Taproom Success Tips, Tactics, and Strategies

The unfortunate truth about food pricing is that the market is in charge.

You're stuck with the market price, no matter what you do. 

However, you can use a powerful strategy called Design to Cost, so that you are profitable on your food offerings. 

Design to cost works like this:

1. Start with t
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When it comes to making money on food in your taproom, the key is to have a narrow menu. The narrower the better. 

This does not mean that you don't give your guests choices.

Consider how you can use the Platform Strategy: One basic food item you can make in 10 or 15 different ways. Think: Pizza. ...

In the food game, menu items are categorized as Dogs, Stars, Puzzles and Plow Horses. What are these you ask? 

In a nutshell, these descriptions are used to classify items by popularity and profitability. 

• Stars are those menu items that are most popular and most profitable. 
• Puzzles are very p
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We've all been there. You head to the local taproom to hang out with friends and enjoy a few beers. Except, one of your friends is hungry, and there's no food in the taproom. 

Enter the Minority Veto.

The rule goes like this: A party of five people will leave if one person is hungry and the taproo...

In it's simplest form, menu engineering is the science of having your guests select the food items that provide them the most enjoyment and give you the most profit.

Sounds easy, but how exactly does this work?

The process of menu engineering requires that you follow a simple rule:

Give people wh...

Mark Meckler is a chef, professor, and VP of Curriculum for Crafting a Strategy. He says the way to make money on food in your taproom is simple: Use the Platform Strategy. 

A Platform Strategy involves using a small number of ingredients to make a large number of menu items. 

Think about your loc...

Creating a financial plan for your taproom feels like a big challenge.  As with any big project, the first step is to break it down into smaller pieces. 

Here are the biggest pieces of your taproom financial plan:

1. Sales
2. Margins
3. Operating Expenses

Taproom Financial Planning Piece #1: Sale...

This is the time of year to find new and creative ways to reward and motivate your taproom staff. 

In this post, we'll share tips and tactics to help you uncover the most effective ways to show appreciation for your most valuable resource. 

Tip #1: Ask...

Don't guess when it comes to rewarding yo...