Create the Ultimate Bar Environment and Profits

By Taylor Rau

The excitement is palpable. Funds have been secured. Management and staff have been interviewed and are as anxious as you to see the construction and opening of this new venture –– this fun foray into on-premise entertainment. Still, one key element begs serious attention: the bar itself. How much time and budget has it received? Have you gone down the checklist for its components? Does the bar truly fit with the venue's concept and will it meet service needs now and in the future?

Take measure and be confident there will be more answers than questions when it comes to the custom construction of an establishment's beverage hub, brand new or renovation and reinvention.

The following successful operators provide glimpses of their bar environment brilliance and why raising the bar is more important than ever.

Breaking the Mold

“It's not a food problem or a liquor cost –– it's a customer service issue,” says Manager Byron Osgood of his bar area's construction. What guests find at the Bound'ry in Nashville, Tenn., are creative, thoughtful and time-intensive details that facilitate customer care at the bar by improving service times and providing an atmosphere that keeps them there longer. Osgood says everything Owner Jay Pennington, he and others on staff have done regarding bar construction has been mold-breaking, whether it's mosaic tiling, intricate painting or unique sculpturing.

There is one factor to consider here, though, he says.

“One aspect of this is that it probably wouldn't work well as a chain, because I'm not sure we'd be able to recreate it,” Osgood says. He says Pennington traveled extensively before opening up Bound'ry and his two other establishments South Street and Chu, always doing reconnaissance and looking for influences to make his venues stand-alone.

This translates into Bound'ry's custom touches, such as the ones at its under-lit upstairs bar. Five women painted on the outside of the bar each hold a basket, the contents of which are on the bar top in mosaic tile and coated with a clear layer of lacquer. Each bar-top basket contains different contents additionally, such as fish, fruit, vegetables, etc. These little touches go a long way in creating bar identity and guest satisfaction, Osgood says.

“You have to stimulate your customers, so that when they come in, they say, “This is neat,'” he says.

The Art of Design

Osgood says the top priority is the energy a bar brings to its surroundings –– there has to be some sort of excitement. Incorporating artwork (from local artisans) is a great start, and the music and lighting are integral as long as they complement –– not detract or overpower –– the bar itself.

This is demonstrated at Chu in its second-story bar, accessible to guests by a curving metal stairway under which water flows over smooth pebbles. The focal point of the bar is a giant Buddhist sculpture, accentuated by LED lighting that changes its appearance by color wash –– all controlled by a downstairs touchscreen panel. The clear Lucite-topped bar with rotating color effects only heightens the atmosphere that has been wowing guests since Chu's recent opening, says General Manager Robin Lee.

Though expensive, Osgood says this aspect of bar construction was crucial to environment. Moreover, the attention to detail and bar experience has been earning the venue accolades from various media as well as strong word-of-mouth marketing from visitors.

At South Street, the ceiling over the bar is covered with shellacked newspapers, support columns are covered with shellacked $1 bills the bar's staff earned early on; a live tree also grows through the floor adjacent the bar. All of these characteristics get and keep people talking, Osgood says, and owners/operators often take that for granted.

The Profitable Difference

Back at Bound'ry, Osgood elaborates on the differences between the downstairs and upstairs bars and how that relates to construction. The downstairs bar is designed for optimum traffic flow by size and curvature, and its tiled materials and more traditional bar seats make it a durable environment.

Upstairs, the Bound'ry's Millenium Bar area (as it was opened on New Year's Eve 2000) is plusher, surrounded by colorful cloth seating, throw pillows and pulled drapes. In warm weather, roll-up flaps allow for open-air lounging. In the winter, velvet drapes are closed along with them to create an intimate bar scene. To drive a point home, Osgood says the way this bar environment was constructed directly reflects with patrons –– he says Millenium Bar guests are 80 percent female.

He says the ability to custom build and evolve also saves time and money on the back end, though this is never by accident. Even tweaks by inches can be key to a successful bar or an environment that doesn't quite achieve the goal, he says.

“But, at what point do you cut it off? You want it custom, but you also want it easy.” He says with restaurant/nightclub concepts and the recent industry trend toward food and beverage integration especially, you're not looking for a night and day effect when constructing a bar or bars. You want your destination location to evolve.

Even the barstools parked at a station can make or break an environment accordingly.

“You don't want people to fall asleep or spend all night in a chair, but when they're waiting for awhile for a meal, you want them to be comfortable,” Osgood says. He adds that an operator's extra challenge here is comfort versus durability and that when a bar is designed and custom-constructed well, there are is an adverse, albeit positive, factor to consider.

“The bane of design and success is butting up against high volume,” he says. “Success is wear and tear.”                 NCB