The 5-minute weekly email newsletter that keeps your bar ahead of the curve

In addition to working at The Safe Bar Network, Darian Everding manages London Underground, a craft beer and whisk(e)y bar in Ames, IA.

She's implemented a lot of systems at London Underground since taking the reigns, but one of the most important was updating the bar's opening and closing checklists to make sure they're helping the bar run smoothly.

The effort was successful, and Darian was kind enough to share templates of LU's opening and closing checklists:

And if you've got a few minutes, check out the interview clip to learn:

• how to implement these specific checklists
• the vital role opening and closing checklists have in a well-functioning bar or restaurant

❓ Why is it worth it?

Because if it’s not listed on the menu, customers won’t know to order it, and it won’t sell.

Even if your servers are ready to answer the question (which, honestly, often isn't the case), many customers just don’t want to have to ask. Instead, they’ll just order something else that they know is available, or maybe nothing at all.

❓ How can I do it at my business?

For starters, anything is better than nothing here. If all you can muster is just a half sheet of paper with your rotating beers listed on it, that's still much better than "ask your server."

If you'd like to up the design a bit, you could of course do something manual—create an editable menu template in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or Excel. And once you have your template designed, just edit it whenever you get a new beer in and print it out.

This is usually the place we'd surface some interesting, funny, or noteworthy industry headlines from the past week.

But it's a slow time of year for industry news, so instead we've got something a little more fun: 3 predictions for the industry in the year ahead.

Will the predictions come true? I don't know, though I hope I'm wrong about the first one, right about third, and don't really have a point of view on the 2nd.

📉 1. Brewery closings will accelerate.

2024 was bad for craft breweries. Some hopeful folks in the brewing industry have told me that closings have reached their peak, and that we'll see fewer this year than last.

I think the opposite will be true.

Struggles rooted in COVID continue to flag everybody, costs remain high for breweries and customers, and it feels like brewers have been forced to start playing a new game, one where the rules and best practices aren't exactly clear yet.

Continually adjusting, trying new things, and figuring out a profitable stance is exhausting, especially when you're only scraping by. More folks than last year will decide it just isn't worth it anymore and close up shop.

Combine that with the breweries that will close because they just aren't in great places financially, and there'll be more closings than last year.

🤷 2. We still won't have clarity from health authorities about whether drinking is healthy or unhealthy.

There was whiplash last year: we thought low drinking (1-2 a day) was fine, and even healthy...until all of a sudden studies found that it wasn't. The World Health Organization now says no amount of alcohol is safe...but the CDC has held firm to it's guidance that 1-2 drinks a day is fine.

This is a mess, and involves organizations that move at a glacial pace. No way there'll be clarity any time soon.

📈 3. 2025 will be a better year for the service industry as a whole.

Inflation seems primed to stay pretty low (barring any tariff craziness from Trump and co.). And though we've been hearing it for a couple years now, wages really are going to start catching up for everyone. And guests will finally be used to the higher prices for everything, eliminating the sticker shock that's kept a lot of folks home for dinners and drinks lately.

All of that is a recipe for customers to be more willing to spend time and money at bars and restaurants.

Feedback? Have your own predictions? Reply to this email and let me know.