Above and Beyond with WanderLinger Brewing Company and West Side Brewing
In a country closing in on 10,000 breweries, making great beer is a must. Our series Above and Beyond highlights taprooms focusing on the little things that can make a big difference.
A Great Experience Begins with a Great Greeting
WanderLinger Brewing Company
Chris Dial, Co-Founder
When someone comes to the bar one of my favorite ways to greet a customer is “Welcome to Wanderlinger, is this your first visit or are you a repeat offender”. This always gets a good chuckle from the customer and quickly opens the door to where they are from, what brought them in, and then what they enjoy drinking. Teaching our team to create their own personalized welcoming is an important part of our training process.
Training is about ensuring staff knows their job is to build a relationship with the customer and have fun in the process. It begins with the onboarding process and training manual. Then this topic is discussed monthly at our staff meetings and the most important part is owners/managers leading by example. If we do not do it, they will not do it.
We had seen a drop off in business starting in June of 2022 that extended thru the end of 2022. When we implemented staff training, discussions on customer service, implemented Secret Hopper we have seen business increase with a drastic improvement to repeat visits and volume growing in our earlier hours of the day. We firmly believe this is a direct result of our improved customer service efforts.
Building Loyalty Through a Growler Fill Club and Experiences
West Side Brewing
Jason Miller, Taproom Manager
We pride ourselves on loyalty programs at West Side Brewing. Much of our taproom business includes regulars who come in frequently and love our beer and staff. We’ve implemented a Growler Club for guests who come in with several growlers to fill. They receive one punch on the card per fill, and after five they receive a half-priced growler. After ten, it's a fill on us. We have a special puncher, so people don’t punch it themselves. To keep this legal, we charge guests a penny.
Each time we bring it up to a guest, they're excited about it and we see those guests more frequently in our taproom.
We have also seen success with our Mug Club, a Run Club where people get beer discounts for exploring the neighborhood and exercising, a Yarn Club for crocheting, a Book Club, and a Board Game club. People love to be rewarded for hanging out at West Side.
Creating loyalty is important to us because we are a neighborhood bar in a lot of ways. People enjoy coming in for our different events or just great beer. Our bartenders do their best to be personable and remember as many of our guests, which is a nice touch. It is through these relationships and unique loyalty opportunities that we see increased revenue and a great sense of community.