Goal! Outfitting Your Bar Menu for the Big Game

By Elyse Glickman

            There's nothing like a rousing game of a favorite sport to get customers to leave the house and head to their favorite bar or restaurant during the coldest months of the year. Whether that sport of choice is football, basketball, hockey or soccer—or all of the above—the excitement connects friends and strangers in magical ways.

            Many restaurant bars count on that dynamic to score with customers when planning their strategies to keep business soaring when temperatures in most parts of North America drop. As great pains are taken to mount flat screen televisions, team posters, schedules, and other paraphernalia, team captains—the bartenders and bar managers—need to decide what to put into play, from themed cocktails to bar eats, in a fashion that fits in with the playbook of a restaurant's format and customer base.

            In South Florida, Cabo Flats regularly promotes all sporting events, with a slightly

greater emphasis on soccer--especially with its locations in the Miami area. That said, they've got all sorts of sports fans covered, according to beverage director Max Gonzales.

            "While we are a restaurant and not a sports bar, we want to take advantage of football season and soccer as well as any other sports activity going on throughout the year beyond just having televisions in all of our locations," he says. "During football season, we run a special that appeals to customers who do not want to go to a sports bar, but can still have the ability to enjoy a game and support local teams while they are enjoying some Mexican food."

            With this year's football season, Cabo Flats offers a $25 bucket special that buys a bucket of bottled beer served with a side of our mac-and-cheese bites appetizer. During game time, the restaurants' popular regular happy hour with special prices for margaritas, mojitos, beer and food specials is rolled out or extended.

            A little more creative effort, meanwhile, is placed on soccer-focused campaigns given its broad appeal in South Florida.

            "Recently, we did a soccer promotion when the Guinness Cup with Real Madrid and Barcelona played in South Florida," continues Gonzalez. "A lot of tourists came in to see that game. While this promotion extended to all of our locations, the main activity was in our Miami locations where soccer is a fan and customer favorite here. The promotion was a success, especially as a local team –SC Miami--came and signed autographs for fans in the restaurant."

            Gonzalez adds that a little more creativity will also come into play when the venues partner up with their beer, tequila, and vodka vendors in terms of themed cocktails and specials developed for certain games and teams.

            "When games are sponsored by a certain brand (of spirit or beer), (Cabo Flat’s) bar partners with that sponsor brand and tries to piggy back in that way," he says. "We do a lot of work with Modelo and Corona as well as various tequila companies for soccer. With American football, we partner up with Bud Light and other American brands, as beer tends to be bigger overall with customers."

            Reconciling lucrative bar business with the restaurants' niche as a family restaurant is also an important consideration according to Gonzalez.

            "Even with our specials, we still want our experience to be family friendly, which means the parents can come in to enjoy food and drinks, but unlike sports bars, the environment is still OK for kids who can enjoy food and soda. This can turn watching the game into a family experience even as adults enjoy the drink specials. This is especially true with soccer match viewing."

            With its specialized vegan offerings and emphasis on organic and artisanal ingredients, no savvy L.A. foodie would cast upscale modern Mexican restaurant Toca Madera as a sports bar. However, general manager Josiah Salerno notes there are always circumstances when

playing the right games appealing to their customer base will score points and profits. By the same token, there are also some events that are completely not a fit for Toca Madera’s sophisticated, garden-like surroundings.

            “When we air a sports event, it’s to add atmosphere to our venue - not take away from it,” Salerno explains. “For example, we may decide to air a certain Oakland Raiders game, but it won’t solely be that game as we will play all games broadcast throughout that day. In contrast, we chose not to air the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight because we would have generated too much of a bar scene that would distract from our focus as a restaurant.”

            In a similar fashion to Cabo Flats, Toca Madera will run an extended happy hour for the duration of a game being played, as it will entice customers to come in at any point regardless of score or team. Likewise, Toca Madera is strategic with its partnerships, and any creative undertaking will first depend on the relevancy of our brand and restaurant over a given sporting event. So is the continuity of the restaurant and bar programs goals.

            “When we create drink and bar specials, we take on the same philosophy as our restaurant, which is a shareable approach using only the highest quality local ingredients,” Salerno continues. “We stick to things that are on-brand and that are meant to be shared to entice groups to dine together. We’ll offer specials like drink pitchers, punch bowls, or taco boxes incorporating our bold flavors and recipes to create that same community experience for those sitting at the bar.”

            Whether one’s bar program is built into a family-focused Mexican restaurant, a trendy foodie haven, or a traditional Mexican restaurant that’s been around for years, it is consensus from those interviewed that above all else, it is important to stay true to your menu and shape promotions so they don’t overshadow what that restaurant is known for. With that, however, it’s always a good move to score whatever opportunities are out there to partner with vendors to develop something that will be unique to the restaurant but deliver an upgraded experience of watching a game.”

Side Bar: What About Independents?

            Independent bar-restaurant businesses and smaller chains, meanwhile, need to think big on a smaller scale, making decisions in terms of what sports teams, beverage brands and food promotions will be winners for their venue.

            One large-scale example is the El Torito chain, which is taking a local slant to drum up interest in the diverse L.A. market via a soccer partnership with the LA Galaxy club. Bar patrons get a free Carnitas Queso for one week following a game the Galaxy wins against the visiting team. Word is generated within the stadium throughout the game and also via the chain's "club" database after the win. It also stages six in-restaurant viewing parties with a "Galaxy Star Squad" (a co-ed interactive group that represents the LA Galaxy organization at events throughout the community during the team’s season) on select away-games.