Secret Hopper Guest Blog -Increasing To-Go Sales and Tip Percentages
We're excited to share insights from our good friends at Secret Hopper, the experts in uncovering the secrets behind memorable brewery experiences. Get ready to explore the strategies that can transform your taproom, boost revenue, and create lasting impressions for your guests.
How can you increase tab size by 473%?
Think about all your visits to other taprooms. How often is staff encouraging you to take beer home? Looking at a data set of 8216 unique taproom visits from 2018-20221, excluding 2020, we see that taproom staff only suggest beer to go on 1 out of 5 visits. To flip this, 80% of taproom visits do not include staff encouraging a guest to take bottles, can, crowlers, or even growlers home.
When guests are not asked to purchase beer to go2, they only make the added purchase 9% of the time. However, when asked a question like, “Would you like to take beer to go?”, the guest will make the additional purchase on 52% of taproom visits – resulting in tabs over 27% greater. These 7 words increase the likelihood of a guest purchasing to go by 473%.
To Go Beer Purchases Increase Tips
The benefit isn’t just to your bottom line. Your taproom staff will also see the reward in the form of higher tips. The average guest who was asked and made the purchase tipped 27.4% - 10% higher than visits not including to go beer.
The ultimate taproom experience consists of quality beer, a memorable atmosphere, and engaging staff. The action of encouraging to go beer is the behavior of a staff member who is already engaging at a high level. Thus, this behavior is one of many they are exhibiting that helps create not only more memorable guest experiences, but also more profitable.
Strategies to Increase To Go Sales
Train your staff to master the habit of encouraging beer to go. Here’s a quick list of authentic ways to encourage beer to go:
To a first-time guest: Did you know we also offer beer that you can take home?
To a regular: Did you know we have your favorite beer in cans?
To anyone: It looks like you really enjoyed that _______, would you like to take some to go?
Your Takeaway
There is still room to improve. Taproom staff should find authentic ways to encourage to go beer. No guest will ever get upset by the question. Worst case? They say no. You’ve got about a 50% chance they’ll say “yes.”
Situated “in the heart of it all, yet tranquil enough to make you feel away from it all too,” The Limelight Hotel Snowmass offers 99 hotel rooms and 11 residences, as well as footsteps-to-gondola access in winter and summer — right in the middle of Snowmass Base Village.
The Situation
Especially over the last few years, the Limelight Hotels IT team had witnessed a significant shift to contactless technology in the hospitality industry. After evaluating friction points in the guest journey, aligning with modern technology platforms in their restaurant was determined to be an effective way to offer elevated contactless dining experiences to their guests while also evolving their technology platforms to continue to support long-term company goals. Limelight Hotel partnered with GoTab to provide an enhanced on-demand dining experience on par with the brand’s reputation for exceptional guest service.
The Solution
Reducing Staff Touch Points Without Sacrificing Guest Experience
Guests are now able to begin a tab from their room or the property’s restaurant by scanning a QR code, texting a link to friends or family members on the ski slope to add in their orders, then meeting up together at the patio or lodge to enjoy their meal and après ski festivities without interruption. By streamlining tasks like inputting orders and processing payments, this eliminates friction for hotel staff and allows them to focus on delivering renowned guest service for a memorable experience. Since partnering with GoTab, Limelight Snowmass has consistently seen higher check averages and sales.
“We found the Point of Sale platforms we were looking at offered the guest and staff limited opportunities to further reduce touch points or improve the traditional restaurant experience. The GoTab platform enabled the guest to take an active role over the flow of their experience while simultaneously reducing touch points and further streamlining restaurant operations.”Nick Giglio, Manager of Hotel IT Operations, The Little Nell Hotel Group
According to the Limelight Hotels team, some of the other platforms that were evaluated were either missing some of the pieces they were looking for, had weak customer support models, or had little willingness to develop integrations to existing hotel platforms already in place. To that end, GoTab integrated with cloud-based platform, Infor. Together, GoTab and Infor are providing dynamic solutions to support central, efficient service across hotel amenities and deliver exceptional guest experiences.
“Previously, guests would call down to the restaurant to begin an order from their room or while they were out enjoying the ski slopes. Using GoTab, guests can now place orders from anywhere on the resort, giving them the on-demand service they want without interrupting their day. GoTab empowers us to give control to the guest, reducing touch points and streamlining overall restaurant operations, making Limelight Hotel the resort of choice for Snowmass.”Nick Giglio, Manager of Hotel IT Operations, The Little Nell Hotel Group
Since introducing GoTab, The Limelight Hotel has seen a consistent level of upsells and items sold per check resulting in additional revenue capture. They have been able to maintain service levels in their restaurants during periods when there was reduced staffing available without significantly diminishing the guest experience.
The Benefits
Eliminate Phone Orders – Take Orders from the Slopes. Guests can start a tab from their room or on the mountain without interrupting the flow of their day.
Future-Proofed Technologies – Delivering elevated contactless ordering via integration with the Infor hotel management platform.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
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