Category Archives: Data

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

7 Ways to Run a More Productive Nightclub

Running a successful nightclub isn’t easy. You have several different areas doing several different things, not to mention an array of staff members to account for. That’s why it’s more important than ever to stay connected, both from a personnel and an operations standpoint. When everything and everyone is connected, you’re able to run a productive, more profitable nightclub.

Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to stay connected in today’s landscape, especially with efficient technology solutions. Here are 7 ways technology can improve your nightclub’s results.

1. Integrate one platform that handles all areas

There are technology platforms out there specific to the nightclub industry that streamlines operations into one centralized spot. This solution increases efficiency across the board by aggregating information from multiple sources while also uncovering key statistics about your business.

2. Use a combination of pre-sales, upsales, and cross-sales to boost your club

A goal of any business is to drive revenue and translate it to money in the bank. With a combination of pre-sales, upsales, and cross-sales, you’re able to not only drive revenue, but also increase the amount of revenue you’re already driving without adding any extra work to your daily operations.

3. Partner with a digital ticketing system

Digital ticketing platforms aren’t anything new, but the way in which you manage them is. Most third-party ticketing vendors don’t give you access to manage a ticketing page, to view sales before the event, to view data after the event, or even to collect money during the whole process. Put that power back in your hands, and work with ticketing vendors that:

  1. Give you your own event page without competing venues or advertisements from which your guests can purchase tickets
  2. Ensures payment goes directly through your own merchant services provider and into your bank account right when a guest buys a ticket online
  3. Has the ability for your promoters to sell tickets on the streets through an integrated mobile app
  4. Will give you full access to your data

4. Manage the flow of tables and servers in one window view

Using pen and paper or even email to manage reservations results in many errors, including double-booked tables. Instead, use a reservation management system that uses an interactive table map that displays reservations, guest information, and servers all in one window view. This streamlines your processes to make sure what’s getting marked down is true to what’s actually happening during the night, all while maximizing efficiency and accuracy.

5. Get insight on guests to give them an even better experience

A robust customer relationship management (CRM) system that’s tied to your point of sale and integrated into your one main platform allows you to give your guests a great experience. With your CRM system, you’re able to better identify guests in line, upsell guests before they walk through your door, provide personalized service, and improve marketing efforts. After all, nobody, especially your VIP guests, wants to be treated like a number. Tracking and understanding guest data allows you to treat every guest as a valuable guest.

6. Review important data on how your club is performing to optimize it for future success

The key to measuring the success of your club is by analyzing critical data – something a fully integrated technology solution can achieve. This system collects data from any area of your club, analyzes it, and presents it in easy-to-read charts in one central spot so you get a better understanding of:

  • How much money you made or lost over a given time period
  • Which days of the week are your busiest
  • What type of liquor you sell the most on a given day
  • How many tables are reserved a night
  • Which promoters are bringing in the most and best guests
  • Which servers are upselling the most and making the most tips
  • What types of promotions or events bring in the most traffic

7. Better manage operations and employees to run the most successful club

Continuing on the integrated system bandwagon, this same system has the capability to provide individual logins to each member of your team for them to better manage their job functionality. Plus, depending on that person’s role in your club, you get to choose what they can and can’t access, helping to keep your data more secure. Giving staff access (even if it’s limited access) to a technology solution that combines information in one spot is an effective way to get everyone on the same page and working together. This interconnectivity between operations and employees is what makes your club a well-run, highly enjoyable, and highly profitable venue.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

What is Humanized Data?

We’ve spent the past decade watching bars and nightclubs struggle to manage their business and communicate with their customers. It was fascinating: people transformed how they interacted with businesses and brands, but hospitality venues hadn’t yet adopted to the change. Consumers had gotten accustomed to the savviness of online businesses sending recommendations based on past habits and reminders based on timing. It’s personal. It’s experience-driven. It’s humanized. And now they’re driving that change within nightlife.

What we noticed is the gap between how venues operated and what customers expected created a void between customers and venues, and created a disconnect in business performance. But the root issue was more than just consumers adapting at a faster rate than venues could keep up with.

The root issue was data. Not just any data. Humanized data.

There’s data all over your venue. Your POS system, your guestlist, your reservations, website visitors, general admission guests, inventory, and even your staff are all data points that exist throughout your venue. The issue is none of it talks to each other, so all it ever exists as is raw data points that you may or may not even know you have access to.

When you combine all your data together, you have the possibility of seeing the complete picture. Think of it as a puzzle, where each sector of your business is one puzzle piece. When combined together, you have the complete picture. That’s comprehensive data.

The next step is to take that comprehensive data and humanize it. But what does this actually mean?

Humanized data is data that tells a story. It provides insights into which triggers increase or decrease business performance and guest experience. It’s about turning quantitative numbers into qualitative actions.

Let’s take your POS reports as a starting point. As an individual puzzle piece, you can pull reports and see what your total sales were for a given day and how many transactions made up those sales. But if you stop there, you’re only looking at one piece of the puzzle.

When you combine your POS with an ID scanner, you open the door to understanding who the guests were that made up those transactions and even who the guests were that attended but didn’t buy anything. When you sync POS and ID scan with your inventory management system and your staffing system, you begin to get comprehensive data on what combination makes a night a success, and what combination makes a night a failure.

With humanized data, you turn the raw comprehensive data points into a story. What started as 800 transactions for a total of $32,000 is now 1,000 guests from across the state — of which 66% are new and 34% are returning. Their primary age ranges are between 21-30 years old, with 26-30 being the most dense. They’re primarily male who have an average cost per transaction of $32, which was made up of 4 items. Whiskey coke rail drinks were the most popular order, particularly made with Jack Daniels. The busiest checkin time was the 11:00pm hour, more specifically at 11:45pm. But you were overstaffed from 8-11pm, causing your labor to sales ratio to ultimately hinder your profitability for the night.

Now that’s humanized data. It’s not just numbers in a spreadsheet – it’s a wholistic story of what made up a night. It’s a buyer persona to work from. It’s insight into which triggers you can pull to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.

When you have access to this level of insight, you can start asking yourself:

  • How does my gender or age demographics affect my sales?
  • At what percentage of capacity do I start losing money?
  • What types of music brings in the most bar sales?
  • Are you more profitable during special events or regular nights?

    • The best part is, when everything is synced, it’s also tracked and measured so you can try different things and see the impact it has on your business. It’s this mentality that has allowed other industries to thrive, and it’s this level of insight that will allow you to close that gap with your customers and build a powerful business.

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    The 3 Things Every Bar Needs at its Core to Thrive

    Running a bar or nightclub isn’t easy. There are a lot of areas that need to work together to ensure your success. Yet, our industry still operates in silos, using different systems for different sections – oftentimes leading to missed data and opportunities. Meanwhile, online industries like Amazon have gotten so savvy they’re able to send recommendations based on past habits and send reminders based on timing. As a result, this is the level of service your guests have come to expect.


    That’s why in today’s digitally-driven environment, it’s no longer sufficient to make assumptions on how your venue is performing and who your guests are. It’s also no longer sufficient to just focus on the data from one area of your business. This may have worked in years past, but it’s an outdated practice that cold cost you your venue.

    So while we understand there are many things you need to run your venue, the following three are the core of what you need to be successful in 2019 and beyond.

    ID Scanning

    You already ID and verify each person that walks through your door. Take this a step further with license scanning technology that not only scans and verifies each person, but also collects data on each person to build your guest database. This is the best way to know exactly who came into your venue each and every night, complete with your gender breakdown, where your customers are coming from, your age breakdown, and which customers are repeat vs first-time customers. You also have access to your digital 86 list as well as a city-wide ban list to keep your venue safe. This tool acts as your guide in better decision making for a process that was already mandatory. And with a solution like Vēmos, all of this is combined with your CRM system and analytics section to truly have that understanding of your whole business.

    POS Integration

    Speaking of uncovering your true performance, having your point of sale integrated into your operations system is an extremely powerful move. Now, not only do you have the ability to track your VIP table spend automatically, but you also gain insight on your entire bar. “But I can already do that,” you say? Sort of. The reality is POS systems are not in the business of providing their customers with great analytics; they focus on providing a great user experience for your bartenders during the night. Integrating your POS system takes that data and provides you with true analytics that allow you to better understand how your entire venue did rather just a segment. It can also tie to your CRM system to give insight on personalized spending. Now, you’re able to know who contributed to your $15,000 bar sales — was it one person who spent $15k? Did everyone who walked in make a purchase? This information matter so you’re able to replicate that night with a similar set of guests.

    CRM System

    All of this comes back to individualized data. After all, the new name of the game is experience, and personalized experience at that. You can’t provide your guests with personalized experiences if you don’t know who they are. Sure, you may know your top regulars who always come in. And while they’re important, the other hundreds of guests are equally as important to your business. The only way to capture this information is to have all your data tied back to your CRM system. This is what allows you to know each of your customers on a personal level — from how often hey come, to how much they spend, to their specific preferences. You can then use this data to filter your guests into like-minded groups to send targeted messages specifically to them. Now you’re able to provide a complete circle of personalized service both online and in-person.

    These three tools are the core of what accelerates your capabilities. Having technology a part of your venue is no longer just about a reservation management system. It’s about a comprehensive appraoch that provides insight into your venue as a whole. With a combination of ID Scanning, POS integration, and a CRM system at your core, you now have the capabilities of providing that personalized service previously only available to the likes of Amazon. Safeguard your venue, target sharper, spend smarter, and create an unbelievable experience for every person walking through your door.

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    4 Ways to Build Your Bar with Guest Data

    Do you know who your guests are? The ones who frequent your venue, who spend a lot of money, and who would be considered “loyal?” Many venues think they do, but few have the full picture.

    Recognizing your guests’ faces or even their names is just the start. Imagine knowing how many times they’ve been to your bar or club, how many reservations they’ve made, how much money they’ve spent at the bar, and what their most popular drink purchases are. That’s valuable information, and that’s what’s going to propel you forward. And an ID scanning system tied to your point of sale is just what’s going to get you there. Not only does this increase your security and reduce your liability, but it also acts as the driving force behind building loyalty with your guests.

    Here’s what you can uncover when you know your guests on a deeper level.

    1. Better identify guests

    I’ve been to bars that didn’t know which guests made up the biggest volume of sales. I’ve been to nightclubs where high-profile guests were stopped at the door by the bouncer and denied access, purely from the fact that the bouncer didn’t recognize that guest. This lack of understanding, communication, and identification is a threat to your venue. In the first instance, you’re losing out on increasing the average cost per transaction from that guest by not identifying the opportunity. In the second instance, not only did you not make money from that person that night, but that person is infinitely less likely to return to your venue. In an industry driven by providing great hospitality, knowing your guests is essential to maximizing your revenue.

    2. Upsell guests before they walk through your doors

    With the right ID scanning system, you’re able to collect data on all of your guests. This goes well beyond their name, age and other demographic information. We’re talking behavioral data. Notice it’s their 5th time coming in this month? Comp their first drink. Is it a regular attendee from your bar crowd? Upsell them to a VIP table right then and there, thanking them for their loyalty and letting them know you think they would enjoy their experience more this way. They’ll be more likely after this experience to continue to be a high value customer, become more loyal to your venue, and refer friends.

    3. Provide personalized service

    Your guests expect personalized service. They get it from nearly every other industry, so your business is no exception to them. When you have access to behavioral data, you uncover key insights that allow you to provide this level of personalized service your guests have come to expect — how often that guests comes, what time of day they check in, how many visits they’ve had this month, what types of events or promotions drive them there, the list goes on. It’s with this information that you’re able to reward your guests for doing what they’re already doing — simply showing up — and begin to offer them personalized service well after they walk through your door.

    4. Improve marketing efforts

    When you combine an ID scanning system, a CRM system, and a point of sale system, you become unstoppable with your marketing. Now you have a database of rich guest information that combines meaningful demographic information with invaluable behavioral information. Use this information to send targeted, personal and relevant messages to individual guests. You can hyper target your digital ads directly to a segment of customers with a message that speaks 100% to them. You can segment your database into specific audiences and send a text message offer just to them. You no longer have to mass blast generic promotions into the unknown. When messages are personal and specific, it increases your marketing ROI so you can continue to reinvest in the actions that build your business.

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    ID Scanner: 3 Ways it Helps Your Bar

    Checking IDs is commonly considered a necessary evil of serving alcohol. It’s not sexy. It’s not exciting. It’s a nuisance. But this nuisance is actually a huge asset to your nightclub, especially with the right technology. It’s no longer a matter of crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s. Using advanced technology to check IDs is the new way to protect your club while driving profit.

    The Legal Aspect

    More than 250 ID changes are made annually in the United States alone, and the creation of fraudulent IDs will continue to advance. This is a deadly combination. It’s neither smart nor fair to leave the burden of identifying outdated or fraudulent IDs with your doormen. Once a minor is approved and served, litigation may be right around the corner.

    While legal repercussions vary by state and circumstances, the license holder found in violation of alcohol furnishing laws can receive anything from a fine to a suspension to a revocation of the liquor license. This liability begins with the first drink. It doesn’t matter whether or not a minor exhibits signs of intoxication, if there’s alcohol in the blood system, then your nightclub is liable. And should your license get revoked, you’ll have to wait at least six months before you can apply for another, which will likely be more difficult and costly due to the revocation on your record.

    Maintain a Secure Environment

    Not only can electronic ID scanning systems deter minors from entering your club, but they can also mitigate risks associated with unlawful incidents. Advanced ID scanning systems have the functionality to:

    • Keep track of people who might become too intoxicated, start fights or commit other crimes
    • Identify involved parties, including staff, when an incident occurs
    • Provide past incident information to help make more educated decisions on who does and doesn’t get into your club

    Maintaining a secure environment minimizes costs associated with insurance, repairs, fines, and enforcement. What’s more is it provides an enjoyable atmosphere for your patrons, which translates to a more profitable establishment.

    Improve Customer Relationships

    Better data means better business, and better business starts with great customer service. The more you know about your customers, the better you can communicate with them and develop lasting relationships. Electronic ID scanners allow you to collect information in the blink of an eye, such as customer demographics, frequency of visits, male to female ratio, and customer contact information. This information leads to better communication, management and, ultimately, profit.


    ​Whitney Larson is the president at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io.

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