Outside now!

Everybody loves summer, let’s face it. Customers love the chance to chill out and relax with friends and family while venues love the prospect of big sales and profits. 

There’s no doubt, however, that one of the most effective ways of maximising footfall, sales and profits in the warmer summer months is through making the most of outdoor areas and beer gardens, if you are lucky enough to have them available. They help hugely increase the capacity of your venue and their child- and family-friendly nature means everyone can get in on the fun. 

So it’s no surprise that consumers flock to outdoor spaces when the sunshine makes a welcome appearance. In fact, almost a third (30%) of adults say that having a garden for the summer is a top priority when choosing a pub [May 2022 OnePoll survey] and with the UK boasting around 27,000 pubs with beer gardens, according to the BBPA, there are plenty of options to choose from. So how do you make yours stand out? 

STYLE IT 

There are two key factors when making the most of an outdoor area: the area itself and the range of drinks and food you offer. 

Creating a welcoming, friendly and Insta-friendly outdoor area needn’t be expensive or time consuming. All that’s required is a little planning and effort and you could transform your beer garden into a little haven of tranquillity for your customers. 

Consider getting the gardening gloves on, planting some brightly coloured flowers, adding a few flower boxes, cutting and trimming the grass and tidying up paved or pebbled areas. Go for a natural look to encourage a relaxed vibe or get bright and modern if you’re aiming for a more exotic feel. 

Invest in some comfortable furniture and fixtures to make sure your customers hang around for a while and, if you feel like getting creative, why not try wheelbarrows, bean bags, benches, parasols or blackboards to make your beer garden stand out. 

If you have the space, it’s also a great idea to add a bar into the beer garden to speed up service and enhance the experience for customers. You could even offer a limited (high margin, low effort) food menu outdoors to bolster spend. 

PRIVATE SPACE 

Another way to add more layers to your beer garden is to create ‘outdoor hideaways’, an increasingly popular beer garden feature according to plant providers Phs Greenleaf. The company says creating smaller, private spaces within the outdoor space helps create privacy and charm, even in a small space. 

Similarly, if you have more space available, the company says you could consider permanent or semi-permanent gazebos, pods or huts during the summer, offering shade and privacy for groups of customers – as well as shelter from the inevitable occasional summer showers! 

On that note, outdoor heating is also an important consideration, letting customers continue to enjoy sitting outside – and spending – long after the sun has set, and prolonging the use of outdoor space beyond the summer months. Why not provide some cosy blankets to help keep everyone warm and create that welcoming environment? 

FAST AND SLOW 

With a hopefully packed beer garden, there are several factors to take into account when trying to satisfy every customer and maximise sales – and this is where range and speed of service are critical. 

Products that are quick and easy to both prepare and serve help keep the queues down and increase the number of transactions you can push through in a given hour or day. Clearly, a great range of products is essential too. 

A strong range of beers, wines, ciders and spirits will go a long way to meeting most requirements and you may want to emphasise bottled and ready-to-drink products to help achieve that aim. 

But to really take sales to the next level, it makes sense to focus on some specific areas to attract a wider audience of customers and, of course, optimise profits. 

SUMMER CASK 

One huge opportunity is cask ale which is massively popular with many customers and will bring new customers to your venue if you stock it. Cask ale drinkers are notoriously loyal to bars that sell cask – and they are also statistically more likely to visit more often and spend more when they do. 

Greene King’s extensive range of permanent cask ales offers plenty of options for you to build that loyal cask fanbase. In summer, it may make sense to focus on lighter, brighter cask ales that are perfect for a beer garden. Golden ales like Old Golden Hen and Deuchars are perfect while pale ales like Yardbird also come into their own when the sun shines. 

Don’t forget too that Greene King’s Fresh Cask Releases range also offers the chance to keep mixing it up at the bar with new cask ales introduced every couple of months. Cask ale fans do like trying new beers so this is a great way to maintain excitement and interest.  In July and August the Fresh Cask Releases programme sees King Mango become available, as well as Belhaven Scorcher. Both are available in 4.5G pins to let you trial them with ease. King Mango is the result of a collaboration with Laine Brew Co and is a light and fruity IPA with summer flavours of mango and passionfruit and a background of citrus, tangerine and grapefruit. Belhaven Scorcher is a wonderfully bright and refreshing session ale full of citrus notes and perfect for sipping in the sun. 

RTDS AND COCKTAILS 

Also worth taking a look at is the RTD category which is, in fact, the fastest growing segment of the entire Beers, Wines and Spirits category. 

As well as being super-quick to serve, they also guarantee happy customers as they deliver the ‘perfect serve’ every time. Greene King offers a wide range of options from major, household name brands that are trusted by customers. 

And why not consider adding, or expanding, a cocktail menu? Start with the modern classics like Espresso Martinis or Pornstar Martinis then work your way forward as you begin to understand the tastes of your particular customer base. 

Cocktails make the perfect social media- friendly attention-grabbing drinks for busy beer gardens and can be as simple or complex as you like. Build them from scratch or use premixes to deliver quick, tasty, eye-catching drinks that will have half of the beer garden staring when they are served and then ordering ‘one of whatever she’s having, please’. 

BEER GARDENS: THE STATS 

40% of drinkers named beer gardens as their ‘ultimate happy place’
The average UK pubgoer will visit a pub garden between four and five times per month in summer Customers’ favourite things about pub gardens during the summer are: 

• spending time there in warm weather (55%)
• enjoying a drink (54%)
• relaxing with friends and family (51%) 

[SOURCE: ONEPOLL SURVEY OF 2,000 ADULTS]. 

CREATE AN INSTA-WORTHY BEER GARDEN! 

If your venue is lucky enough to have some outdoor space, creating a beer garden or freshening up an existing one is a great way of making the most of those warm summer days. Here are five top tips for creating a beer garden worthy of Instagram… 

1. GET GREEN FINGERED!
   Sprucing up your garden needn’t be time consuming or expensive. Plant a few brightly coloured flowers, cut the grass, trim the edges and tidy up any paved or pebbled areas and help enhance the relaxing, natural environment that will bring more customers and keep them there longer.
2. FOCUS ON FURNITURE!
   Attractive, comfortable, hard-wearing furniture and fixtures can help make your beer garden a more inviting and enjoyable spot for your customers to while away a few hours. Get as creative as you like with everything from wheelbarrows, bean bags and benches to parasols and blackboards. It all helps make the garden feel welcoming.
3. BRIGHTEN IT UP!
   Adding some bright, vibrant colours in whatever way you choose can help lift your beer garden and make it truly Instagram-worthy, particularly for younger customers.
4. ADD A BAR!
   If you’ve got the space, and licensing rules permit, why not add a dedicated outdoor bar to make it even easier to your customers to quench their thirst on a hot summer summer’s day. You can offer a limited menu to make it easier and also to encourage your customers to buy higher-margin products.
5. TAILOR YOUR FOOD!
   Drive up food sales by offering a summer menu in the garden with lighter dishes, or get the BBQ going, a great way to drive sales as customers get wafts of that irresistible smell.

PREMIUM MAKEOVER! 

Making the most of outdoor space is critical in maximising impact and helping drive
new footfall – and there are few examples more attention-grabbing than the Swan & Hedgehog in Ipswich. 

As you can see, the makeover is nothing short of spectacular and included custom- made artwork in the garden and in the interior live music space. 

Look out in the next issue of Value for Venues for a full profile on the Swan & Hedgehog. 

SUMMER KEY DRIVERS 

CGA and Zonal research found that the key drivers for consumers choosing hospitality venues in 2023 were as follows: 

1. Price (66%)
2. Location (61%)
3. Hygiene standards (41%)
4. Good customer service (39%)

It’s likely that the drivers this summer will be very similar, so it’s a great chance to check that you are ticking every box.