Even the best businesses have bad days. It is important that you not only provide your team with the tools to offer engaging taproom visits, but also the strategies to create a world-class experience when things go wrong. They won’t remember the negative. They will have a deeper connection with your brewery because of how they were wowed by your staff.
Read MoreBeginning a taproom visit with a “hello” and ending it with “thank you'“ can increase how much a guest spends and help build deeper relationships.
Read MoreYour taproom staff should also be going beyond what’s expected by the guest. And it should be more than an encore. Encores are the expected hit song. Your staffs’ final act of hospitality can’t be expected.
Read More“Biscoff or pretzels?” That was the question the flight attendant first asked me. To me, Biscoff is synonymous with airplane cookies. It’s not just a snack, but the food pairing for my early flight coffee. It oddly makes me feel special, and excited, when enjoying. But, why?
Read MoreHow do create the ultimate taproom experience? You maximize the three aspects that come together to create a memorable taproom experience. The ultimate taproom experience exists at the intersection of: Quality Beer, Memorable Atmosphere, and Engaging Staff
Read MoreAs the world starts to get ready for the new-new normal, you may ask yourself, should I be offering flights? The answer? If you feel comfortable with it, yes.
Why? Guests spend 25% more on visits when your staff suggest a flight.
There is both the financial and relationship value in offering flights.
We’re in the relationship business. Take the time to invest in your guests.
Are you back to offering flights?
Read MoreIs your taproom leaving money on the table?
45% of taproom staff are not asking guests if they would like another drink.
45% of taproom staff are not offering recommendations.
80% of taproom staff are not encouraging beer to go.
Read MoreYou’re selling more beer to go. Bottles, cans, crowlers, and maybe even a few growlers.
I am excited to report that taproom staff are getting better at encouraging beer to go.
From a prior, pre-pandemic study, we saw that only 19.5% of brewery staff were encouraging guests to purchase beer to go.
While a much smaller sample set, from March 2020 to March 2021, we analyzed 555 unique brewery visits, and see that brewery staff are now encouraging beer to go 10% more than before the pandemic.
Read MoreSpiderman, Marvin the Martian, Ghostface from Scream. What do they all have in common? You can’t fully see their faces, yet somehow, they manage to pump a little joy (or fear!) into our lives. They are able to create emotion without using their mouths. COVID-19 has changed the way we experience beer. No longer can we easily and safely interact with strangers, customers, friends, and family - a huge part of the community created in a taproom. No longer can a bartender flash a quick smile as a welcoming gesture or a subtle way to thank a guest.
The smile is near impossible to replace; however, we will discuss methods you can use to recreate the power of a friendly face. So how can we make up for the feelings that the smile creates? We can do this by utilizing your ability to heighten your guests’ five senses.
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One of my favorite things to do is find how the little parts of a taproom experience impact the big picture. The value of a bartender offering their name? A tab that’s on average 20 percent higher. The extra spending that results from merely offering a physical menu? A whopping 35 percent bump versus visits without. The effect of encouraging guests to take some beer home? The average guest is 5 times more likely to make the final, added purchase. These seemingly simple touches can transform a guest’s experience from enjoyable to memorable. Equally as important, paying extra attention to the little things can make a guest’s visit more profitable for your brewery.
Read MoreAt Secret Hopper, we aim to always stay positive and to look at things from the glass is half full perspective. We take this approach with every internal aspect of our business as well as our relationships with breweries. If we observe a brewery that has staff not interacting with guests, we don’t discipline that brewery and put them down for it, but rather look at this as a starting point with room to get better. With that said, there are certain that a guest should never experience while visiting your brewery. Here is an absolute list of 10 things your staff should never do.
Read MoreEngagement is an essential factor in maximizing your guests’ experiences. Staff have a greater opportunity to build this relationship during slower times; however, even during the busiest shifts, a bartender or server can create a memorable connection with your guests. Here is a formula to maximize engagement during these times.
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