Looking for ideas to promote a bar?

I work at a local bar and grill in a smallish town. We some weekends we are really busy and some weekends not so much. but during the week it is dead! On wednesday we sell these drink tickets they are 10 drinks (domestic bottled beer or well drinks) for $5. Our cover is one of the cheapest in town, it’s only $5. We have a similar club that is next door to us and it is on the verge of going out of Business, we really want to step it up the next couple months so we can get all of their weekend business. Our location is pretty good we are close to the other bars in town so everyone that goes bar hopping can just walk to our bar. My question is though what cheap ideas do y’all have to get some decent weekday business, steal our neighbors weekend business and promote our food because we don’t make good food sales (even though we have the best food and it comes in good portions for the price).

A creative bartender is a must, he or she can make or break your business! Make sure your bartender treats each guest like long lost family-knows what the regulars drink-and calls them by name.
Have something like tequila Tuesday- where your kitchen staff prepares some inexpensive salsa, put chips and salsa on the tables, hang a pinata filled with some candies and 1/2 off ( or buy one get on free)coupons for a dinner All well tequila is a dollar a shot and margaritas are say 2 bucks for a short glass- same with sangria specials.
Wacky Wednesdays- bartenders special, have your bartender call out specials on an hourly basis, long island teas, alabama slammers- anything off the way they like to make-of course all with well brands if possible- set these specials at a low price for that hour. You can also have hourly food specials.
Mostly make sure your entire foh staff treat all guests like friends!
I refuse to go into a place with bad service, or a lazy surly bartender- I will pay more for service and feeling like I belong someplace, as do all of our regular customers!

Bangkok’s Red Light Districts – The Cheap Man’s Guide

With the economy going down the drain, any man… a cheap man that is, can still enjoy a holiday in any of Bangkok’s red light districts. First off you have to know when to go, where to stay, drink and most importantly find company.

The best time to go and save money for hotels in Bangkok is from late March to late October, which is the low season. Even though it will be hot and rainy during those months you’re going to be indoors most of the time. Hotels in Bangkok during low season slash their rates by up to 40% to 50%. Some hotels are even desperate enough to discount their rooms up to 60% for walk in guest.

When you choose a hotel however make sure you book one that won’t charge you a fee for taking a companion back to your room for an overnight stay. This fee is called a joiner fee and a hotel that doesn’t charge this fee is deemed guest friendly. Hotels that charge joiner fees usually ask for B1,000 so it’s in your best interest to stay at a guest friendly hotel.

Now there are short time hotels with rooms to rent for B300 an hour. But if you’re staying in a perfectly fine guest friendly hotel near the sex districts there’s no reason why you should be paying an extra B300. We can use that B300 for better things right?

There are plenty of budget guest friendly hotels in Bangkok, particularly close to any of the 3 sex districts in Bangkok.

In Patpong sex district you can choose to stay at the Wall Street Inn Hotel. Their room rates start from B1,000 and usually includes a breakfast. It is opposite a popular gay nightlife street and just a 5 minute walk to the neon lights and boom of club beats of Patpong’s go go bars. You can even find a lively night market there as well.

The next 2 sex districts, Nana and Soi Cowboy are very close to each other and you can use the Sky Train nearby to get to Patpong easily. A fare only cost B25.

Nana and Soi Cowboy has the most guest friendly hotels and many of them are expensive. There are a few budget ones such as the Woraburi Sukhumvit Hotel and Resort and Swiss Park Hotel. Both charge about B900 to B1200 and includes breakfast. Even better both are very near Nana hotels parking lot, a popular spot where Thai freelance girls and sometimes lady boys stand around. The Nana Hotel cost about B1,400 a night and still worth the price. 

I know most guys want to pay a visit to go go bars but for a cheap man you’ll be paying a lot. Beers and liquor are quite expensive in go go bars these days. A locally brewed Heineken will cost you B120. My suggestion is to go to 7 Eleven store where you can find a liter of cold Heineken for B45, sit outside and oogle at the many beautiful ladies around Nana and Sukhumvit. It’s free to oogle after all. 

Also remember in a go go bar you have to pay a B500 bar fine to take a lady out. For lady boys a bar fine is B600. But there’s still a way for you to meet go go bar girls and not pay a bar fine.

Nana Entertainment Plaza is a go go bar haven, located right across from the Nana Hotel. Every night around 1am to 2am the girls working inside will stream out into the Nana Hotel’s parking lot, which is just right across the street. They do so to make extra money. Since they’re outside of the bar you won’t have to pay a bar fine!

Now freelance ladies and lady boys usually ask for B1,500 for short time (1 hour) and B3,000 to B4,000 for long time (overnight). Obviously you don’t want to pay that much. So for instance if you find a lady you like and she’s standing firm on B1,500 for short time, but you only want to pay B1,000. I suggest you tell her if she can’t find a customer she can always come back to your offer of B,1000. It may not work all the time but your patience will reward you with a B500 savings.

About the Author

Visit Bangkok Guest Friendly Hotels for a full list of hotels that do not charge joiner fees.

Jim Hunt is an expat in Thailand. Through the dozen years he’s been living there he has become the unofficial welcome mat to visiting friends from all over the world. He is a contributor to http://www.bangkokguestfriendlyhotels.com

Brainstorming a New Business Concept

As I’ve said before, I like to mix concept development lessons in with real life opportunity. I have a new one today for you to learn and possibly earn from.

A few weeks ago some friends invited my wife and I to go with them to a comedy club. As we were sitting at the table having a drink, our conversation turned to a neon beer sign on the wall. I said if I ever built a bar in my house I’d like to have a neon beer sign on the wall behind the bar. My friend mentioned he just missed buying one at an auction for a friend. A “Fosters Beer” one.

We have a friend in common whose last name is Foster and he just happens to be finishing off his basement and he’s putting in a bar. Then I started thinking, wouldn’t that be cool, having a neon beer sign at your bar, and the name of the beer is the same as your last name. I’d like one. Then I thought — I bet a lot of people with bars would like a neon beer sign featuring their last name. Maybe they wouldn’t even need to have a bar to want one. I know custom or personalized stuff is popular. Just think how many people have personalized license plates on their car. Neon is also very popular. I now realize I’m on-to a pretty good idea.

Then I remembered a mail order item from the sixties that made a guy a lot of money. (know your MO history) He sold family crests and coat of arms posters that hung on the wall — by mailing to lists of people that shared the same last name. The same basic concept as this idea. He’d pick a popular last name, then got a list of everybody he could with the same last name. He then had his product customized to that particular last name and sold it like crazy. When that surname stopped making money he went to the next.

What if somebody was to offer neon beer signs customized with peoples last names. You could easily get a mailing list of people selected by last name, that have either shown an interest in personalized stuff, have bought bar supplies, or beer making supplies. (There’s other criteria you could look for too)

Then send a personalized and limited time offer to these people. An offer featuring a beautiful photo of the one and only beer sign that bares their name. Showing how great it would look on their wall, behind their bar. Wouldn’t their friends be impressed, what a conversation piece.

The up-front costs to test the idea are also good. By concentrating on one last name at time, you only need to design and make one sample sign in the beginning to use for promotional photos. The template for making the sign would be used over and over.

Your only other up-front costs for testing the idea is printing, mailing and list rental. You may even be able to use one of those telephone book CD’s to develop a mailing list to test. The product is also unique enough to get some free press.

My next thought goes to future sales, what to sell these people next. How about their own six pack of beer. Bottles of beer with fancy labels personalized with their name as the brewer. Or maybe personalized beer mugs, or cocktail napkins. Maybe you could tie in a micro beer of the month feature. Yep, plenty of options here.

So far so good. But what about having the signs made? Then I thought about all the neon sign makers I’ve seen around town. I bet one or more of these artists are looking for more work. If I were to outline the idea to one of them, and ask if they would be interested in designing such a sign that could be interchangeable with different names, (starting with your own) with the possibility of making and selling a lot more, I would find someone happy to do it.

You just witnessed a brainstorm that developed a core product for making money with direct marketing. One that would be cheap to test and has big potential. For those of you that are looking to develop your own thing, remember to consider the possible use of other peoples skills. In most cases, teaming up with someone helps a lot. Also keep an eye open for what’s popular and how it can be applied to other things. We know that personalization is always popular, we see examples of it everyday. We also see that neon is once again very popular. So are micro beers. This is history repeating itself. Learn from it.

Yea! Yea! Yea! But will this sign idea make someone money? I can’t predict absolute success or failure, no one can. Success depends on more things than just the product. But, this idea has a lot of favorable points. Enough points that if I had the time, I would try it. The losses are minimal if it doesn’t work. If it does work, the total universe of potential customers is fantastic. In my opinion the rewards outweigh the risks.

The only problem I see is shipping, glass is fragile. But you might make a positive out of this by shipping the sign in a big fancy wooden crate, maybe stenciled with the last name giving it value…and signifying it’s importance. Maybe the shipping crate could be also made to double as a wine rack. All said and done, the launching of any new concept, division, or catalog, ends with somebody having the guts and making the decision to…Do It!

As a final reminder, remember that this is a demonstration in brainstorming that can be applied to many things; you don’t have to work in neon or beer signs, just plug the concept into the toolbox of your mind for future reference to apply to your own particular business and thought processes.

About the Author

John Schulte is a Small Business Consultant and Direct Marketing Strategist, President of the National Mail Order Association, NMOA and author of the books: “Direct Marketing Toolkit for Small and Home based Business” http://www.nmoa.org/DirectMarketingToolkit/ and “How to Create Successful Small Business Advertising” http://www.nmoa.org/catalog/advertisingguide.asp

Phuket or Pattaya?

Hello,

If you have not been to Thailand and have two weeks to spent, why limit yourself to one place. There is so much to see and so many places to go in Thailand.

But if you are interested mainly in night life while laying on the beach is secondary, then Pattaya would be perfect. It is easy to get to from Bangkok, the main hub for international flights. Phuket is nice but you need to fly there from Bangkok.

If you are interested in some scenic tours and daytime activities while the nightlife is secondary then Phuket is the choice.

Since you have two weeks, why not do both plus Bangkok.

As for your other questions.

1) You can book upon arrival. There are plenty of choices. Maybe you could pre-book the first two nights of your arrival so that you have the time to scout around.

2) You can survived comfortably on as low as US$ 50 per day for everything but US$ 100 to 150 per day will give you more options and fun.

3) Anytime is a good time. December is nice where the weather is a bit cool but it could be crowded.