Differentiation
160 beers on tap!
There’s this area in a town called Bellevue where there are 2 Breweries/Ale Houses next door to each other. When you think about it not much separates these places they both serve typical brewery food plus a couple ethnic offerings, their pricing is fairly similar, as well as both having more micro-brews on tap than one can safely drink in 1 sitting.
How is it both are able to survive right next to each other when there offerings are so close?
The answer they’re not. Lets take a look at the “packaging” and branding and see what you can do when you have an offering that could get lost in the crowd.
The Tap House
Offering they lead with: 160 Beers on tap (variety)
Description: “Tap House a contemporary restaurant and bar”
Tagline: Give Beer the respect it deserves
Presentation: Upscale, fancy table clothes/chairs, buttoned down, professional
Food: More formal fewer burgers, more entrees.
The Rock Bottom
Offering they lead with: Fresh, handcrafted beers and a diverse menu.
Description: “Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery”
Tagline: Serious about our food. Crazy about our beer.
Presentation: Wooden tables, large bar area, televisions peppered throughout the building, brew vats visible in bar.
Food: Many Appetizers, burgers, some steaks. More like a pub than a formal restaurant.
My Take: In the end these two restaurants are right next to each other, but yet seem miles away. They each have their own specific clientele that gravitate towards them. I find myself somewhere in the middle with little things making the decision on where I go (Happy Hour, Beer Specials, friend’s wanting to go to one or the other). Definitely a great example of how much space you can create with the parts of the offering outside of the core product can impact your business.
It may also be interesting to note given there are people like me who find themselves open to either establishment that there is an opportunity for one to poach from the other (although neither one seems to hurt for business).
They survive because the product is in demand. Beer is one of those recession-proof products. Anheuser-Busch was very successful despite problems with the economy, because people will always drink beer. The times when we saw difficultly could always be tied to efforts that took the focus off the beer. Are you stressing the value of culture over the product?
Between the two, I would go for the ladder, The Rock Bottom, because it appears to cater to a much larger crowd especially during a recession based on what I read. It seems to pop out as having lower prices since there is no mention of the words ‘fancy’, ‘professional’, ‘elegant’ and the logo indicates ‘less expensive’ as opposed to The Tap House, in my opinion. I also like bars that brew their own beer. The Tap House appears to cater toward a higher end clientele based on the fact that they require button down shirts and the atmosphere pops out as dressier. This is not to say The Tap House will go out of business because there is a definately a high end clientele that hangs around in Bellevue. If I knew more of the pricing and Happy Hour specials then I could probably have a more concise and determined answer.
Good points, regardless (you too Mike). Branding is so important but bars also tend to be recession proof as Mike pointed out.
Bottom line is I bet both bar do well overall.
I will say the mention of button down had more to do with their presentation than a requirement on customers. That being said you do tend to notice the clientele are a bit dressed up, so a t-shirt and jeans may make you feel slightly out of place.
Good points though.