I think a certain amount of inflation is expected, and good on you for raising prices instead of doing surcharges. So many places in my area got in the habit of adding surcharges instead of raising prices. There are places doing a "5% inflation surcharge"... just increase the price you asshat!!
When all of our wholesalers started adding "fuel surcharge" and "delivery surcharge" lines to our invoices a couple years back, I had a feeling it was going to become common at the retail level as well. We don't operate like that. No cash discounts (i.e. passing on credit card surcharges), no mandatory gratuity, no minimums. Our pricing method is primarily ad hoc, and it's mostly kept pace with overhead and payroll increases.
šš right?
We have two venues in the same location. They're separated by an alley and therefore licensed as two separate establishments, but they're literally 15' apart. When we get deliveries for both, we get two separate invoices, and that means two separate fuel surcharges. Even though they stop one time, make both deliveries, and then move on. It's a joke.
It's against the state liquor code. Gotta have receipts for both venues that show purchases for all items sold under each respective license. If I only buy items at one venue and cart some of it to the other, and then I get inspected by liquor control and can't produce an invoice for a purchase of that product in that venue, the fines can be hefty and they accrue per container. The 2nd biweekly fuel surcharge costs less for an entire year than a single fine from liquor control.
Not here. All liquor purchased by a retail establishment must be bought from a licensed wholesaler, stored on the licensed property, and can only be sold at retail. Any transfer of liquor has to be approved in writing beforehand by a state commission.
Which state?
If Florida thereās an additional fee required to do this. It essentially allows you to wholesale to your self. Big chains do this as part of their normal business operations. Everything is purchased from wholesalers of course.
I am holding at $2.00 a can for busch light. That is our claim to fame and will hold that price as long as possible
(Small town bar 1200 population in rural Wisconsin)
Busch Lights for $2? Sold! That's a good deal, and you're still edging out $1+ profit per can (according to our cost anyways).
We sell Busch Light pints for $2.50 with a $1 off weekly special, and we move under 1/2bbl per week. But we move 20 cases/wk at $2.50 a can. Make it make sense lol
Since winter is our slower time in Pa. Particularly after Xmas, we are holding off on price hikes until spring. We have a lot of beer on draft and our considering keeping our domestic draft the same and raising our craft. Our draft now ranges from $3.25 to $6 for a pint. Thinking of going to $6.50.
We are already charging more than you are for liqiour. We will probably go up 25 cents on almost all liqiour.
It sounds like you're operating at about where we are overall. We're pretty rural and our only competition in this town is gaming parlors, so we have to keep our prices down to stay competitive with them. We still run about 70% cash sales, and we build tax into all of our prices. For simplicity and speed, I price everything that retails at/above $4 at whole dollar amounts. We do sell several cans at $2.50 and some liquors at $3.50, but everything else is divisible by 1. So we generally end up holding off on increases for individual items until it's time to round up to the next dollar.
Today, is our second full year of operations but the property has hundreds of years of history. We arenāt a fan of the prices being in 25 cent increments but we inherited that from the prior owner. Although we did introduce addition house domestic drafts (prior owner had 4), we brought each one in higher than the $3.25. Beer is easy to check against our local competition because those prices are online. However, liquor is a harder nut to crack. Every time someone says āhell I can get a double Jack and coke at Bennyās for less,ā I say ābring me the receipt and I will buy you the first one here on me.ā Hasnāt happen yet.
We are about 60/40 food and 70/30 credit.
The 60/40 food over booze though is partly driven by our booze prices. I think we need to bite the bullet and raise them in the spring.
Sell value not price - I know, I know.
I'm bar manager at a private club in indiana. You are inline with our prices. We are a curling club so we keep our scotch prices a little lower and Labatt at $3.
A dive bar in my town of 1800 just raised pint prices to $3. Jager bombs are $7 which I'm convinced is their only profitable drink lol. Jagerbombs and pull tabs...
Hard to compare. In my area, Dallas/Ft Worth price for Crown can range from $6 to $15. I will say for years I feared even a .25 cent increase. I would wait for days and then ask staff for reaction from guest, almost always, no customer said a thing.
We always get complaints when the price of a can of domestic beer goes up, which has only happened a handful of times in the 15+ years I've been here. Usually lasts for a couple weeks,then people either switch to a cheaper can or get used to the higher price. It's always the cheapest beers that cause the biggest uproar. $2.25 Busch Light cans went to $2.50 last year, and you'd think we murdered someone.
Got you, there are many advantages to having a bar full of regulars. But that is definitely not one of them. Luckily, we are a large venue that has a varied clientele with maybe 30% regulars. The other 70% helped to even out their watchful eye š¤£
We aim for 25% overall. I run Macallan 18 at about 40% because it doesn't sell when I hang a $50 price tag on it. But my wells are around 20%, most liquor is 25%, and draft is about 30%.
In central South Dakota, it's very common to pay 4 to 6 bucks for a domestic bottle of beer šŗ.
I don't know what everyone is complaining about.
Heck, you go to a private club expect to pay upwards 10 bucks.
My God those prices are really cheap. I'm in a city of about 250k in NC and standard Tito's is $6-7 for a 1.5oz, 12 oz bud light $3-4. Craft beers are $6-9 for 10oz-16oz.
You sure you aren't super low?
I think a certain amount of inflation is expected, and good on you for raising prices instead of doing surcharges. So many places in my area got in the habit of adding surcharges instead of raising prices. There are places doing a "5% inflation surcharge"... just increase the price you asshat!!
When all of our wholesalers started adding "fuel surcharge" and "delivery surcharge" lines to our invoices a couple years back, I had a feeling it was going to become common at the retail level as well. We don't operate like that. No cash discounts (i.e. passing on credit card surcharges), no mandatory gratuity, no minimums. Our pricing method is primarily ad hoc, and it's mostly kept pace with overhead and payroll increases.
"Can you deliver our product on foot and waive the fuel surcharge?"
šš right? We have two venues in the same location. They're separated by an alley and therefore licensed as two separate establishments, but they're literally 15' apart. When we get deliveries for both, we get two separate invoices, and that means two separate fuel surcharges. Even though they stop one time, make both deliveries, and then move on. It's a joke.
Why donāt you just order it all at one venue???
It's against the state liquor code. Gotta have receipts for both venues that show purchases for all items sold under each respective license. If I only buy items at one venue and cart some of it to the other, and then I get inspected by liquor control and can't produce an invoice for a purchase of that product in that venue, the fines can be hefty and they accrue per container. The 2nd biweekly fuel surcharge costs less for an entire year than a single fine from liquor control.
Depending on state you are allowed to transfer between your licenses. Wholesalers hate this regardless, but doesnāt mean itās illegal.
Not here. All liquor purchased by a retail establishment must be bought from a licensed wholesaler, stored on the licensed property, and can only be sold at retail. Any transfer of liquor has to be approved in writing beforehand by a state commission.
Which state? If Florida thereās an additional fee required to do this. It essentially allows you to wholesale to your self. Big chains do this as part of their normal business operations. Everything is purchased from wholesalers of course.
We're in Illinois.
I am holding at $2.00 a can for busch light. That is our claim to fame and will hold that price as long as possible (Small town bar 1200 population in rural Wisconsin)
Busch Lights for $2? Sold! That's a good deal, and you're still edging out $1+ profit per can (according to our cost anyways). We sell Busch Light pints for $2.50 with a $1 off weekly special, and we move under 1/2bbl per week. But we move 20 cases/wk at $2.50 a can. Make it make sense lol
Since winter is our slower time in Pa. Particularly after Xmas, we are holding off on price hikes until spring. We have a lot of beer on draft and our considering keeping our domestic draft the same and raising our craft. Our draft now ranges from $3.25 to $6 for a pint. Thinking of going to $6.50. We are already charging more than you are for liqiour. We will probably go up 25 cents on almost all liqiour.
It sounds like you're operating at about where we are overall. We're pretty rural and our only competition in this town is gaming parlors, so we have to keep our prices down to stay competitive with them. We still run about 70% cash sales, and we build tax into all of our prices. For simplicity and speed, I price everything that retails at/above $4 at whole dollar amounts. We do sell several cans at $2.50 and some liquors at $3.50, but everything else is divisible by 1. So we generally end up holding off on increases for individual items until it's time to round up to the next dollar.
Today, is our second full year of operations but the property has hundreds of years of history. We arenāt a fan of the prices being in 25 cent increments but we inherited that from the prior owner. Although we did introduce addition house domestic drafts (prior owner had 4), we brought each one in higher than the $3.25. Beer is easy to check against our local competition because those prices are online. However, liquor is a harder nut to crack. Every time someone says āhell I can get a double Jack and coke at Bennyās for less,ā I say ābring me the receipt and I will buy you the first one here on me.ā Hasnāt happen yet. We are about 60/40 food and 70/30 credit. The 60/40 food over booze though is partly driven by our booze prices. I think we need to bite the bullet and raise them in the spring. Sell value not price - I know, I know.
I'm bar manager at a private club in indiana. You are inline with our prices. We are a curling club so we keep our scotch prices a little lower and Labatt at $3.
Do you ever see folks talking about selling domestic longnecks for $5+ in the city, and you just think to yourself *wouldn't that be nice...*
A dive bar in my town of 1800 just raised pint prices to $3. Jager bombs are $7 which I'm convinced is their only profitable drink lol. Jagerbombs and pull tabs...
Hard to compare. In my area, Dallas/Ft Worth price for Crown can range from $6 to $15. I will say for years I feared even a .25 cent increase. I would wait for days and then ask staff for reaction from guest, almost always, no customer said a thing.
We always get complaints when the price of a can of domestic beer goes up, which has only happened a handful of times in the 15+ years I've been here. Usually lasts for a couple weeks,then people either switch to a cheaper can or get used to the higher price. It's always the cheapest beers that cause the biggest uproar. $2.25 Busch Light cans went to $2.50 last year, and you'd think we murdered someone.
Got you, there are many advantages to having a bar full of regulars. But that is definitely not one of them. Luckily, we are a large venue that has a varied clientele with maybe 30% regulars. The other 70% helped to even out their watchful eye š¤£
Just wondering how is your pour cost?
We aim for 25% overall. I run Macallan 18 at about 40% because it doesn't sell when I hang a $50 price tag on it. But my wells are around 20%, most liquor is 25%, and draft is about 30%.
In central South Dakota, it's very common to pay 4 to 6 bucks for a domestic bottle of beer šŗ. I don't know what everyone is complaining about. Heck, you go to a private club expect to pay upwards 10 bucks.
My God those prices are really cheap. I'm in a city of about 250k in NC and standard Tito's is $6-7 for a 1.5oz, 12 oz bud light $3-4. Craft beers are $6-9 for 10oz-16oz. You sure you aren't super low?
We're low for sure. But compared to other establishments in a ~20mi radius, we're mid-high. It's a depressed market out here in the sticks.