Football season bar promotions to gain more regulars
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Football season is here, and for many Americans, it’s one of the most exciting times of the year. The thrill of gridiron can be equally exciting for restaurateurs and bar owners, too, as football provides ample opportunity to drum up new business.
Sporting events can be one of the biggest draws for a bar, especially a bar that’s sports-friendly or a full-blown sports bar. Making the most of game day can lead to a big financial and reputational boost for the rest of the year. So, let’s take a look at some football season bar promotions to help football fans fall in love with your establishment.
When is football season?
The first college football game is on August 26, 2023, while the NFL kickoff game is on September 7. The NFL season runs until January 7, 2024, while the NCAA regular season wraps up on December 9, 2023.
Generally, you can bear in mind that both start at the end of summer and regular seasons finish in December/January. Playoffs (NFL) and Bowl Games (NCAA) wrap up in January.
Over the last couple of decades, football games have expanded from their usual Saturday/Sunday slots to cover many days of the week. That’s great news for sports bars, which don’t face nearly as much struggle in choosing which game to show.
What games do you show?
If you’re thinking of opening a bar or offering game day promos, you might not totally know what to put on the TV. The games you show, the audience reach, and your sports bar marketing will depend on your location and what sports teams are popular where you are.
The first thing you’ll need is simple: big screens, and lots of them. The more the better, really. Offering multiple screens will allow you to include multiple games in your marketing plan, which can attract a wide variety of sports fans. The best sports bar is often one that can accommodate the most games.
If you’re in a university town, big score: College football fans can be fanatically loyal to their favorite team. If your town has an NFL team, then you don’t have to think hard about what team you’ll support. Loyalty to a home team is a must among sports fans of any variety, and that goes for bars, too. And while sports-heavy cities like Boston or Chicago can provide a huge market, there’s always a local team that’s popular somewhere.
If you’re not sure which games to show, go with the nearest NFL and college teams, and be willing to change to games requested by your diners. If your local team isn’t playing, go with the most popular matchup based on team rankings on your biggest or most prominent screen and play other games on other screens.
Ideas for game day specials
Making game day specials is almost a no-brainer. Customers will expect it and look forward to it, and there’s no reason to not oblige them. Your game day specials can highlight menu items you’d like to bring more attention to, or you can use the opportunity to add menu items specifically for that day. Once you’ve decided what your specials will be, you’ll want to promote them well ahead of time. Let’s look at ideas for both food and drinks.
Game day food specials
Football and snacks are made for each other. For a bar, offering a wide variety of appetizers is a tried and true customer-pleasing formula. And certainly, you can get creative with what you offer, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. A bar that serves excellent chicken wings, nachos, tacos, and other finger food does not have to work hard to justify the concept to customers.
The simplest formula is to advertise discounts on appetizers compared to the normal menu price. Customers who come to sports bars for game day often come in groups, so promoting sharing app platters is likely to be a hit. Make sure any special offers are tied to the game directly, i.e., from kickoff until the end of the game. That’ll encourage customers to get there early and stake out their spot.
Game day drink specials
Bar managers can have some fun with drink specials. For example, you can offer a steep discount on beer for a set amount of time after the home team scores a touchdown. Half-price beer for 7 minutes, for example, would keep customers on their toes and give them an extra reason to cheer. Especially for games early in the day, a bar could extend happy hour prices to encourage customers to show up.
Football-themed cocktails can be a hit, too. You can look for classic, established recipes, or make up your own. Attaching each cocktail to a specific player can make for fun, too. For example, a running back or wide receiver could be paired with a Touchdown (bourbon, lemonade, and iced tea) and if that player scores, the drink is discounted.
Don’t forget delivery and takeout
Plenty of customers want to watch the game from home, but still want that classic bar food. Not to worry! Be sure to get the word out to customers via social media or other marketing routes that you’re offering game day food and takeout.
For many bars, game day can result in large delivery orders, so before you offer, consider if your kitchen has the capacity to handle potentially large delivery orders in addition to a crowded bar.
Ideas for guest interaction and contests
There are a number of things bars can do to make game day more interactive for fans, and give them more reason to come to the bar than simply watch from home.
Create a fantasy football league
Running a fantasy football league can be an excellent way to build camaraderie among your customers and help them really get into the season. A fantasy football league can encourage customers to be loyal regulars who show up every week for games. Since consistent customers are the lifeblood of bars, any way to help build a crowd of regulars is a solid bet. Customers can pitch in a set amount of money to the pot, with the winner of the season taking home the prize.
There can be multiple leagues, too, depending on how large the demand is. Usually, a league has around 8-10 teams, but it can be more. So, if you have a few dozen customers interested, you’ll likely need a few different leagues. Bear in mind that fantasy football exists for both college and pro ball.
Encourage score predictions
A fun idea is to ask patrons to predict the score of a game when it begins. The bar can then offer prizes for exact predictions, or to whoever got closest. These prizes can be free drinks or free food, merchandise giveaways like T-shirts or jerseys, or gift cards. When you’re recording predictions, have a board visible for all to see to get customers’ competitive spirits fired up. Any true sports fan loves being able to call themselves the Nostradamus of final scores.
Offer trivia and other games
After the game, or in between games, you can help keep fans entertained by running sports trivia. Since you’ve already got televisions, you can connect PowerPoint to the TVs so customers can read the questions. Players can compete individually or in teams, with the winner getting a prize like a pitcher of beer, sports memorabilia, a T-shirt, or a gift card. Trivia nights can also draw a crowd on off nights when there is no big game.
Offering other bar games is another great way to keep customers around. Classic games like cornhole, darts, bocce ball, or billiards are always a winning bet. The games you offer will depend on your facilities and how much space you have, of course, but offering entertainment besides just what’s on the screen is an excellent way to set yourself apart from competition.
A perfect sports bar design would include a game room with a pool table, dartboards, and even video games to give customers plenty to do between games.
Make game day memorable
So, the big game is about to start. Diners are filing in, claiming their favorite seats, and putting in orders. Potential customers are trying to figure out where they can find a seat to watch the game. How can they find out if you still have spots available?
With Yelp Guest Manager, customers can connect with restaurants to hop on waitlists, check table availability, and make reservations with a simple push of a button. Two-way messaging ensures establishments can communicate with customers to answer any questions.
What’s more, Guest Manager connects with some of the best point-of-sale platforms out there to help staff make things run as smoothly as possible. An all-in-one tablet system saves trips for staff, and the fully customizable floor plans help managers and servers alike get things set up exactly as they want them.
Take that plus third-party delivery integrations and you’ve got a system that makes life simpler. Because when you’re handling a busy bar during a raucous game, the tools you use should feel like second nature.
Want to see if it’s right for you? Reach out to us for a free demo and we’ll give you the full run-down. Guest Manager may just be the touchdown you need.