Coming soon…Watch video coverage of the 2010 Nightclub & Bar Show! Don’t forget to check back continually for new video clips, photos and RSS feeds of our 2010 conference program, exhibit hall and parties!!!

Dan Aykroyd is presenting the Keynote session on Wed. March 10th

Willie Gault, former Chicago Bear’s player and Bill Madlock, past Pirate Star host the Sports Bar Networking Party at Lagasse’s Stadium, Palazzo–A FREE special two hour event for bar operators! CLICK HERE to learn more

Join Anheuser Busch, MillerCoors, ABSOLUT Vodka, Beam Global, Patron, Monster, 901 Silver Tequila, CocaCola, Ed Hardy, and many more – Whether a new brand or an established one the NCB Show has them all!

Our Best Party Program Ever! NCB’s 25th Anniversary Party at Club HAZE, XS, TAO, Vanity and Lavo is where the action is at! CLICK HERE to learn more

REGISTER NOW
REGISTER BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5th AND RECEIVE A FREE CLUB PASS!
DON’T FORGET, EARLY PRICING EXPIRES MARCH 5th!

Since Work Hard, Play Hard is what the NCB Show is all about, we’re giving you a chance to not only get that at the show with our hopping exhibit hall, top notch speaker line-up and nightly events—-now you can win a 3 day, 2 night beach vacation to enjoy anytime you please after the show!*  Simply find the Tequila Sunrise somewhere on our site, and fill out an entry form to participate in our vacation destination drawing, but hurry entry form must be submitted before March 5, 2010!

*No purchase required. Drawings will be held March 31, 2010. Trip includes round-trip airfare, transfers, and two nights hotel. Winner is responsible for a $39 booking fee and any and all taxes.

Trips provided by Vacations Adventure International: www.vacationadventures.biz

1. WITHOUT YOU IT WOULD BE JUST AN EMPTY EXHIBIT HALL – NCB attendees come from all walks of life, dressing in suits and spandex, sporting tattoos and Italian leather all for the sake of NCB; the best place to mingle, meet and connect with other like minded industry professionals under one roof.

2. WITHOUT AN EXHIBIT HALL, YOU WOULD BE STANDING OUTSIDE – NCB offers 300,000+ square feet of the top vendors, distributors and liquor manufacturers in the world showcasing their best and newest products.

3. EVERYONE LOVES BEER – We’re talking business, not Oktoberfest (well maybe just a few samples). Be sure to visit the Center for Draught Excellence as Anheuser-Busch has teamed up with three vendors to offer a balanced, multifaceted view for dispensing the perfect draught beer. We’ve also added the first ever Craft Brewers Pavilion; both part of our great exhibit hall floor events!

4. MONEY TALKS – NCB show attendees represent key buyers and decision-makers directly responsible for $1.5 billion in annual beverage purchasing power.

5. SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE IT UP WITH WORLD CLASS MIXOLOGISTS – NCB’s Shake it Up Competition hosts top mixologists from all over the world aiming to create the most spectacular concoctions.

6. PARTY UNTIL THE BREAK OF DAWN – Literally, NCB’s party line-up starts each evening and doesn’t stop until the sun comes up (a good reason why the exhibit hall opens at noon)

7. THE BOTTOM LINE FOCUS – NCB knows that establishment owners consistently seek ways to achieve business growth. That’s why the NCB education line-up of proven, successful speakers this year will focus on increasing YOUR bottom line.

8. GETTING PAST THE RED VELVET ROPE – NCB’s CLUB PASS offers access to the hottest venues on any night you please. Best of all, the club pass is FREE if you register for most passes before Feb 5th (click here for details)

9.  NCB IS TURNING 25! – Everyone likes going to a birthday party, and NCB’s will not be an exception. Come celebrate 25 years of NCB at the Cocktails & Dreams Party at new “it” mega venue Haze Nightclub at the Aria Resort and Casio, City Center.

10. YOU WON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS IF YOU’RE SITTING AT HOME – Sure it can be a cliche tagline, but would you honestly risk missing out all the networking, dealmaking and fun, as well as partying with an internationally know superstar at NCB’s 25th Anniversary Party at Haze Nightclub.

In just a few short weeks Nightclub & Bar will be celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary in style with Las Vegas’ newest club HAZE located at the Aria Resort & Casino, City Center.

Nightclub & Bar Show started out 25 years ago at a fraction of the size with a mini educational track, few exhibiting companies in a modest hall. Now 25 years later it’s held in two of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s cavernous exhibition halls boasting a variety of companies catering to the on-premise industry.

Walking the aisles you’ll pass CEOs of national accounts, master distillers, club owners, restaurateurs, bartenders, wine makers, DJs, brewmasters, celebrated mixologists and distinguished trade writers.

The show’s educational program has grown into the best in the business, with scores of graduate-level seminars and workshops from which to choose.

Needless to say, we’re excited to celebrate 25 years with a top-notch line-up of events starting with the opening night 25th anniversary celebration at Haze Monday, March 8th @ 10pm.

At Club Haze, attendees will get access to a colossal cutting-edge space in which guests will be challenged to question their sense of perception and reality. The main dance floor will peer up at a wall of interactive projection screens stretching one hundred feet across on a performance structure. Deemed Las Vegas’ newest and hottest club with details about the club kept top secret until it’s opening Dec. 31st, 2009.

OPENING NIGHT PARTY – COCKTAILS & DREAMS 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY
10:00 PM @ Haze Nightclub at the Aria Resort & Casino, City Center

Opening a bar or managing a bar is not as easy as many would have you believe. Although the rewards for those who get it right can be great, a large majority fail for the same few reasons again and again.

Having worked with more than 200 bars and restaurants, I’ve listed the 10 things I have come across most often that have ended up costing a lot of money, alienating customers and even contributed to the closure of the business. In no particular order:

1. No research done on location or market

Too many times I have met with struggling bar owners who spent a fortune on a concept that worked well somewhere else but for some reason it isn’t doing the business for them. Could it be because the high end bar/restaurant you built is in a brand new neighborhood where the inhabitants are young couples tied into mortgages and childcare costs? Could it be that the area doesn’t have sufficient passing traffic to capitalize on walk in trade? If you’re wondering why a particular style or concept hasn’t opened in your area before, don’t take it as a sign that this is a gap in the market. It may be, but it will take extra research to determine the local market, local businesses, spin off business from sports/concerts, disposable income available to your potential customers. Some bar chains spend months “casing” an area to count footfall, passing traffic and much more, so if you as an individual aren’t learning from the big boys, then you should be.

2. Not analyzing the recipe cost of everything

Everything you serve has a cost. What is the cost of the bottle of beer or the nachos and dip, or the steak and fries? If you don’t know the total ingredient cost (which includes salt, pepper, garnishes and everything else) then you probably won’t know whether you’re making money or losing money until your month end or worse, you run out of cash to pay vendors and staff. Create a spreadsheet and track the ideal cost of everything. The ideal cost is what it should cost you to serve that item. Human error will always make that figure fluctuate, but it shouldn’t be by much. If it is, then you need to provide additional training to staff. Anytime I’ve done this exercise with bar owners, they were shocked by the cost of at least a handful of items every time and needed to increase their prices to make their margins.

3. Skimping on the purchase of essential technology

There are some things you cannot do without as a bar owner and you should not try and cut back on costs when it comes to buying them. These include Video Surveillance Systems, Inventory Control Software, POS systems, Lighting & Sound Systems if running a club and ovens for the kitchen. There is no way around these items if they are needed in your business to provide the service you advertise. You should spend as much money as you can possibly afford on these items as without them, you could be scammed by staff and customers not spotted robbing from you due to faulty video cameras, you might be receiving short deliveries or not spotting the bottle of vodka a week that’s going to the staff party in the case of inventory software. So budget wisely and if there is something you need to save on, it’s not these items I can assure you!

4. Not understanding the bookkeeping or accounts

Many bar owners delegate the task of bookkeeping to an external bookkeeper to manage, yet how many of them know what the bookkeeper is doing? Could the bookkeeper be siphoning out cash on a weekly basis without the knowledge of the owner? It can and does happen. While outsourcing services is important, you need to know what you are outsourcing. This is important for two reasons, one, you will know when the contractor is trying to scam you if you have an understanding of the service and two, you will know how long the outsourced tasks should take when you are paying by the hour. It takes some time to learn the essential aspects of accounting but could save you a fortune in the long run.

5. Waiting too long for financial results

As a business owner, there are a few key results and numbers you need on a weekly basis and you need to setup the reporting to accommodate this. Waiting for quarterly management reports to identify problems isn’t good enough. Your three biggest costs are most likely going to be food, beverage and labor. Have these figures available each week and compare them to your sales. Are you spending more than you are making? Don’t forget you still have utilities and other expenses to come out of your sales, so make sure these figures are to hand each week and make changes as necessary to meet your targets.

6. Setting a bad cost control example for staff

If you as a bar owner are frequently seen by staff giving away drinks to friends, comping meals for family and having a few drinks yourself without paying, then you are sending the message to staff that you consider this practice acceptable. It doesn’t matter that you own the place, you need to show staff that every item is accounted for. Make it a habit to pay for these items out of your pocket and ask a staff member to ring it up for you and give you your change. You’ll be surprised how staff will respond to this example. Cost control policies come from the top, so start making the change yourself.

7. Hiring unsuitable staff

Not every job applicant has the qualifications or personality to work for you. As a bar owner, if you are doing the hiring and you are paying the wages, then it’s your responsibility to eliminate the applicants that clearly don’t meet your requirements. Once you have narrowed down your search, then it is essential to check past references of prospective staff members. Previous employers will be more than happy to let you know how suitable the applicant is for the job so make this step a priority in the hiring process. If after all this, the hired employee turns out to be unsuitable, waste no time in removing them from your business. A bad apple can infect the rest of the staff too, so don’t waste any time.

8. Being a friend before a boss

A bar is a very social environment, not just for patrons, but for staff alike. Don’t make the mistake of crossing the line between boss and friend. You as the owner are there to make decisions that won’t always endear you to the staff, but you’re not there to make friends, you’re there to make a profit and that sometimes calls for unpopular decisions. Stand by these decisions and don’t let personal relationships affect your judgment. Staff will come and come and go, but businesses might not.

9. Not playing a role in the community

You rely on your community for business and likewise you ought to show the locals that you are doing something to give back. Nothing alienates communities more than businesses that alienate them and try to exploit them. If local community groups want to hold their meetings in your bar, don’t charge them for a private room; if the football team wants you to be a sponsor, do everything you can to oblige, you will most probably be the centre of any celebrations for the fans and team afterwards. Donate to local causes within reason and your business will be held in high esteem locally.

10. Spending too much time in the office and not enough time on the floor with customers and staff

Wal-Mart head office has a policy whereby they call the managers offices in Wal-Mart branches around the country and if the manager answers, they are asked what they are doing in the office when they should be out in the store! Office work is for outside of bar hours or at the very least in the quietest times of the day. By spending time with your customers and staff, you will quickly learn what works and what makes customers happy as well as ideas for improvement. Don’t rely on staff and customers to seek you out to tell you what’s wrong with the business. It’s your job to find out!

Barry Chandler has been in love with the bar and restaurant industry for the past 16 years and blogs daily at www.TheBarBlogger.com

Speaking to a nightclub owner recently who turns over $100,000+ per week in his busy city center premises I learned that his weekly variance/stock loss is less than $200 at cost.

I know of other businesses taking in $6000 per week that have the same losses. So how does the nightclub owner do it? It’s actually quite simple: He systemizes his business and has implemented basic procedures to control stock from receipt to eventual sale:

1. Staff are assigned to a specific bar each shift and cannot work in other bars without management direction. This makes the staff members accountable for any stock losses/cash shortages.

2. Each bar (7 in total) is inventoried separately at the end of each night. This takes ten minutes per bar and identifies losses on the spot.

3. The owner has instructed vendors to separate stock deliveries according to the bar they are destined for within the club. This allows for seven individual inventories and isolation of potential problems swiftly.

4. Bottles transferred between bars are recorded on transfer dockets and used as part of the inventory.

5. Staff identified as working in bars with continuing losses are warned, warned again and then dismissed. (there are never more than three staff per bar)

So, the next time you look at your inventory results and wonder how to get them right or if there is indeed any light of the tunnel, remember that if an operation with that kind of turnover can get it right, so can you.

It’s just a matter of systemizing ALL aspects of your purchasing/sales function:

•Receiving
•Storage
•Issuing
•Transferring
•Lending/Borrowing
•Selling
•Cashing

It can be the difference between a profit margin of 65% instead of 60%. Now, wouldn’t that be a nice Christmas present?

Barry Chandler has been in love with the bar and restaurant industry for the past 16 years and blogs daily at www.TheBarBlogger.com

The first time I attended the Nightclub & Bar Show in Las Vegas was in 1987. I had just started writing for the magazine, which at that point was only two years old and still very much evolving and finding its voice, so to speak.

If memory serves, the convention that year was held at the Tropicana in an adjacent building at the back of the property. Despite being a fraction of the size of what it is today, I needed a minute or two to take in what I found. The smallish hall was rocking. Its walls reverberated from the hard driving music. Laser lights circled the room, strobes flashed and confetti cannons occasionally filled the air with streamers.

It took less than an hour for me to make several circuits around the show floor, but they proved unforgettable laps. I rejoiced in sampling new spirits being offered by the few suppliers who had booths.
There was a glass company exhibiting several new lines of glassware, beer companies handing out free samples and a smattering of booths featuring bar-appropriate finger foods. Not to mention equipment purveyors and suppliers all demonstrating the latest and greatest.

The show’s mini-educational track presented me with my first opportunity to hear industry mega-stars like Jon Taffer, Patrick Henry and Bob Sikora of Bobby Magee’s speak on their areas of expertise. To say I was awe struck would be something of an understatement.

Now 25 years later the annual convention is referred to simply as “The Show.” It’s now held in two of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s cavernous exhibition halls as every company catering to the on-premise industry is represented there with at least one booth—and I do mean everyone.

Walking the aisles you’ll pass CEOs of national accounts, master distillers, club owners, restaurateurs, bartenders, wine makers, DJs, brewmasters, celebrated mixologists and rapidly aging trade writers. Being Las Vegas, you’re also going to bump into a bunch of curious looking folks and women wearing little more than a well-placed handkerchief or two.

The Show’s educational program has grown into the best in the business, with scores of graduate-level seminars and workshops from which to choose.

I’m extremely proud of my longstanding association with Nightclub & Bar magazine and having attended 23 of the 25 Las Vegas Nightclub and Bar Shows. It still ranks as the professional highlight of my year.

Kudos NCB and continued success.

-Robert Plotkin, BarMedia – author, trade writer and beverage consultant

Draft beer can be your shining star. It should make about 80% profit margins and keep your customers returning again and again. Good draft beer is your silent salesman, prodding customers to have a second one because the first was so good. Most customers may not know exactly why they love your place but good draft beer is a key to creating return business.

Good beer/bad beer. Draft beer should be at its best, fresh to drink and beautiful to the eye. It comes in the most economically and environmentally friendly package possible. Good beer only takes up about 13.5 oz of space in a 16oz glass. It has a rich color and a beautiful head about 3/4” high.

It tastes as though you might be at the brewery. The perfect draft beer tells your customer that you appreciate the centuries old craft behind every beer and that you care about them. The bad beer comes in a glass dotted with bubbles stuck to the side. The foam is either non-existent or much of it was poured down the drain as the bartender tried to pour a presentable pint. The bad beer is drinkable but poor quality beer never makes you want that one more.

Strangely, the best thing your draft system can do for your beer is nothing. The best draft system simply pushes your beer to the glass exactly as the brewer brewed it. The prefect draft system doesn’t need to be built like the space shuttle, it simply needs to have these few important things right.

Temperature: It’s virtually impossible to pour beer that is too warm. Above 400F pouring beer is a challenge and above 420F it will be too foamy. Your system, whether it is the simplest direct draw or a long glycol-chilled remote system needs to be designed and maintained to keep beer below 400F all the way to the glass.

Cleanliness: Beer lines should be cleaned every two weeks whether you pay someone to do the job or whether your beer distributor does it for you. Lines left too long without cleaning will develop problems and off flavors that become difficult or impossible to fix. Faucets and keg couplers need cleaning as well on the same schedule. Cleaning needs to be done with higher-than-normal flow rates, simple soaking will not do the job adequately. Studies prove that the timely cleaning rewards bar owners with increased sales that significantly offset the costs.

Proper design: Everything from refrigeration sizing to line diameter choices are part of the design. How and where your lines run, where you place your refrigeration equipment and lots of small decisions will affect the efficiency and reliability of your system.

Pour rate: Beer should pour into the glass at 100 to 128 oz per second, one gallon per minute max. For nearly all establishments, the middle or low end of that range mean consistently prefect pours.

Gas: For draft beer, gas has two critical but very different jobs. First and foremost, CO2 is a flavor and controls taste and appearance. Too much and beer is sharp tasting and wild, causing waste. Too little and beer goes flat looking lifeless and unattractive. Gas also provides the push that gets the beer to the glass through the draft system. In most cases the right pressure for one job is the wrong pressure for the other.

Mixed Gas: McDantim’s Trumix blender mixes nitrogen and CO2 to create best of both worlds. Nitrogen provides the necessary “push” to drive the beer to the faucet no matter how far away that might be. The right blend has the perfect CO2 pressure so the beer tastes and looks great. Our blender will not magically fix all your beer problems but in nearly all cases the Trumix blender will be a critical part of your ultimate solution.

There is no excuse for bad beer today and no reason for you to tolerate it. Every beer you serve should be your silent salesman, encouraging customer toward that extra pint and making them excited about coming back. Investing in a top notch draft system will pay for itself many many times in its life. Maintaining the system and properly cleaning your glassware and draft system will make your life easier and your business more profitable.

For a thorough discussion of draft beer go to the Brewers Association website and download a copy of their Draught Beer Quality manual at www.draughtquality.org.

For information on equipment suppliers and service companies please contact us.
You don’t have to sit in the dark just hoping for answers. Give McDantim a call at 888-735-5607 or look into our website at www.mcdantim.com to find a supplier or simply get more information.

In these uncertain economic times, there is a temptation and a tendency to reduce costs at all cost! The focus turns from running a good business and growing sales, to cutting costs. This is a mistake that leads to short sighted initiatives that can permanently damage your brand’s reputation. You don’t have to compromise quality in an effort to control or reduce costs. Controlling costs should be a normal part of operating your business and not be a knee jerk reaction to the economy or a specific event. Controlling costs by focusing on the operational details is good business all of the time.

Following are smart practices to reduce costs without compromising quality:

• Buy smarter and avoiding broken case charges
• Reduce waste by paying more attention to pars and producing only what is needed for the day or the shift
• Renew the focus on accurately measuring recipe ingredients
• Pay more attention to security to prevent theft
• Ensure adequate staffing to make certain that you can get every item rung up and the dollars into the register – this impacts sales and costs!

Substituting lower cost, inferior products for quality products is lazy and ultimately can damage your brands reputation. Don’t let a bad economy define your brand image. Substituting lower cost products may seem like an easy fix, but it is usually done by people that aren’t willing to put forth the effort required to properly manage their business. This slippery slope often results in the unintended consequence of short term cost savings and long term loss of sales revenue. Short term gains will not outweigh the long term consequences that will affect your business. Don’t do anything to cut costs in a bad economy that you would not consider doing in a good economy. Reducing the quality in order to save your way to a profit is never a good idea. Crap at a low cost is still Crap!

David Commer is President of Commer Beverage Consulting, which specializes in creating and implementing effective, unbiased beverage strategies for its clients. With over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Commer’s client list includes many major restaurant chains and suppliers. He is also a frequent speaker at the Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade Show.

David can be reached by e-mail at dc@liquidassets.org