Editor's note: This is the fourth, and final, part in a series of Montana Tavern Times features on progressive Billings licensees who are showing substantial sales growth in this economic downturn.
Several traits are common to these Billings business owners we've been profiling over the last four months: they speak with great assurance and confidence, they are very willing to share their methods and they all share an optimism regarding the futures of their enterprises, their industry and their community.
Read on to discover ways these owners are achieving success.
By Cole Boehler
Sean Graves, Montana Brewing Company and Hooligans
Graves is mostly no different that his counterparts—Jeff Flatness at the Squire Lounge, Marlon Engberg and Rick Steinmetz of the Muzzleloader Cafe and Powderhorn Casino, and Craig Severson at Pepper's Bar and Grill and Treasure Creek Casino: when it comes to a broad business philosophy, customer service is paramount, entertainment options are essential and promotions are key.
Where Graves may differ from his peers is that he says he is on-premise "only" about 50 hours per week, whereas the others report they work longer days and more days per week (Flatness splits his time between the Squire and his amusement route business).
Graves contends too many hours leads to burn-out, a plague in an industry that sees ownership turnover at a 20 percent annual clip. His solution is to hire and train people who can fill the supervisory roles when he is away.
"We try to work smarter rather than harder," Graves says. As such, he has two salaried managers, but he has four "supervisors" who are responsible for in-house operations during their shifts. Uniquely, these supervisors work three conventional shifts per weeks as hands-on cocktail waiters or bartenders where they also have the opportunity to earn tips, and two shifts where they function in a supervisory capacity only.
Though Graves says the Montana Brewing Company and Hooligans have almost no staff turnover, his organizational arrangement nevertheless provides workers opportunities to learn all facets of the business and advance up the vocational ladder.
In addition, he says he compensates his employees well and because they receive thorough training and financial incentives for performance, they make good tips, too, and ultimately a good living.
Among those incentives are contests to see who can hustle the most on-special drinks during a promotion, for example—perhaps a $50 spiff, maybe a gift card. But he also employs long-range incentive programs for top performance, with two employees from each division annually receiving a trip to Las Vegas based on carefully scored achievement parameters as well as survey input from the entire staff.
"We have very high expectations of staff," Graves said.
So, just what is Graves' definition of exceptional staff performance and customer service?
"We pride ourselves on personally getting to know our customers," he says. "We're very focused on that. We not only encourage, but require, staff to know our customers by name. We want staff interacting on a personal level with guests."
For example, when a customer starts a tab, the tab is assigned the customer's name, not a number, Graves notes. "We introduce our customers to other staff and to other customers. We're building relationships.
"It's also our goal to provide the best, the fastest, customer service in town. We take pride in that. That's an easy way to distinguish yourself, get a leg up on your competitors."
While Graves admits the Montana Brewing Company—the foodservice-centered division of the business—could have a more efficient layout, he says Hooligans, the pub-centered division, was designed specifically with an efficient layout in mind. The bar is long in order to give the maximum number of customers access, but it is also roomy on the back side to allow multiple bartenders to move swiftly about without creating traffic jams.
"We get our customers their drinks faster than any place in Billings," he emphasizes again.
Graves has been paying attention to customer entertainment options and has added the devices his peers, featured earlier in this series, also installed: the Big Buck Hunter, Silver Streak Bowling and Golden T Golf Machines. But he says he's also found another entertainment element to add distinction to his operation.
"We have highly trained bartenders, but we also offer 'flair' training," which he describes as bartending as showmanship—"flipping bottles, blowing fireballs..."
“Our bartenders and wait staff aren't just order takers; they are entertainers," Graves says. "They provide our customers free entertainment. Our customer must have a positive reaction every time; we want to get them to smile, forget about all the stress. We want them focused on enjoying themselves."
These strategies are working, Graves says. "We have set records every month this year. We have been up 15 to 20 percent every year. We have probably doubled sales since 2005."
All this despite the place going smoke free January 1, with the exception of the casino area.
"The majority of our staff didn't smoke and neither did the majority of our customers," Graves relates. "At first, we lost a lot of smoking customers. But we gained more. We changed clientele. And we've found people are staying longer.
"When everyone else goes smoke-free October 1, we'll have a level playing field and competition will be fair," Graves says. He says he anticipates his 18-machine casino business might be down 25 percent the first quarter after the smoking ban but says he is confident it will then come back.
And that is spurring him to initiate "a new focus."
"We are now looking very carefully at lowering costs while still providing value; working on building margins. That way we can withstand any shrinkage in sales," he says. "We have decided to run it as a business, rather than a bar."
But don't misunderstand: Montana Brewing Company and Hooligans will continue to strive to grow sales while maintaining regular retail prices. They will do so by continuously offering special "values"— promotional items—seven days a week, which they have been doing since January 1 on both the food and beverage sides of the business. Apparently that strategy is working.
"We have the most successful happy hour in town," Graves said, which begins at 4 p.m. and fills the place early. Featured are $2 well drinks and $2 draft and bottled beers, $3 premium in-house wines and $4 for all else.
"We try to offer something for every age demographic at the right time of the day: lunch, after work, nights. Our specials are geared to cater to a specific crowd at a specific time."
A few examples: Thursday night "Power Hour" when well drinks and draft beers are $1 from 10-11 p.m. ("We sold 1,200 drinks in one hour" to the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, Graves says); Progressive Beer Night on Tuesday when draft beers are $1 from 8-8:30 p.m., then $1.50 from 8:30-9 p.m. and $2 from 9-9:30, after which prices revert to full retail; Kill The Keg Night on Wednesdays when, for $4, a customer can drink as much of one designated keg as he or she pleases until it is gone—sometimes quite a bit, sometimes, when it is very crowded and going fast, not a lot.
The businesses also sponsor outdoor music events four times a year, a "Burn The Point" classic car event Labor day, a themed beach party and Halloween party.
"We even do a White Trash/Trailer Bash where customers are encouraged to dress in their best redneck clothes. We'll sell shots of cheap liquor, offer a special on Busch Light cans, have a DJ spinning redneck tunes..."
"One of our most successful promotions was a Jimmy Buffet party," Graves says. Buffet's followers are called Parrot Heads and sport tropical attire. "We had hula hoop contests and played musical chairs; just a lot of fun. We sold 40 cases of Land Shark beer, which is Jimmy Buffet's beer label. Land Shark was running a national contest to see who could sell the most in one night. We won." As a result, Sean has an autographed Jimmy Buffet surf board at his home.
"We want to always have a special value for customers," Graves says. "Special deals build traffic. It's all building up over time."
Keeping on hand a wide variety of products builds traffic too, Graves says. "We have an extensive inventory and drink menu. We offer over 300 drinks and we promote them continuously in-house" and using new technology.
Graves said they are relying heavily on the Internet and social web-sites such as MySpace and Face Book to communicate with customers. "We do very little print or electronic, just for the biggest events," he says.
"We're modeling our business to fit in with what's going on in our community in a given season or a given time of day."
The winning formula employed by progressive, growing Billings hospitality businesses seems consistent: Top flight guest service, building personal relationships with customers, providing plenty of entertainment options, offering value products that are heavily marketed using modern communications channels, and producing a continuous stream of special events and promotions.
And the formula seems, to one degree or another, applicable to every hospitality business in the state.
As consumer spending remains depressed—especially for purely discretionary items such as prepared meals, adult beverages and entertainment—and as a smoking ban approaches just 90 days away, owners could benefit from rethinking their business models and retooling their enterprises along these lines.
For as Pepper's Severson observed in the June issue of the Tavern Times, "Times are hard and going to get harder... Some places are going to be fading away. Those who survive are the ones who are creative and really work at it. You've got to make something out of every opportunity...
"You've got to be known for something; find or create your own niche...as long as you're known for something."
Source: The
Montana Tavern Times, July 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W Granite, Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.