How to Make a Good Drink List for Your Bar

Make Your Bar Sell More With a Good Drink List

Do you own a bar? Do you want to sell more drinks? A good drink list can help. It is like a secret tool that can make your bar make more money.

Let’s learn how to make a drink list that will help your bar do well!

Know What Your People Like

First, you need to know who comes to your bar. Do they like sweet drinks? Do they like strong drinks? Ask them! Look at what they buy the most.

Fact: Bars that know what their people like sell 30% more drinks.

Here are some tips:

• Ask your people what they like
• Look at what sells well now
• Try new things and see if they like them

When you know what your people like, you can make drinks they want to buy.

Make Your Drink List Look Good

How your drink list looks is very big deal. It can make people buy more!

Fact: A good-looking drink list can make people spend more money.

Use these tips:

• Put your best drinks where eyes go first (top right)
• Use big, clear words
• Add pretty pictures of drinks
• Tell fun stories about your drinks

Color and Size Help

Colors can make people feel things. Red makes people hungry. Blue makes people trust you.

Big tip: Use a big font so it’s easy to read in a dark bar.

Name Your Drinks in a Fun Way

Good drink names make people want to try them.

Fact: 75% of people pick drinks with fun names.

Try these kinds of names:

• Names that tell a story (“Smoky Mountain Old Mix”)
• Names that sound fun (“Beach Party Punch”)
• Names that use your bar’s name

Put the Right Number of Drinks on Your List

Too many drinks can be bad. Too few can be bad too.

Fact: Bars with 8-12 drinks on their list keep 40% more people coming back.

• Too many drinks = hard to pick
• Too few drinks = not enough choice
• Just right = 8-12 good drinks

Make More Money With Smart Prices

How you price your drinks is very big deal. You need to make money but not charge too much.

Tip: Your drink cost should be about 22% of what you charge.

Here’s how to price well:

1. Add up what the drink costs to make
2. Times that by 4 or 5
3. Round to a good number ($12 not $11.75)

Make Drinks That Stand Out

Make some drinks that only your bar has. This makes people come to your bar and not go to other bars.

Use these things to stand out:

• Make your own mix-ins (like sweet pink syrup)
• Use custom bar tools that look cool
• Serve drinks in fun cups or with fun things on top

Try Working With Drink Brands

Work with big drink brands to make new drinks. They can help you with ideas and tools.

Fact: Bars that work with brands sell 20% more of those drinks.

Use Things From Near Your Bar

People like when you use things that grow near your bar. It makes them feel good.

Fact: Bars that use things from nearby get 15% more people coming in.

You can:

• Use fruit that grows nearby
• Work with small drink makers in your town
• Name drinks after places in your town

Have Drinks for Each Time of Year

Change some of your drinks when the time of year changes. Make warm drinks in winter and cool drinks in summer.

Fact: Bars that change drinks by time of year sell 30% more.

Time of Year Drink Ideas:

• Spring: Flower drinks, light drinks
• Summer: Fruit drinks, cold drinks
• Fall: Spice drinks, apple drinks
• Winter: Warm drinks, chocolate drinks

Make Sure Your Bar Team Knows the Drinks

Your bar team needs to know how to make all the drinks right. They also need to tell people about the drinks in a way that makes them want to buy.

Train your team to:

• Make each drink the same way every time
• Know what’s in each drink
• Help people pick a drink they will like
• Tell why your drinks are special

Use Good Bar Tools

Good bar tools help make good drinks. They also help your bar team work fast.

Must-have bar tools:

• Good cups and glasses
• Ice buckets to keep ice clean
• Tools to mix drinks
• Bar mats to keep the bar clean

Tell People About Your Bar

Let people know about your bar and its special drinks!

Ways to tell people:

• Put pictures of your drinks online
• Have a night where new drinks cost less
• Work with people who have many online friends

Use New Ways to Show Your Drink List

You can use new ways to show your drink list that help sell more.

Fact: Bars that use phone drink lists sell 12% more.

Try these:

• Put a code on the table that shows the drink list on phones
• Have big TV screens that show your drinks
• Use drink lists that light up

Save Money by Using All Parts of Food

Use all parts of the things you buy. This saves money and is good for the world.

Fact: Bars that use all parts of food save 18% on costs.

Ways to use all parts:

• Use fruit skin to make sweet mix-ins
• Use old fruit in new drinks
• Use left-over things to make new drink add-ins

Real Stories of Bars That Did Well

The Blue Room Bar

The Blue Room made a list with 10 drinks that had city names. They put pictures online. Their sales went up 45% in one month!

The Hill Top Bar

The Hill Top worked with a big drink brand. They made three new drinks and put the brand name on their bar mats. They sold twice as many of that brand!

Questions People Ask a Lot

Sum Up

A good drink list can help your bar make more money. Know what your people like. Make your list look good. Have the right number of drinks. Price them right.

Use things from near your bar. Change drinks by time of year. Make sure your team knows the drinks. Use good tools. Tell people about your bar.

Try these tips and watch your bar do better!