Money-Conscious Boozers Fight Depression With Happy Hour
Consumers low in spirits are starting to sadden bar owners as they increasingly take advantage of happy hour deals. People aren't cutting back on their drinking, but they are consuming more at home and trying to extract more booze from their buck when they go out.
"We don't see a change in what people are drinking as much as seeing a change in the time they are drinking," said Kip Snider, beverage director for the Yard House chain of restaurants.
Still, a growing reliance on happy hour — as well as a "reverse" happy hour with the same specials from 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays to Wednesdays — is not a bad strategy.
"In times like this, the bar business should take on more of a focal point for restaurants because of the incremental profit that comes with each sale," Henkes said.
Restaurants net about 15 cents for every dollar of food purchased but 38 cents for alcohol, Henkes said. So it makes sense for casual dining spots, in particular, to pitch booze.
Alcohol is usually recession-proof—sales usually increase when times are tough because wandering around aimlessly taking swigs of bottled water is neither helpful nor chic.
Have you changed your drinking patterns to save cash? Share your depression drinking strategies in the comments.
Bars and restaurants are getting toasted by happy hour [Los Angeles Times]
(Photo: MarkAndMarina)
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Comments:
i like to prime a little before i go out.
having 3-4 drinks before you go out usually means i only get a couple when i am there.
plus, i don't like to leave a bar completely shitfaced.
I keep an eye out for late-night happy hours these days. There are plenty in town!
wow. i feel bad for the barkeepers. wait, no i don't. liquor has like a 400% markup on it. seriously:
-1 keg = 124 PINTS (assuming you can find a bar that still serves those).
-1 750mL bottle = 15 shots (assuming your bar hasn't started using those dixie thimble cups yet).
-1 bottle of wine = 6 glasses (magnum X 2).
plug in your favorite bar's prices & multiply your total by 70% to compensate for "pour off" or "spill off" or whatever you want to call it. figure out how much your bar is grossing off their offerings (even during happy hour) & i don't think you'll be too sympathetic either.
but i digress. i go out less often & we frequent a tender that knows how to treat her clientele. i STOPPED frequenting the bar down the street from me when the owner started watering down his drinks & padding his bills. 2 shots/2 beers = $30?!? yeah, i don't think so.
Isn't a "reverse happy hour" a sad hour?
Me, I went and got knocked up to save money on booze. :P
Prices are pretty cheap where I go... a private establishment. Find one in your area that you can join such as a VFW or American Legion. The one I go to has shots of Captain Morgan for $2 (used to be $1.75). Based off mac-phisto's math, that's a $30 bottle if they pour 15 shots. At the local liquor store, it costs about $16-18/bottle so that's not even 200% mark up. Not to mention the drinks are usually stronger and if you get the last shot in the bottle, its free... In the end, they probably break even with little mark up.
I can go out and have a good night for under $25 instead of paying anywhere from $50-100 if I go to a bar in the city.
How about we just have one story that runs every day, saying "Consumers spending money more carefully"? Seriously, I think this sort of thing has ceased to be newsworthy. Right now, newsworthy would be a group of people still spending like there's no tomorrow. Or a bar owner throwing out careful spenders. I can see it now--"You bums, you bought only two beers each, make room on my bar stools for people who want to give me money!" That they weren't spending a bunch of money wouldn't be the story--that they were thrown out *would* be. It's just not a story anymore that people aren't spending like they used to. Dog bites man--big deal.
I never really see the appeal of bars anyway. In NYC they are often so loud you can't hear anyone talk. The booze is ridiculously overpriced. I'd honestly rather sit at home and watch a movie, crappy economy or good. I can drink here for as cheap as I like.
meh...the current blapocolypselcusterphuck just means more pre-gaming. Happy hour will always have their twists, turns, and left-arm-on-green/right-leg-on-blue
it's what you wear to the ball/bar that will save you the money. belly full of beer-don't leave home without it
Man, I need to visit my local VFW! I knew they had bars but I never considered going, but it would be kind boring since all of my friends went to college and I joined the Marines.
Back in the olden days when I was footloose and fancy-free; read: not-married, un-attached and no-children...
This bar I used to go instituted happy hours. Come to think of it, it was the recession of '90/'91... They ran $1.00 mixed drinks between 4-6pm.
Within those two hours I drank 7 Pearl Harbors and 1 Manhattan (a friend's, he could not stomach it...)
There were times that I've drank more. There were times when I have more intoxicated. But that night was awesome, I've never been more drunk at bar for the princely sum of $15...
I save money and just booze it up at home, at the computer, while posting to Consumerist.
I've changed my drinking habits to save the money I would have to spend on bad side effects from alcohol interfering with my latest prescription medication. I assume it would be quite a chunk of change, there.
It's cheaper to cry into my scotch at home while watching the play-offs. I like to call it Depression depression.
Yes... All bar owners are filthy rich! You've found the secret friend! Just sell al-ki-hol and you be on the path to dem riches!!!!!
Jeez...
I just love folks who tell how lucrative a business is, but know nothing about the business itself. Next time you tell us about a gold mine... why not include a little bit about overhead, expenses, etc. Bars/restaurants are hardly money pots. The good ones require a lot of investment in time and capital and the returns are a LOT less than you'd have folks here believe.
Educate yourself on this and you'd look like less of a blowhard.
I've just been smoking more weed lately instead. The depression hasn't impacted that industry yet!
In terms of hard liquor, I still get what I always drink: Beefeater gin and Luksusowa vodka (great Polish potato vodka). Most hard liquor purchases are based on their positioning by the marketers in the consumer's mind. So I buy quality liquor without the exorbitant price, but I would never sink down to Seagram's gin or Georgi vodka. After all, I am not in college anymore.
n terms of beer, I always went with either a great import or tasty domestic micro brew. These days however, I have switched to Pabst Blue Ribbon simply because of the price and because I consume beer everyday. I was glad to see Clint Eastwood chug the stuff by the case loads in "Gran Torino". You go Josey Wales!
Stay home and have a drink or three.
I'm in the middle of my 2nd Tanqueray & Tonic. :-)
It's a step down from my Bombay Saphire, whicjh I used to pickup at the Duty Free.
@nicemarmot617: Unless your doorman cheerfully runs a Catch & Release program on passersby on your behalf, however, your odds of knocking boots with comely strangers are presumably close to zero.
@Krowa003: PBR because of the price?
I see it for $3 a can at places (putting it in line with or slightly above Coors Light, Miller Lite, etc).
Car bar.
@Eyebrows McGee: It's technically "ruoh yppah".
It looks foreign enough for me to claim it as a religious holiday at work.
This is good news for me even though I dont drink at all. I take photos for a nightlife website and am in the middle of transitioning in to becoming a DJ so this gives me hope that at least some of the bars will last through the next 5-10 years. Didnt most people in the 1st great depression escape the reality of life by going to the movies(back when they were still affordable)?
I'd rather drink at home anyway.....cheaper....and much much safer....
THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK!
Save money, save your life, drink at home.
@Ryan Duff: Private clubs are cheap! There is a "Seaport Club" around here. I think you buy a membership for $50 a year and then you can bring guests any time. It's tax deductible because they're a non-profit. You pay $1 for a draft beer or $2 for something "fancy." And it's right on the water by the ritzy yacht clubs in a beautiful area.
@Ryan Duff: I've tried VFWs and VFDs. There tend to be a lot more rough looking alcoholics at those establishments since the drinks are so cheap.
It is hard to find a good one since you need a membership.
There is also the issue of them tending to be racist establishments here in South West PA.
@CyrusOpeth: High end places will make you stand if you aren't spending enough.
Especially places with tables for bottle service.
Drink more at home and get one or two beers to carry around and sip during the night. Also drinking closer to home to save money on cab fares.
@ngoandy: No shit. I've lived in easter and western Washington both, and the only people I've seen in the VFW's are some rough, hard-looking, unfriendly individuals.
They weren't exactly welcoming to a skinny tattooed white kid with weird hair...
@Ubermunch: believe what you want. i happen to know quite a few things about running a bar. provided the location is good & the bar is run efficiently, they pretty much run themselves. i wasn't commenting on restaurants (as you can see from my post, there's no mention of food) b/c i know that business too. i didn't address other factors like overhead b/c they differ too much from bar to bar. regardless of what you believe, the truth still stands. in most cases, a bottle is paid for after the 2nd or 3rd pour. well liquor is a gold mine. keg beer is a gold mine. wine by the glass is a gold mine. you pretty much have to be a moron to run a good bar into the ground.
@Ryan Duff: The local VFW is full of old people shuffling around in their depends. The legion is so smokey you would think the place was on fire. Your also guaranteed to be hit on by some large sized drunk female who either has been or will be on the crime section of the local news. Or some drunk guy in the process of wetting himself.
Both have cheap drinks, neither are somewhere I want to spend a Saturday night. YMMV
@mac-phisto: According to bartender friends of mine, alcohol is closer to 1000% markup, especially if it's a mixed drink.
Over the past year I" ve been drinking less and less. Its not healthy for you anyway.
Its too expensive to go out and drink 2-3 beers and risking getting a DUI.
Still I miss the social aspect. :(
I'd rather get high than drink.
@Hyman Decent: True. But once the locksmith has figured out how to open the handcuffs, you've rinsed the worst of the rabbit blood from the wallpaper and the restraining order takes effect, don't those ones make the best anecdotes?
@Ryan Duff: The local union hall is $30/year and has beer for $1.50 and mixed for $2.50. After my $150 new year's bill (can I contest those charges since I was drunk?-kidding) and puking all over my bedroom and coming on to my best friend with my fiancee in the room, a club/12 step program sounds appealing.
You know about bars? Really? How long did you work in one... or own one? Ever keep the books or provide accounting services for a bar? Just curious because I have and you leave out SO much like... taxes (especially liquor taxes), rent, payroll, licensing fees, storage considerations (like walk-ins, kegerators, coolers) etc. Please give us some insight/backup into your "2nd or 3rd pour" rule... cause I call shenanigans! Your rule sounds like something you pulled out of an orifice and not something that I've ever heard as industry gospel.
Yes... overhead differs. That's why you can't overgeneralize as to what a "gold mine" any given bar is. Bottom line: bars are not some magic lamp that spews cash. If you've ever kept books for a bar, or owned one, or worked in one at any level of detail... you'd know that and we wouldn't be having this exchange. Yes, there is a high markup on liquor, but please don't oversimplify things. I've been inside the books of MANY bars... and I'm betting you haven't.
Now... there was this roadhouse type bar I knew once... Plywood walls... beater pool table... beater staff... windows small to keep people from being thrown through them... Now *that* place was a gold mine (cash business and not paying taxes for a few years will do that). Of course it burned down after a particularly nasty brawl. :-)
@CaptZ: Drinking at a bar / pub / club != driving drunk. Some cities have this newfangled think called "mass transit".
I agree, I'd rather hit the vaporizer with my herb. The group Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation has some neat charts showing the differences between different drugs (yes, alcohol is a drug)... http://www.saferchoice.org/content/view/24/53/
Common Myths about Marijuana
http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
@Ubermunch: "Yes, there is a high markup on liquor..."
listen, this is all i was saying.
i really don't care how many bar books you've been in - it doesn't give you any more credibility in this discussion. i wasn't relating the gross income from liquor to any expenses (clearly b/c, as i've already stated, that's something that cannot be generalized) - i was simply pointing out the markup. it's there. you agree. it's no secret.
all these expenses that you're talking about - every business has them. not every business gets to mark their merchandise up 400% to pay the bills. that's all this is about.
"Please give us some insight/backup into your "2nd or 3rd pour" rule... "
listen. a 750mL bottle of (let's say) jack daniels wholesales for <$15 (including taxes) in my state. 3*$5 shots=$15. bottle paid for. that leaves 12 shots in the bottle to pay for everything else (7-8 if you calculate in pour off). there's no rule here, it's simple math. feel free to pick up one of those $50,000+ electronic pouring systems to figure it out for you if you want.
@Mike Min:
I'd rather people get high than drink.
When was the last time a guy smoked tons of weed and then beat the crap out of his wife?
First off... yes... I do have a LOT more credibility here than you because I've been responsible for the accounting for well over a dozen bars and myriad bars/restaurants. I dare say that puts me well ahead of you on knowledge base here. Period. You also never addressed how you obtained you bar knowledge... did you work in bar... own a bar... ho do you know what you are saying is based in fact? I'd take you a lot more seriously if you actually had some experience in what you are talking about. Are you a CPA... bookkeeper... committed drunk on an end stool?
Second... You stated:
"Well liquor is a gold mine. keg beer is a gold mine. wine by the glass is a gold mine. you pretty much have to be a moron to run a good bar into the ground."
That seems to me like you are talking about a lot more than markup. You've basically made the point that all bars are money making machines... gold mines, to use your wording. You make the case that any idiot can be a successful bar owner. If that were true why isn't everyone jumping into the bar business? Why haven't *you* opened a bar?
Finally...
Markup means squat in business. Contrary to your assertion, many business get to markup their product 400%+ over cost. Fast food may be marked up as much as 400-500% per unit. Clothing (particularly contract manufactured crap like Disney) is often marked up 800-1000% per unit. Software/video games are usually times marked up more than liquor. In each case none of those businesses are necessarily "gold mines". It sounds just as uneducated to say "All software companies are gold mines because they sell at like $30 and hell those disks are like 30 CENTS to make!"
It's PROFIT my man... PROFIT is king! Again... do the per bottle "math" you posted with state business taxes, state liquor taxes, overhead, payroll, insurance, rent, etc. and your gold mine looks more like a bauxite mine. [BTW... Where did you get the $15 a bottle JD from? What state/municipality is charging that? What are their business taxes like... what is the standard of living in that area?]
See what I'm driving at?
Given that I've seen a lot of bar numbers, I can say that most bar owners are not getting rich. They can get decent returns, but puh-lease(!) unless you know the specifics, could you refrain from uneducated hyperbole here? Do some research and you'll learn the facts... which are so much nicer than making it up based on your lifetime's experience in ordering and consuming drinks.
A few nights ago we were at the local Applebee's; they just EXPANDED their HH offerings. House wines & well drinks were added to domestic drafts, and more appetizers are half price. Looks like they spotted the trend too.
@SMSDHubbard: Ha.
I was thinking of nightclub type places and places that call themselves 'ultra lounges.'
The table sections usually require you to keep buying bottles. I've also seen people shooed away to make more room for buying customers.
@Ubermunch: Your talking from a beginning to final product stage, that's not a fair assessment. In your above examples, yes dvds cost 30 cents, but to make a game like GTA it costs 50 mill. In the end the retailer makes about 10 bucks per unit which isn't bad because the widget isn't parishable. Bars have a large upfront cost too. Buying property in a prime location can be a million dollar project. But that's a fixed cost. The cost that has to be worried about is payroll. People are not cheap. Even wait staff.
Now I agree that running a bar is not a profit magnet as is said. Liquor is good money and some places pull in high numbers, but if your paying more as a bar owner buying the liquor wholesale then you would be paying retail then you are an idiot. The bars and restaurants in this area pay about 8-13 dollars a case for their beer. That's wholesale. Then the cheaper bars charge 2 dollars a drink. That's not bad numbers. But bars go under fairly often. Restaurants go under all the time and are one of the most risky businesses to own even if they serve liquor. The business lives and dies on it's chefs and the are they are in.
To those saying that a properly run business with competent management can succeed and make a good profit well duh. That applies with just about any business.
You want a gold mine business that gives you a high return low overhead and guaranteed profits in any climate? Cocaine distribution.
When I know I need to cut back on spending but I also want to have a slammin' time, I'll bring my trusty flask with me and take shots when possible. Frugal, I know, but effective. Went out last night and only spent seven bucks on drinks.