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By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Nightlife Blogger
Happy Hours are a happy time for both bars and barflies.
For the bars, it draws customers into the establishment at a time when otherwise it would be empty. For barflies, it’s an opportunity to get drinks and food at discounted prices (as well as get an early buzz going for the night). Happy Hours are also great mingling opportunities with locals and in-the-know bartenders and are something I always check out when arriving in new city.
There’s a problem, tho. Too many bars and restaurant/bars end their Happy Hours too early. Some are super-short, lasting from only 3-5 p.m. Many Happy Hours end at 6. This really doesn’t do the establishment any good because most people are not able to even go out until the Happy Hour is over, defeating the point of having one in the first place.
This is why Happy Hours should go until at least 7 p.m.
I’ll tell you a personal story about how this suggestion helped one bar become a Happy Hour mecca in a lively beach city.
A friend and I were in our favorite watering hole at the time. The bar had just opened and it quickly gained favor with locals at night. Most people did not bother showing up until after 9, tho, and one day the owner approached us and asked what he could do in order to get people in earlier in the evening. We said his Happy Hour ended too early (it was 5 o’clock); that he should extend it until 7.
“Why,” he asked.
“Because,” we said, “people are working until 5 or 6 and can’t get here until at least 6:30, so by having a Happy Hour until 7 gives them reason to come here right after work. And once they are here, they may not leave for a while.”
Always one to take suggestions from his customers, the owner extended that Happy Hour until 7 and – just as we predicted – the joint was rocking. The place: the original Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach, CA.
And that is why bars and restaurant/bars should have Happy Hours going until at least 7 p.m.
One trend I’ve noticed among places that end Happy Hours at 5 or 6 is that they often have an evening Happy Hour starting at 9 or 10 p.m. By doing this, they are actually acknowledging the fact that their earlier Happy Hour does not attract enough barflies so they are offering them a second chance. I suggest drawing them in earlier in the first place by extending the original Happy Hour until 7.
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