How to Promote Your Taproom Events and Private Bookings
The odds are that if you’re reading this, your taproom does a ton more than just serve beer. The odds that much of your programming is based on events. Sure, you’ve got beer releases, but now you’re hosting trivia, markets, live music, first birthday parties, retirements, celebrations of life, and more. And while we could talk all day about the extremely hot “getting butts in seats” topic. Let’s talk a little bit more about how to get those already in your seats to return.
“Was there a clearly visible listing of upcoming events?” This is a question we asked nearly 1400 guests across 2024 and 2025. Four out of ten guests left the taproom without seeing a list of your upcoming events. Barely 50% of guests were provided a reason to plan a future visit.
Let’s break this down even further. You’ve got 2 kinds of guests. Brand new guests visiting for the first time and guests who have chosen to visit a second, third, fourth, or hundredth time.
First-time guests were nearly twice as likely to say they’d return within a week when a visible events calendar was present.
When no events calendar was visible, more than 1 in 10 first-time guests said they did not plan to return. With a visible calendar, that number was cut in half.
First-time guests were about 25% more likely to plan a return visit within a month when an events calendar was visible.
Now how about your regulars/those who have visited before? What’s the impact of making sure they know about your upcoming events?
Returning guests were nearly 60% more likely to say they’d return within a week when an events calendar was visible.
Visible events calendars shifted returning guests toward faster repeat visits, with almost 8 in 10 planning to return within a month.
Visible events calendars didn’t just impact first-time visitors. They also encouraged returning guests to come back sooner and more often.
Here are 3 easily to make sure your guests are aware of your events calendar:
Place a visible printed events calendar near the entrance, bar, bathrooms, and ordering areas (i.e. places where people will see it).
Add upcoming events to table tents, digital screens, receipts, menus, or QR codes guests already interact with.
Train bartenders and servers to naturally mention upcoming events during conversations with guests (“Oh, you really like Abbott Elementary, did you know we’re hosting trivia-based on the show next Wednesday at 7?”
And while we spend a lot of time talking about public-facing events, private events deserve their own conversation entirely. Now, we’re going to pass it to our friends over at Evently to share their best practices.
Private events are a different animal. Your public programming gets people in the door on your terms. Private events hand you the whole room: higher per-head spend, a built-in deposit, and a group that already said “yes” before they walked in.
But here's where most taprooms leave money behind: the process of actually booking a private event looks nothing like the guest experience you've worked so hard to build. Someone fills out a contact form. Someone else emails back two days later. Availability gets checked, then rechecked. A quote goes out. Then nothing. Follow up. Still nothing. Meanwhile three other groups wanted that same Saturday and you had no way to tell them anything.
We talked to a brewery last year that had one date someone was "thinking about." Three other groups were waiting on that same space. They gave the first person a week. She finally got back to them: not interested. They called the second, already booked elsewhere. Third…wasn't interested. Fourth…never replied. Eight emails and two phone calls, and they walked away with nothing. One date. Four opportunities. All gone — not because the space was wrong, but because the process dragged.
The guests who are ready to book right now need a way to do it right now. And the guests who aren't sure yet need to be able to see exactly what they're getting: pricing, availability, what's included, before they ever pick up the phone.
The same logic from Secret Hopper's data applies here. Visibility converts. When guests can see what's possible, a date that's open, a package that fits their group, a price that doesn't require a negotiation, they move faster. When they can't, they move on.
So, how do you make sure guests know private events are even an option? A few things that work (hint, hint, it’s a little similar to promoting your public facing events)::
Put it where people already look. Table tents, menus, digital screens, restroom walls. A simple "Host your next event here" with a QR code to your events page does more than a sign behind the bar nobody reads.
Train your staff to mention it naturally. If a guest is celebrating a birthday, asking about group sizes, or comments on the space, that's an opening. A quick "we actually do private buyouts too if you ever need it" plants the seed without a hard sell.
Make it easy to explore on your own. A lot of people won't ask. They'll quietly wonder if it's possible and never follow up. If your website has a clear private events page with real information, you'll capture the guests who are shopping without ever saying a word.
Private events don't have to be complicated to run well. They just need a process that makes the information findable and the booking confirmable, so your team isn't spending hours on inquiries that go nowhere, and the guests who are ready to book can actually do it.
Now, take a walk into your taproom. We're going to do a quick audit. Peek at your bar, tables, bathrooms, all the spots your guests naturally look. How many mentions of upcoming events do you see? Any indication that private bookings are an option? If the answer is not enough, you know what to do. Make it visible, make it easy, and let your space do some of the selling for you. Make sure your guests are aware of everything you have to offer.
If you found this article helpful, please share it with someone who’d also find value. Thank you for reading.
The data was collected from a set of 1398 unique taproom visits from January 1, 2024 to August 23, 2025. Each tab represents 2 guests and includes tax and tip.