Sports Bar Ideas for Business: How to Attract More Clients and Boost Your Sales

Do you have your eye on a prime location where you plan to open a sports bar? Or do you already own a sports bar that is not as profitable as you had hoped?

Then you must step up your game and implement some sports bar ideas for business that will attract new and returning customers and encourage people to spend more at your restaurant.

Sports Bar Ideas for Business You Must Try

Check out these sports bar ideas that encompass all areas of your business, from décor, menu, and activities, to marketing and unbeatable promotions.

1. Choose a theme for your sports bar and make it obvious

Owning a sports bar already gives you the advantage of having a niche audience composed of people who like sports. When you know who your potential customers are, you can transform your sports bar to better cater to their needs and convince them to spend more time at your place.

Go a step further to get more loyal clients and pick a theme for your restaurant. Here are a couple of ideas:

• Focus on a single sport;
• Honor all the teams in your area;
• Choose a popular team with many fans in your area.

After you choose your theme, make sure your clients will notice it, both in the restaurant and online. Start with these tips:

• Choose a color scheme that matches your theme and use it to decorate your restaurant interior, website, menu, and tables;
• Print custom bar napkins and coasters with team logos;
• Sports paraphernalia should be present everywhere as they get clients into the sports atmosphere they desire;
• Name your menu items, bar specials, and menu categories to match the theme.

2. Leave a clear line of sight from each table to a TV

Sometimes people visit your sports bar just to grab a pint with a few friends, but, most often, they get together to watch a game. To do so, they need to be able to see the TV.

Therefore, one of the best sports bar ideas for business is to create a floor plan where each seat from each table can clearly see a TV so everyone can have a great time.

If people book a table and can’t see the game because there is something in their way, you risk getting a negative review that will deter other potential customers from visiting your sports bar.

3. Add more activities besides the classic sports-watching

There isn’t going to be a game playing every night, so you need to give clients another reason to visit your place. Think about simple games that could be played in a team and that won’t take up a lot of space in your sports bar, such as:

• Pool table;
• Darts;
• Arcade games.

4. Try these sports bar food menu ideas

Even though it’s a sports bar, it doesn’t mean you must only serve drinks. People are bound to get hungry at some point, and if you don’t serve food, you are losing business because people are going to leave your place to find a place to eat.

Therefore, implement one of the best sports bar ideas for business: add a variety of food items to your menu. If you are not ready to experiment and find your type of cuisine, start with simple dishes that customers can easily eat while watching a game, such as:

• Quesadillas
• Burgers
• Wings
• A variety of appetizers and snacks with a high profit margin such as onion rings, fries, cheese platters, olives, pretzels

If you want to persuade people to order, personalize the menu item names with your sports team members’ names and the category’s name with other sports puns that will make fans laugh.

To create a food menu for your sports bar that you can easily change any time you want, you need to use our menu maker. Our wizard will guide you through every step so you can have your menu online in no time:

To make the menu available for your guests in the restaurant, all you must do is generate a QR code. When people scan it, they will be able to instantly access your online menu and choose what they want to eat or drink.

5. Expand your business online

Watching a game with friends at a sports bar can be a great experience, but sometimes people like to change the scenery and have a party at home. However, they will still be hungry wherever they are and nobody wants to miss an essential part of the game to cook.

Therefore, the only solution is to order in. Why not provide clients with the option to order your delicious food from home? Customers who enjoy the food at your sports bar would surely like to be able to enjoy it at home as well.

Allow clients to order online by installing the best free online ordering system from GloriaFood. All you have to do is create an account, fill in your restaurant information, create a menu, and publish it on your website.

If you don’t have a website, we can help you. Check out the next section for more information.

All there is left to do is download the order-taking app on iOS or Android and you are ready to confirm orders and considerably increase your sales.

6. Get a sales-optimized website to market your sports bar

If you don’t have a website or you have an old one that needs improvement, you need a sales-optimized website that converts visitors into clients.

To attract more customers, you need to have an SEO-optimized website that makes it easy for people to find you when they search for sports bars in your area. Moreover, you need a fast-loading website with a visible menu button so people can easily order online in just a few clicks.

You can generate your own sports bar website focused on conversion from the online ordering system’s admin. Just go to Setup -> Publishing -> Sales optimized website.

Check out this video to learn how easy it is to create a restaurant website in less than 10 minutes that will look and work similarly to this demo website:

7. Implement sports bar promotion ideas your clients won’t be able to say no to

One of the most popular marketing ideas for sports bars is adding promotions to your sports bar menu. Great offers will not only attract more people to visit and order from your place, but they will also persuade clients to order more and increase your order value.

Bonus points if you have a bar POS system that increases speed of service and encourages customers to come back.

Good news, our online ordering system has a built-in promotions module that allows you to easily set up a variety of attractive deals customers won’t be able to resist. Check out this video to learn how to add sports bar promotions at the top of your menu in seconds:

Here are a few sports bar promotions ideas you must try at your business:

• Happy hours deals: every sports bar has some hours when it is usually quite empty. One of the best sports bar ideas for business, if you want to increase sales, is to add some promotions that can only be redeemed during slow hours. With the promotions module, you can set up a deal to only be available for a few hours or for a specific amount of time.

• Buy 3 beers and get 1 for free: People usually visit a sports bar in groups, and they will appreciate it if they can get a free item when they order more, such as a bonus beer when they buy three;

• Free delivery: encourage people to order your menu items online by offering free delivery for any order over $60.

• 10% discount for orders of $100 and more: persuade groups to order more so they can take advantage of this great deal.

8. Allow clients to make a reservation

There is nothing more disappointing for a sports fan than to arrive at their favorite sports bar to see their favorite team playing only to find out there are no more open seats.

You can prevent unhappy customers by allowing them to book a table online. This way, when people have a plan to hang out at a game, they can be sure they will have a table.

Furthermore, it will also help you get a better view of your occupancy for the day and schedule your employees accordingly.

You can get a free table reservation system by going to our online ordering system’s admin and clicking on Setup -> Services & opening hours -> Table reservation. You will be able to see and confirm any booking from the order-taking app.

Clients can make a reservation with just a few clicks on your website, with no unnecessary interaction by phone that can lead to human errors.

9. Use social media to get the word out about your sports bar

Using social media is one of the most efficient sports bar ideas for restaurants because it allows you to get the word out about your place to more new customers. It also creates an opportunity for you to build a loyal community that will often buy from your sports bar.

Here are a couple of social media post ideas you should try for your sports bar:

• Event announcements: let people know when you will be showing a game or organizing an event so they can book a table while there are still free seats;
• Encourage online ordering: persuade people to order online from your sports bar by letting them know how easy the process is and even adding a small 5% discount for the first order;
• Share menu items: add mouth-watering pictures of your food to get people hungry and increase their interest in your restaurant;
• Add atmosphere photos: show potential clients how fun it is to watch a game or meet a friend at your restaurant with candid images.

10. Organize public and private events

If you are on the lookout for more sports bar ideas for business, you must consider both organizing events and opening up your place for private events.

For example, you can add a banner on your website and advertise on social media that your sports bar is available for rent for private events such as birthday celebrations, work parties, school reunions, etc.

To get more customers in the restaurant, you can organize a variety of events. For example:

• Live entertainment: you can reserve a day of the week when you hire a live band, a stand-up performer, etc. The performers will bring in a new type of audience that you can convince to become loyal customers with your excellent service;
• Host game nights: on the nights you don’t have games for people to watch, you can have a quiz night with sports themes and great prizes such as vouchers for sports stores or free meals and drinks for the entire group;

Final Words

Implement all the above sports bar ideas for business if you want to run a successful sports bar for years to come. Take advantage of our online ordering system to increase your sales by accepting online orders and market your business to more new and returning customers.