Aaron brings over a decade of sales, retail management, and business analytics experience in the craft beverage industry to Arryved. Formerly the Senior Director of Business Development at Bevana Partners, he also founded Fresh Pitch Beverage Consulting, improving performance for 60+ breweries across three continents. Aaron is an Advanced Cicerone, Certified Pommelier, Certified Cheese Scholar, and (AF)(NA) Beer Certified.
As the world of craft beer continues to become more competitive and dynamic, brewery taprooms have needed to adapt rapidly. No longer is simply brewing your own beer enough to set you apart from the bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues surrounding your location. This means that providing quality service and as frictionless an experience as possible for your customers is absolutely crucial.
The Problem
If you ask most customers what their single biggest frustration is when visiting a brewery taproom, waiting in line to order ranks highly across the board. It directly takes time away from the people and activities that brought them to your space to begin with, and every minute that they spend waiting to order is also time that they are not enjoying the beer or food that you sell. It directly impacts not only their enjoyment, but your own revenue as well!
This means that having flexible service models is an easy way of improving your guests’ experience in a way that will likely boost your bottom line. By maximizing the use of your entire taproom to help sell your beer, you can use the same space and the same people to do more business than ever before.
QR Code Ordering
The simplest and easiest way to cut down on service frustrations in your taproom is to make use of QR Code ordering to cut down on the need for slow and labor-intensive table service and give customers more options for how to order their next beer. This lets them keep their focus on the people and occasions that bought them out in the first place.
While Arryved has its OpenTab QR code ordering service built in, whatever point of sale system that you’re using, there are also third party solutions that can let customers open tabs, place orders, and pay without ever having to leave their seat. This lets you run a leaner, more efficient team behind the bar, and lets that team stay focused on service instead of simply taking and inputting orders.
And while it’s true that some customers may prefer to order over the bar, the real value is creating more, not fewer, opportunities and ways for customers to spend their money in your taproom. Businesses that use Arryved’s OpenTab system see the average tab size ordered through it increase by an average of nearly 37% versus those that do not, with their total taproom revenue increasing by more than 11%. That’s a huge difference for a simple solution that even saves you money!
Bar staff benefit as well, with the average tip through QR code orders averaging more than 27% higher. More tips, for less demanding service, and happier customers.
Flexibility is the Key
Running a brewery taproom is more challenging than it has ever been. Having the flexibility to adapt your space to what customers want and need is the key to being successful in this incredibly competitive time. By creating more opportunities for your customers to order from your business, you are able to make their experience better, increase your revenue, and run a more effective business for your guests and team alike.
