There have been countless articles written about attracting millennial and Generation Z customers to the pub, due to the changing consumer landscape and evolving social habits amongst the younger generations, especially compared to Generation X and baby boomers.
But, as well as attracting younger millennials and Gen Z customers to the pub to drink and socialise, we also need to be aware of the hospitality industry’s recruitment struggle and how this will affect the pub and bar trade of the future.
The UK pub trade needs to attract and retain enthusiastic, hard working staff if it plans to have a buoyant future, but what can we do to make becoming a landlord, bar owner or pub manager an attractive prospect for the younger generation? And how do we attract, retain, inspire and train staff members in the meantime?
Fortunately, there are things that pubs and bars, both chains and independent, can do to boost their employability and attract staff members to the industry.
Beer Piper is the UK’s market leading beer line cleaning company, and during our 30 years in the industry we have seen some huge changes over the last three decades.
Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the number of UK pubs have fallen from 52,500 in 2001 to 38,815 in 2018. But, looking on the bright side, the number of craft beer taprooms have boosted the overall beer market recently, which saw growth of 2.6% in 2018 – the biggest increase for 45 years.
With all of this is mind, here are four things that pubs and bars can do to attract and retain younger millennial and Gen Z talent:
- Offer great products
The booming craft beer scene shows that younger consumers in the UK can be enthusiastic about beer, but they prefer quality over quantity. Craft beers are brewed with passion, they usually have an interesting back story, and there is a lot of variety,
By increasing your offering to include craft beers, artisan cocktails and a range of premium spirits choices, you can attract both customers and staff members alike to your outlet.
Younger customers can be incredibly passionate about craft beers, and having a wide range on offer allows them to experiment with new flavours and styles.
- Provide in-depth training
Because of the newfound passion for craft beers and artisan drinks, millennial and Gen Z staff members like to be knowledgeable about the products they are selling so they can pass on their expertise to customers, regarding flavour profiles, interesting combinations and even food matches.
As well as training staff members to be expert baristas and mixologists, consider sending them to craft beer breweries and distilleries for brands that you stock so they can find out more behind the scenes and enhance their knowledge.
Training staff also proves to them that you are committed and invested in them, and their career progression – something else that is of huge importance to the millennial and Gen Z generations.
- Innovate with technology
Generation Z are a mobile-first generation, and both Gen Z and millennials are completely comfortable with technology and its benefits. If technology exists to help with or solve a problem, they will use it.
With this in mind, utilising mobile, wireless and cloud-based tech behind the bar can help put younger staff members at ease.
At Beer Piper, our advanced cloud-based technology ensures that beer lines are cleaned at regular intervals with environmentally-friendly chemicals. Our most recent BP4 system also logs when and who cleans the lines, and features cloud-based tech and a mobile app, which allows bar managers and staff members to access real time data as and when they need to.
- Adopt ethical and eco-friendly practices
A recent survey by Deloitte of 10,455 millennials (born between 1983 and 1994) looked at the company attributes that keep full-time millennial employees loyal. It found that millennials want to work for companies that improve society.
In fact, many other studies and articles have found that millennials and younger people put ethical practices and good corporate social responsibility above money and earnings.
With this in mind, adopting eco and environmentally friendly practices, reducing waste, recycling any commercial waste responsibly and offering ethical products can help to attract staff as well as custom.
Recently, Beer Piper called on Britain’s landlord’s to stop wasting beer worth over £147 million per year.
According to our recent data, the average pub in the UK wastes 20 pints per week by inefficiently cleaning their beer lines, which (using the latest ONS figures on the number of pubs in the UK), equates to a staggering 40 million pints per year.
Additionally, we always use powerful yet environmentally-friendly Chemisphere chemicals in our systems.
We work with 800 pubs and bars in the UK, and the feedback is always positive when our systems have been implemented. Beer Piper utilises the most innovative technology, uses eco friendly products and saves waste.
We also help landlords maintain the quality of craft and artisan beers, which can be lost if lines are not properly maintained, meaning that months or even years of passion can be ruined in seconds.
If you want to make a powerful difference to your pub or bar business, help to attract millennial and generation Z staff members, and think to the future, its worth considering how Beer Piper can help.
Additionally, we are so confident our customers will love Beer Piper’s that we will install our system free for 21 days so you can experience the numerous benefits for yourself.
To find out how Beer Piper can make a powerful difference to your pub or bar business, call us on 0300 303 2709 or visitwww.beerpiper.co.uk