Pubs can drive sales through diary events

There has been a lot of speculation in the market regarding how tough the coming year is going to be and although it is going to be challenging, there are also reasons to be positive.

Over the coming months there is an event every week that publicans can get behind to drive people into their pub and increase both their sales and profits. Starting with St Patrick's day, followed by Mother's Day and then the Easter break and the Royal Wedding to name a few, there are some great reasons for publicans to thrive. Layered on top of this we also have great sporting events around football, rugby and horse racing.

Advertising well in advance will help to attract both your regular customers and also new ones. The more exposure and excitement that you create around the event the more people will come to it. To help create this buzz, offer early bird booking discounts for your regular customers and also offer early bird arrival incentives such as a free drink before 7pm or free food before 9pm.

If publicans embrace these and other events they are giving their customers a reason to visit their pub and can then deliver great value for them. Turning an event into an occasion in the pub - a reason for the value conscious consumer to choose your venue over another - also means you don't have to rely on reducing prices to deliver the value customers are increasingly looking for.

Ron Hickey, Sales Director - Catering, Booker