What Separates A Great Happy Hour From An Average One
Every bar and restaurant can offer a Happy Hour, but surprisingly few get it right. Great Happy Hours are about more than discounted drinks – they create an atmosphere that keeps customers coming back to it. Here are the five things I look for when deciding whether a Happy Hour is truly worth recommending to people.
By Kevin Wilkerson, Editor & Publisher, PubClub.com
The Happy Hour, so named because it’s supposed to make you happy.
You go to a bar or restaurant and get deep discounts on food and drinks, a feature even offered at premium restaurants where you can get high-quality food and speciality drinks for sometimes half the price.
Yet there’s more to a Happy Hour than just eating and drinking.
There’s atmosphere. There’s whether or not the place draws in a crowd. And many other factors that make a place a good Happy Hour. In PubClub.com’s world – and this should apply everywhere, in fact – there are three main criteria than make up a “destination” Happy Hour:
HAPPY HOUR CRITERIA #1: ARE THERE GOOD FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS?
Some places knock a buck off the price of a drink or some appetizers and call it a Happy Hour. That’s not good enough to be a good Happy Hour. To have a good Happy Hour, a place needs to have deeply discounted specials You’re not necessarily looking for screaming deals, but something to bring you in on a regular basis.
HAPPY HOUR CRITERIA #2: IS THE STAFF ATTENTIVE?
A place can have the best food and drinks at incredible prices but if you can’t get any of either because the staff is inattentive it does you no good. If you’re only able to get, say, one drink or are not able to order any food, then it’s not a good Happy Hour place. On the other hand, if you’re able to fulfill your greatest Happy Hour consumption fantasies, then you’ve got a winner.
HAPPY HOUR CRITERIA #3: A HAPPY HOUR NEEDS A HAPPY CROWD
To be really happy during Happy Hour, a place has to have a good and lively crowd. A happy crowd! A mingling, networking and parting crowd who at least mentally speaking, kicks off the shoes in favor of sandals. The best Happy Hours are the ones that are full of fun people who are out to have fun and meet other fun people.
HAPPY HOUR CRITERIA #4: GOOD HAPPY HOUR HOURS
Good Happy Hours should last until at least 6:30 and ideally until 7. Running it from 3-5 p.m., as some places do, it pretty much useless to customers.
Weekend Happy Hours are even better!
HAPPY HOUR CRITERIA #5: SIGNATURE HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS GIVE CUSTOMERS A REASON TO RETURN
There’s was once a long-standng locals’ plae in LA’s Hermosa Beach, CA, that had a “Drink of the Week” for Happy Hour. It’s was speciality cocktail, mixed and made by perfection by fun and friendly bartenders amd cost only $5. The place was always busy at a time when before that special, only had a copule of customers, something all bars should implement.
BONUS HAPPY HOUR CRITERIA: CONSISTENCY
And finally, a place needs to have consistency. That’s consistency in what it offers and its hours. If the menu and the hours are constantly changing it’s hard if not impossible for customers to keep up with it and eventually those customers will disappear. There’s one bar in San Diego that claims to have the “best margaritas” in the city. The first time I went there, they were certainly a contender. The next time, the margarita was not very good. The bartender was different. That’s the consistency I’m talking about here. I’m hesitant to go back because I don’t know what I’ll get there.
AND FINALLY, THE PUBCLUB.COM TEST
Would we go back to a place for Happy Hour?
If the answer is yes, then it probably has great bartenders, a fun crowd, quality food and an atmosphere that’s worth experiencing again. That is what turns a first-time customer into a regular.
Happy Hours Q&A
- What makes a Happy Hour successful? Good good specials, a good staff and a good crowd.
- What time should Happy Hour start? That can vary but at least by 4 p.m.
- What time should it end? No earlier than 7 p.m.
- What makes customers return? The atmosphere and the specials.
- Should Happy Hour include food? Yes. Appetizers or smaller portions are fine.
- Are weekend Happy Hours better? Not necessarily but a good weekend Happy Hour can really boost business during slow periods.
- Is atmosphere more important than discounts? The discounts bring in the people and the atmosphere keeps them there.
Kevin Wilkerson is the founder of PubClub.com, an award-winning journalist and nightlife expert who has covered destinations, events and nightlife for more than two decades. While working as a newspaper reporter, he received an Associated Press award for investigative journalism.
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