During a time when restaurant operators must fight for every guest and dollar, the savvy are dipping their toes into the nightlife — and daylife — pool. This shouldn’t come as a surprise when one considers that several of the top nightlife groups in the United States have restaurants in their portfolios. Two flagship nightlife operations in Las Vegas are all-inclusive restaurant-lounge-nightclub venues.
Be selective with your spirits
High-end and super-premium spirits, once the dominion of nightclubs and sophisticated cocktail bars, are now playing an increasingly important role in the restaurant space. Guests have proven recently that they’re willing to pay more for beverages they perceive to be of superior quality. Going hand in hand with the rise in popularity for high-dollar beverage options is the explosion of brunch, which provides restaurant operators a fantastic opportunity to enter the daylife scene.
Plug in to what’s already there
While less a trend than a sound business practice, market and community familiarization trips can make a restaurant operator’s foray into nightlife a stronger proposition. Owners, operators and managers need to familiarize themselves with the nightlife venues within their community. From there they can get creative and adapt nightlife promotions to restaurant operations.
Market and community familiarization also means meeting nightlife neighbors. This is important, as it allows restaurant operators to establish industry nights and reverse happy hours. Nightclub and bar staffs work through the weekends, so offering them a venue to gather, socialize and feel special midweek is smart business. Couple that with a reverse happy hour and you’ve got a recipe for loyalty and achieving hot spot status. A reverse happy hour is precisely as it sounds: happy hour specials starting at 9 p.m. or later for the late-night crowd.
Increased competition, ever-changing market demands and shifting guest behavior require operators to get creative. Nightlife trends and promotions can boost restaurant operators’ bottom lines.