Tips For Organising A Beer Festival
Beer festivals have become increasingly popular over the last few years with pubs using them to encourage both existing and new customers through the door.
They also provide an ideal opportunity for your customers to try new drinks and allow you to assess which ones will be popular to stock in the future.
The best time to hold a beer festival is during the summer and early autumn months (June to October) when the weather is more favourable. The biggest beer festival in Europe, Oktoberfest, is held throughout September.
However, a beer festival doesn’t have to be an outdoor event. If you don’t have a beer garden, you can hold it indoors, perhaps in a function room if available.
If you do hold your event outdoors, make sure you have a backup plan in case it rains. Outdoor marquees are great for serving beers and housing occupants during showers.
The length of your beer festival will depend on the size and location of your pub and the type of customers who visit. It can be a single day event or last a whole week.
These factors will also affect the number of guest beers you stock at your festival. An average sized pub running a 3-5 day festival should aim to stock a maximum of 12 to 15 varieties, which can be a mixture of beers, ales and ciders.
In addition, you can offer bottled drinks as well as cask ales and draught lagers.
Contact local and national brewers to see what deals they are offering. They may provide point of sale items such as banners, runners, etc. and may offer additional advice and support on running your event. Shop around and try to purchase on a sale and return basis. If you are ordering a few beers from the same brewer you should be able to negotiate a better deal.
Many customers like to try before they buy to avoid being lumbered with a pint they don't like. You can offer free taster glasses or provide special third pint beer taster racks to help customers choose a drink they will enjoy.
Beer and food go well together and another great way to increase profits at your beer festival is to offer food to your customers. Either a barbeque or simple hot food such as chilli, curry, hot dogs, and burgers etc. will be fine. If you are a smaller 'non food' pub, basic hand held food such as sandwiches and snacks will help keep people there longer.
For entertainment consider live music (perhaps a folk or traditional German oompah band) and/or a disco. If you’re a family pub then face painting, outdoor games, children's entertainers and a bouncy castle will be great for kids. You can also have fete games to help give your event a family party atmosphere.
Allow plenty of time to plan and advertise your event and ensure that your chosen date/s don’t clash with any other events that will pull customers away from attending. For example, major festivals, sporting events, weddings, other beer festivals, etc.
Outdoor banners, posters and chalkboards are a great way to let people know about your up and coming beer festival. Also, contact the local newspaper and local ‘what’s on’ guides to tell them about the event.
Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are also a good way to advertise. And of course, tell all your customers about your event as word of mouth is probably the most effective form of advertising.
For larger outdoor events consider renting additional toilet facilities and make sure you have plenty of bins around to stop the place becoming too untidy.
Finally, consider charging for tickets to your beer festival. Your decision will depend on your customers and whether you think they will be willing to pay. If people pay in advance they are more likely to attend because they have made a financial commitment. In addition, selling tickets allows you to maintain control over who attends and filter out potential trouble makers.
If you are providing entertainment and the ticket price includes food and the first drink you can justify an entry fee.
If your beer festival is successful you can make it an annual event that will hopefully increase in popularity.
Download our free Beer Festival poster.
'Real Ale' Board from: £ |
Face Paints from: £ |
Budget A-Board from: £ |
Horsey Hoppers from: £ |
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Beer Cartons from: £ |
Bunting from: £ |
Garden Skittles from: £ |
Beer Taster Kit from: £ |
