Bottomless brunches have become an ideal marriage between operators wanting to extend trading hours and a whole assortment of experience seekers. Almost half of the UK population (49%)[1] is eating more brunch than they were a year ago, led by the younger generation, where 57% have reported an increase on last year compared to 36% of over 46-year olds. But do bottomless brunches deliver the incremental sales that operators are hoping for or are they just loss leaders? Malcolm Muir, Consultancy Director of business solutions company Venners, offers his 10 top tips on identifying the hidden costs of bottomless brunches and preventing the costs running away from you.
Imagine the scenario – a group of people in your venue on a Sunday morning, ready to have a good time and get value for money out of their brunch. Without the right controls in place, that one group could wipe out your profits for the week as they binge on smoked salmon blinis and unlimited prosecco or smashed avocados and mimosas.
Think carefully about the implications of introducing a bottomless brunch and make sure it is manageable and scalable with your business offer. Quality, choice and control must be balanced in accordance with your brand.
Here are 10 top tips to making brunch work for you and your customers.
- Only accommodate pre-booked tables
- Best practice is to work on table allocation time slots, such as a maximum of 1.5-2hrs per booking
- The booking policy should stipulate that the whole table must order from the bottomless brunch menu to prevent sharing food and drinks amongst the party
- Operators should limit the trading window. Work out the maximum number of covers you want to accommodate on the deal and set a limit of three to four hours
- Build a pricing structure that reflects a target cost of sales, for example taking components of the standard menu to create a separate balanced menu offer
- Manage target cost of sales through managing customer choice. Limit choices of high-cost items, e.g. each guest is allowed one serving of higher-cost items. Consider how you can add supplements for additional or higher-cost items included within the offer. Work to a formula that fits the usual business operation
- Manage the guest journey – limit the number of plates they can order in one go. Ensure a staggered drinks and food service is delivered without impacting overall customer experience
- Serve draught beer products in a smaller 284ml serving and only ever refill drinks when glasses are entirely empty, so that’s one glass per customer
- Make drink refills discretional and monitor, with a clear statement saying that they can be withdrawn at any time. It’s the operator’s duty as a liquor retailer to manage this and ensure that all drinks are served within responsibility guidelines
- Always include some mocktails and soft drink options and serve jugs of iced water
If you’re thinking about introducing a bottomless brunch, carry out a SWOT analysis as your starting point to see if it will benefit your business or not – financially and reputationally. Work through the pointers and implement the right controls to limit consumption, minimise waste and maximise profit. When the costs are no longer hidden, you can get your offer out in the market and really make your bottomless brunches count for your business.