Business Booster
Money Makers
Wing Night Thursdays
Where: Bar Sport, Cannock, Staffordshire
www.barsport.co.uk/cannock
Twitter: @Barsport
The idea: Bar Sport founder Scott Murray and his team borrowed the idea from the American sports bars. Bar Sport’s wings event combines food and sport with a “Man v Food” contest and live music to get customers in the mood for the weekend.
How it works: Every Thursday Bar Sport offers free chicken-wing samples with craft-beer specials. The American-style wings are served in various sauces from a mild barbecue version through medium and hot to ‘suicide’ red-hot habañero purée while customers enjoy live music, or compete in the pub’s Man v Food hot-wing challenge and win a Bar Sport Man vs Food champion T-shirt. Offers are available to buy buckets of six, 10, 15, 25, 50 or 100 wings.
Marketing: Social media, posters, flyers, A-boards and emails to VIP Premiership Fan Club.
Be prepared: Disclaimers must be signed by participants due to extreme heat of the wings.
Pay-off: Lively atmosphere attracts customers during usually quieter midweek period.
Key benefits: The bar gains new customers, who have turned into regular visitors, not only for the event itself but during weekend trading hours too. The bar’s community profile has strengthened and VIP Fan Club applications are increasing weekly.
Advice: Promote the event strongly and include drinks offers with free activities such as pool and table-football competitions, and a Man v Food hot-wing contest.
Best outcome: Increase in business and a powerful talking-point.
Burlesque night
Where: Caribou Rooms, Brunswick Street East, Hove, East Sussex
Twitter: @caribourooms and @cafeatcaribou
The idea: Burlesque night with food catered by freehold café, the Café at the Caribou Rooms, owned by parent company Abiru, which also leases two pubs in Brighton & Hove.
How it works: Ninety tickets sold at £15, including arrival cocktail and canapés. Burlesque dancers perform and guests wear 1920s-themed fancy dress. Canapés include vegan raw candies, crushed pea, feta & mint crostini, Bloody Mary shots with horseradish, and spiced prawns with coriander mayonnaise.
Marketing: Strong social media push; emails to previous guests and posters at sister pubs, Brighton Rocks and Noble House.
Be prepared: Abiru has invested in soundproofing as Caribou performers generate cheering and applause.
Pay-off: Profitable evening on a night when venue is not booked, exposing it to new guests.
Key benefits: Promoting the group’s cocktail and food expertise. Key to the event’s success is the café staff’s preparation of food for parties, generating 70%-plus profit margins at events where canapés are pre-paid and eliminating waste due to in-house coordination and clarity about numbers attending each event. The theme encourages customers to buy high-margin cocktail-style drinks.
Advice: In-house food expertise allows event managers to concentrate on running a great event while a separate team delivers catering. Encourage a spirits supplier to sponsor the night.
Best outcome: High margins with virtually no wastage.
