Sports Bars Aren’t Dead, But They May Be On Life Support

If bad news comes in waves, then our industry -- and specifically the sports themed segment -- is getting rolled over by one mother of an ocean storm. For the past year, we have covered story after story lamenting the sales declines, the cannibalization of full-service by fast casual, and the enormous staffing challenges that face all operators in the current economy. This decline has been particularly hard on sports-themed operators as we have seen several high profile bankruptcies and worse-than-market sales reporting from some of our biggest players. What does all this mean for the future of the “sports bar” and is there anything you can do about it? Who’s to blame? The sales performance of full-service restaurant operators has been declining steadily for the past 18 months or so. In general, the entire segment is experiencing a shift [...]

By |2022-06-08T13:32:33-04:00September 28th, 2017|Guest Management, Sports Bar Management|0 Comments

Marketing Fail: Not Speaking the Language of the Sports Fan

By Rob Cressy, Founder, Cress Media One area in which the majority of sports bars fail on social media, ironically, is on the sports side of things. So many sports-themed locations fail at speak the sports fan language. One would imagine, if you’re running a sports bar you’re a sports fan, right? It’s time for these places to talk like a fan. Recently I had Andrew Jaffee, Founder of The Rail, on my Sports Marketing Huddle podcast to talk about how sports bars can better market themselves. Gone are the days of putting up a crap-ton of TVs, throwing on some sports, and calling it a day. There are too many consumer touch-points and opportunities to create positive brand interactions to get by with just the bare minimum pieces of flair. Your guest's expectations have been raised You need to be able to speak their sports fan [...]

6 Cool Super Bowl Facts to Share with Your Bar’s Guests

In case you live under a rock, Houston is hosting its third Super Bowl Sunday this weekend. While you make sure the kitchen manager prepares the deep fryer, and you’ve ordered enough wings to feed the armies that will gather to watch Brady dominate (sorry, we’re based in New England and just can’t help ourselves), here are some fun facts to help you get through the rest of the week. 1. A commercial spot costs 17 times what it did 50 years ago. In 1967, when the Super Bowl began, a 30-second commercial spot cost $40,000 which has the buying power of $293,534 today. Last year, CBS charged $5 million for the same length spot. More on the cost of advertising in the Super Bowl here. 2. Americans will eat 1.33 billion chicken wings for Super Bowl 51. That’s enough to circle the Earth [...]

By |2022-06-08T14:05:24-04:00February 2nd, 2017|Guest Management|0 Comments

Terrific & Free March Madness Promo for Your Sports Bar

Sponsored by Frank's RedHot As an independent and small chain operator, you always seem to struggle when it comes to creating and deploying effective promotions in your locations. Paper signs, poorly designed POP and ‘meh’ quality calls to action seem to pervade. This is especially true for big national events like the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. That’s why we are constantly encouraging you to leverage your vendors as marketing partners. Consequently, we are very excited to announce a great (and cost free) promotion being offered by our partners at Frank’s RedHot Sauce and the folks at Dos Equis. This promotion is a great combination of high quality deliverables coupled with an easy and compelling call to action. One of the great features of March Madness is the incredible outbursts that occur for all manner of big plays. Whether it’s a buzzer beater to win [...]

By |2022-06-08T14:06:40-04:00January 27th, 2017|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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