Strategies for Adding Food to Your Taproom
Food. If you don’t have it on your menu, you’re losing money. I’m not saying you need to build out a complete kitchen, but as our industry vies for dollars, food is now a must-have part of the taproom experience. Let’s begin with a conversation I had.
Me: “Do you offer food?”
Taproom Manager: “No.”
Me: “If people come around dinner, what do they normally do?”
Taproom Manager: “They order a pint and go have dinner and more drinks at the restaurant next door.”
FREEZE!
Remember when Big Beer (note: it’s interesting that Microsoft Word recommended I capitalize that) was the competition? Ok, forget about that. Remember when our industry preached collaboration, but you still wish your locals chose your taproom over your friend’s brewery? You can semi-forget that, too. You are now competing for a potential guests’ attention with every social attraction in your area.
When guests plan out their next taproom visit, it’s not just about pleasing the beer nerd. It’s about attracting and maintaining the attention of everyone from that beer nerd to everyone else in their party. This may include the 4-year-old they’re bringing along, the guest who doesn’t drink beer, and the customer just looking for a bite to eat. Because of this, the taproom guest is much more intentional when choosing where to visit. When you’re able to please all these demographics, you unlock the potential for a greater audience, that will spend more time and ultimately more money.
The data.
The data we review was collected from a set of 2244 unique taproom visits from January 1, 2021 to November 14, 2022. Each visit represents an average of 2 guests and the total spend includes tip and tax. We define “food visits” as those that include $10 or more in food sales.
We use the $10 mark to define food visits as our data set does not show meaningful benefits when less than $10 in food is ordered. Simply, a bag of chips won’t have much impact but serving a meal will.
In your ongoing quest to better capture guests’ time and money, here’s how food can help:
2.2 guests per tab on food visits, vs 1.8 when the visit does not include food.
2.9 guests per party on food visits, vs 2.7 when the visit does not include food.
Guests spend 18 minutes longer on food visits.
Guests spend nearly 20% more on beer during food visits.
Guests purchasing food spend more but tip a lower percentage…. however, higher overall dollar amount ($13.69 vs $7.86)
Guests purchasing food don’t return quite as frequently…but not far off.
The big number? Food visits generate an average of $73.81 vs $39.43 without.
Resulting in tabs 88% higher. Yes, 88% higher.
Additionally, data from Craft Beer Advisory Services shows that 35% of taproom guests are foodies, guests primarily motivated by food.
I had the opportunity to speak at the Craft Brewers Conference 2024 alongside Elise Strupp (MobCraft Jake Nunes (Modern Times Beer, and Kary Shumway (Craft Brewery Finance). In our talk we define potential food options under the following categories:
Carry In/Bring Your Own Food
In-House Snacks
Local Delivery
Food Trucks
3rd Party Kitchen
Your Own Kitchen
The verdict? If possible, owning and operating your own kitchen will generate the most success for your taproom. Of course, for a variety of reasons, this may not be an option at your business. I recommend using the below impact/effort exercise to figure out what will work best for you. This concept is thanks to the Workshopper Playbook.
How to use it:
Bring your team together to brainstorm as many possible food solutions as possible. Write each idea on a sticky note then stick it to the wall. This is about quantity, not quality. There are no bad ideas.
Provide each person on your team with 8 sticky dots. They will use each dot to vote on their favorite solutions.
Separate the 10 ideas with the most dots.
Impact represents how impactful each idea is according to the team. Effort is how difficult each idea will be to implement. Go through the 10 remaining items and plot them on the impact/effort matrix.
Ideas in the bottom left quadrant may be something like selling chips from your taproom. Thus, requiring minimal effort, and having minimal impact. Ideas in the bottom right will most likely require too much effort and not be worthwhile – forget them. Ideas in the top right quadrant may be something like building out a kitchen. It’ll take a lot of work but will be valuable. The top left quadrant represents ideas that won’t be too hard to implement and have a strong impact. Do these now.
Whether you’re selling chips or brown-ale braised steak, it’s important to make the food ordering experience as easy as possible for your guests.
Here are 6 tips to make ordering food easy:
Clear signage on how and where to order
Easy to read, informative menus (bonus: pictures help)
Make it visible (i.e. chips by register)
Promote your food items online
Create excitement about your menu, not just your beer
Be the go-to spot for a specific item (i.e. people specifically know you for your roast beef sandwich)
It wouldn’t be a Secret Hopper article if we didn’t look at the correlation between the amount spent and the level of engagement offered.
High engagement visits with food generate 123% more than low engagement visits without.
There’s even a 26% increase in high engagement visits with food vs low engagement visits also with food. Your team that are engaging at a high level are more likely to authentically suggest ordering (more) food.
So, you’ve got food and are making it fairly easy for the guest to order. How can your staff help sell more?
Here are strategies to sell more food:
Have your staff taste it
What’s their favorite item? Can they pitch it in 5 words?
“I really love eating _____ while drinking _____.”
“I really love drinking _____ while eating _____.”
Encourage as a guest orders a beer
Have you checked out our food menu?
“What are you in the mood for?”
Highlight specials
“Can I offer you an appetizer/dessert?”
Incentivize your team to sell more food.
Food isn’t a consideration, it’s a requirement. If you aren’t currently offering any, immediately following reading this brainstorm solutions with your team. If you currently have a food menu, is it easy to order and being properly encouraged by your staff? A successful food program will increase your appeal to more guests, make both owner and staff more money, and help drive greater traffic to your taproom. So, who’s hungry now?