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What months will be busy for my bar? Which will be slow? After Covid, the schedule is so screwy.

Last updated January 18, 2024 · By Dylan Blake

The next few weeks we'll be including interviews with Megan Rickerson, a FL native who owns Someday Bar in Brooklyn, NY. Most of that content will involve how members of the service industry can—and absolutely should—get involved in local politics.

But this week I wanted to provide Megan the opportunity to provide some personal background and also talk about what Covid and its aftermath were like at Someday Bar, since it's that experience that set her on the track to become so involved with NYC politics.

Here are some takeaways from the convo, and please tune in next week for some tactical advice on how to get involved in your neighborhood, city, county, and state:



Untappd for Business: The Definitive Guide

Last updated January 12, 2024 · By Dylan Blake

Use this guide to learn about Untappd for Business and to consider whether it's right for your business.

👉 Update Spring 2023: Untappd for Business now has two tiers: Untappd for Business Essentials ($899/year) and Untappd for Business Premium ($1199/year). Previously, Untappd for Business increased their price from $599 to $899 (a 50% increase) in Winter 2021.

The limitations built into the new two-tier system mean many businesses, who were previously at $899/year, will have to move up to $1199/year to keep using Untappd the same way they had been.

BeerMenus, a popular Untappd alternative with many of the same features (and many others that Untappd does not offer), costs $599 per year.

BeerMenus is in no way affiliated with Untappd for Business.



Untappd for Business price increase

Last updated January 12, 2024 · By Dylan Blake

Published Spring 2023

In Winter 2021 Untappd for Business increased their price from $599 to $899 (a 50% increase). Less than 2 years later, they have now adopted a new two-tier pricing structure: Untappd for Business Essentials ($899/year) and Untappd for Business Premium ($1199/year).

The limitations built into this new two-tier system mean many businesses who were previously at $899/year will have to move up to $1199/year to keep using Untappd the same way they had been.



Training staff to handle bad customers w/ de-escalation

Last updated November 15, 2023 · By Dylan Blake

Darian Everding manages London Underground, a craft beer and whisk(e)y bar in Ames, IA.

Along with so many others in the industry, Darian has seen more angry, disruptive customers than before the pandemic. Ours is an era of rage, a recent article from the New York Times wrote, and the data bears that claim out: London Underground has had to ban more customers in the last year than in all of the previous five years combined.

So how do you teach staff to deal with these situations? The answer for Darian is communicating with staff and using de-escalation training:



Marketing check: are your online profiles up-to-date?

Last updated October 26, 2023 · By Dylan Blake

This week we tapped Rob Austin, marketing director for Chicago's Leader Bar, for a quick, simple tip you may be overlooking:

Check each of your online profiles today to make sure your business's basic info is correct and up-to-date.

You'd be shocked how many businesses have the wrong hours listed, don't have their website linked, or maybe forgot to add their address on Facebook, Google, Instagram, etc. Don't let yours be one of them.



A distributor's thoughts on trending categories and products (plus some weird liquor laws in PA)

Last updated October 26, 2023 · By Dylan Blake

Nick Wendowski and his wife own Stone's Beer & Beverage in Philly. PA liquor laws are weird (more on that below), and Nick's license allows him to serve 3 rungs in the booze ladder:

  • Beer store
  • Distributor
  • Exclusive beer brand rep

Given this, it was interesting to talk with him about the trends he's noticed over the last 6 months or so. (We also touched on some crazy PA liquor limitations). Here are takeaways from the conversation:



How to find new revenue streams at your bar, restaurant, or brewery

Last updated October 05, 2023 · By Dylan Blake

Covid forced most of us to scramble and figure out new business models to make it through. (For instance, at BeerMenus we experimented with a carryout and delivery marketplace.)

It was tough, of course. But a positive way to look at it is it helped us all become more flexible.

That flexibility can still help now, specifically by helping you identify alternative revenue streams—ways you can bring in more money in addition to your typical business model.

Nick Wendowski from Stone's Beer & Beverage Market has experience with exactly this kind of flexibility, so we picked his brain about how to identify where to look for alternative revenue streams. Here are takeaways:



Problems at your business? Here are 4 strategies for solving them right the first time.

Last updated October 05, 2023 · By Dylan Blake

The last two weeks (8/31 & 9/7) we've shared some outside-the-box points from Nick Wendowski from Stone's Beer & Beverage Market.

This week I wanted to surface another important aspect of Nick's operations philosophy: how he thinks about solving problems at his business.

Though he uses these strategies at his beer store/distributor, they're just as relevant to bars, restaurants, snd breweries. Honestly, they're relevant to us here at Brave New Bar/BeerMenus as well.

Here are 4 takeaways from my conversation with Nick:



Life in the service industry: Once a bartender, always a bartender

Last updated October 05, 2023 · By Dylan Blake

We've all been there: you're at a party. There's gin, dry vermouth, and olives out on the table. The only bartender—current or former—at the party is you.

Does anybody besides you every make the martinis?

Hell no.

There are a lot of challenges to working in the service industry (which we've covered in previous editions), but this is one we don't often think about: if you've spent meaningful time as a server or bartender, you never really turn off your server/bartender mind.

You look at everything through the lens of being a bartender or server—is somebody struggling to clear the table after Christmas dinner? You'll stack and clear the dishes. In a small group chatting? You catch yourself checking to see if anybody's glass is empty.

As both Marcus Aurelius and Shaun Mcguire (bartender extraordinaire and coach), say, a boxer is always a boxer because he’s always got his weapons—his fists.

We're like a boxer because we've always got our weapon too: our head-on-a-swivel attention to whether anyone needs anything.

In this week's interview Shaun talks about how important it is to create a distinction between You and You the Bartender, because if you don't proactively work at it, you're always going to be You the Bartender. And that's not going to get you in a good place in either your life or your relationships.

Check out the interview clip to hear more from Shaun: