8 common errors at event bars
It's very common for all staff to be extremely busy taking and serving orders to customers. This quickly becomes a logistics problem, for instance, if one of the beer taps needs a new keg.
Assign some of your staff to support roles and make it their job to keep coolers stocked, exchange empty kegs for full ones, and ensure there is always ice on hand.
It might strike as evident but keeping your bars organized can greatly improve your staff's efficiency and happiness.
Make sure you have at least some of every product in every cooler and distribute the coolers evenly along the bar. In this way you'll prevent bartenders from having to run around the bar to get drinks.
Organize spirit bottles in tables behind the bar, organized by kind of spirit and brand, and remove lids so that the staff can pour drinks with only one hand.
Most importantly, make sure you hav enough trash cans to avoid accumulating waste in tables and fridges.
Make an agreement with your drinks provider to have extra bottles and kegs that you can return and get a refund as long as they are not opened. The single biggest problem you can face is having to close early because you ran out of stock.
Use software to forecast how much stock you'll need depending on the size and type of the audience, like FesteaPay.
Following up on the previous point, while it might seem obvious, most drinks other than beer are prepared with ice (think spirits, sodas, sangría...). Make sure to rent enough freezers and fill them up with all the ice you'll need, because if you run out you won't be able to serve the majority of your products.
If your event extends after sundown, visibility at the bars will be reduced significantly. Try to set up enough lighting fixtures on the bars so that your staff doesn't have to waste time looking for what they need.
Not managing what's in your coolers correctly can lead to not having enough cold drinks. The standard technique is to use the middle separator in coolers to keep at least half of your stock cold and ready to be served. It works like this:
A typical example of this is the tongs used to pick up ice cubes for mixed drinks. Has we've mentioned in the 4th common error, ice is a fundamental part for most drinks and these tongs will be used very frequently. Purchase decent quality tongs that are resistant and easy to use so that you waste no time when preparing drinks.
It's always better to invest a bit more in the quality of equipment that your staff will use. Low-quality equipment will be very frustrating to use in high-pressure periods apart from breaking more easily.
Having bartenders collect payment and serving orders increases waiting times enormously, since collecting payment is the bottleneck at drink bars. Therefore, we suggest you use a cashless payment method like payments with phones or with a cashless wristband.
Unlike wristband systems, mobile cashless systems have the added benefit of also freeing bartenders from having to input orders in a system since payment has already been collected and they just need to scan the order and serve it, thereby reducing waiting times for customers.
Moreover, you'll enjoy fine-grained data about consumption and billing through a management interface, so that you can better estimate how much stock you need and complete accounting much more easily.
FesteaPay provides a payment method that's easy to use for attendees. They scan a QR code, make their order and pay with Google Pay, Apple Pay, Bizum PayPal or credit or debit card in under 30s. If you want to learn more about this payment method contact us and we'll be happy to answer any questions.
Do you have thousands of fans that will only be at your venue for a few hours? Do you want them to enjoy the music without waiting in endless lines?
Festea integrates without the need to purchase hardware and is the favorite payment method of your attendees.
¿Do you really want your guests to wait in 3 separated lines to order from different food stands? ¿Or would you rather have them wait comfortably while their order is being prepared?.
With Festea Pay your guests make their orders to all food stands through their phone at the same time, and then receive a notification when each of the orders is ready. Take your guests experience to the next level!.
Festea implements a cashless system with mobile payments without the need for distributing RFID wristbands, installing recharge points or processing refunds for unused wallets.
Also, you'll get access to a real time communications channel with attendees to launch personalized offers.
¿Want to eliminate hoards of people to order during half-time? Allow your customers to order with their phone and utilize catering during 100% of the match time.
Notify your customers when their order is ready to be picked up or deliver it to their seats for a premium experience.
Digitize the bar service and forget about spreadsheets to manage stock.
Make the jump to mobile payments and validate your intuitions with analytics and reports about customer spending patterns to increase revenue.
Unify the payment method and billing data collection across all your venues in a single interface.
Understand your customers' spending patterns and get a prediction for the required staff and stock.