Published on October 18, 2023.
Let’s get drinking! (Responsibly!)
The famous bottomless brunch. A popular concept currently among Brits and a great weekend activity. With a brunch-styled menu, paired with unlimited drinks, the brunches are normally a little more expensive with a time limit to get as many customers ‘brunching’ as possible. It is a fantastic opportunity for bars, restaurants, and cafes to add a profitable meal service to an existing menu, enabling you to showcase dishes or drinks to prospective regulars. You could even create a brand-new menu for a few certain hours of the day to make the brunch even more profitable. A bottomless brunch can differentiate your brunch service from those around you. People are looking for a laid-back approach where the drinks are flowing and the food is good, yet bulky to soak up that alcohol. Not sure where to begin? Check out our small guide below to get your started…
Think carefully about the drink. A lot of places offer the standard prosecco; however, that may be easy but does not offer a point of difference. You need something that shows off your restaurant’s offerings. Don’t make them too complicated, a brunch setting isn’t the time for a twenty-ingredient cocktail. If you do choose cocktails, it is all about ease of service and making sure that guests can get their cocktails quickly to really feel like they’re getting a value. Aim to balance creating bespoke cocktails with quick options that keep guests happy. Also, make sure to offer something for everyone. Some people would be happy with a standard pint of lager. Consider having a choice of different types of drinks so you can cater for all and entice large groups to your venue.
While it’s rare, some guests do have one too many drinks and may need to be cut off. It’s a delicate situation to approach, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for. Make food part of the deal or a necessity when serving customers. You can also offer coffee or tea as a part of the package. Make sure your team is trained to keep an eye out for that during service, keeping count of the amount of alcohol served to each table. Having a time limit can also help cut down on guests overindulging – usually 1hr 30mins to 2hrs is enough time for a bottomless brunch.
You need to offer something that no one else is. Make sure to do research into the local area and check out the competition. Maybe offer a longer time limit, a later brunch service, unlimited pizza, or more variety with drinks. Does your venue have a theme? Could you lean into this for a point of difference? Could you offer something alongside the brunch? Live music, a drag show, bingo, a quiz… the options are endless. But knowing your local competition as well as researching the most popular brunches is your greatest ally.
Like any service, make sure that your servers and kitchen are all set up. Brunch can be even more hectic than traditional meal times, so you need to be absolutely sure that you have all of the drink prep done and waiting at the proper stations. The speed of a bottomless brunch service is high in demand, and can make or break your sales. Can your cocktails can be pre-batched? Can you minimise food preparation time? Usually getting orders in ASAP is the best way to minimise stress on the kitchen, especially with a set menu. Introduce time slots that works with the entire team.
If you run out of mimosas during a bottomless brunch service, you’ve probably lost that group of guests forever. Make sure you can actually deliver and give what you’re offering. Consider testing with their team to make sure you can handle the new task of offering unlimited beverages quickly. Make sure to have plenty of staff on shift and, if it is successful, you could even introduce pre-paid bookings to cut down time overall and save money from last minute cancellations and no-shows.
Social media is your best friend. Getting your brunch advertised on social media is the best way to get the news out. And if you are offering a great deal and a good time, people will start to do your marketing for you. Make sure to present your food choices, drink choices, time limit and price wih advertising so people know exactly what they are getting. People want bang for their buck so make sure to keep everything exciting and ‘unmissable’ to fill all those brunch slots!
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About the author
Chloe Lewis
Chloe looks after all copywriting and proof-reading for Drink Warehouse UK, working with the Marketing team to deliver educational content to all our customers. She has spent many years in the hospitality sector, moving from behind the bar to now helping venues to stock their own. You can find more from Chloe about beer, cider, spirits, wine, non-alcoholic, soft drinks and RTDs all over our blogs, website, social media and Set The Bar magazine.
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