definitely the most effective way of getting tangible and profitable results. Weekly or monthly sale's challenges for your team members require a small investment on your part. Offer them an incentive for the team member who sells 50 Leinenkugel Summer Shandy beers in a week or two. Or offer a free meal or dessert on their break if they sell five Miller Lite beer buckets. Another idea: Provide an additional 15-minute break or one less cut list chore or task if they sold five Castle Danger or Summit Brewing Company craft beers during their previous shift.

Be consistent about your staff meetings and sample products. This is the easiest way to teach your team about up-selling. They must know and experience the beer, non-carbonated beverages, coffee, root beer, or ginger beer firsthand to be able to discuss it with their tables. Offering your servers an incentive to learn and know about these products is vital to distribution. It may incur a small cost, but the rewards for properly educated staff are innumerable.