It’s no shock when running or working in a pub that January is way quieter than the raucous build up to Christmas and – arguably too soon afterwards – the shenanigans of New Year’e Eve.
Surely the traditional slump in business during January must be seen as an opportunity to get people into your sites – whether it’s for socialising with friends, gaming, food, tourism or alcohol-free occasions.
CGA by NIQ’s Daily Drinks Tracker showed four consecutive year-on-year drops in drinks sales after new year celebrations finally fizzled out in early January.
So severe were the falls during January, sales figures plummeted by 7% and 8% consecutively from 14-20 January and 21-27 January respectively.
Cheshire Cat Pubs & Bars owner Tim Bird found positivity for the first week of January, stating the way New Year’s Day falls means trade will be busier than last year because schools reopen on 6 January, therefore allowing additional business until then.
He encourages other pubs to: “Keep enough staff on, stay focused and ensure you maximise what will be an extended holiday for many.”
And he also says licensees should consider rewarding regular customers rather than trying to find an activity for them first.
“Think up a way of rewarding those that have been loyal to you throughout the year,” Bird states. “This can be as simple as a voucher in a personalised Christmas card handwritten by the pub team that the guests/customers can use in January.
“It gives the guest a reason to come in and use the voucher and spend beyond the voucher’s value. Our loyal guests love being valued and will repay you beyond your expectation.
“This is NOT a bland ‘bounce back’ offer and shouldn’t be available to all guests. It should purely be for your most loyal customers as a thank you for their custom.”
Challenging time
Meanwhile, Brendan Padfield – owner of the Unruly Pig in Bromeswell, Suffolk – explains: “The doom and gloom messages of this Government were always going to make January 2025 more challenging than normal.
“If you now add into the mix the post-Budget malaise (and indeed protests), economic confidence is unlikely to improve soon.
“January and February 2025 are therefore likely to be very tough months for most operators – with discretionary spend having been already been stretched for the festive celebrations.”
However, he described what he would be doing at the Unruly Pig, which has won numerous awards over the past few years, including the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs 2024.
“We will be continuing with some current offers and jazzing up a few others. The simple fact is that most of us love an offer - providing it is meaningful.
“My view is if operators want to maximise the income potential in difficult times, offers/discounts are a way to help.
“It’s better to be bold with your offer and get ‘bums on seats’ to eat at those fixed costs rather than scrimp with a weak offer and consequently achieve fewer covers.”
The Unruly Pig will continue to offer its tasting menu at £49 per head, instead of the normal £75 charge, each Thursday.
It will introduce a family feasting menu on Sunday nights at £39 rather than charging £55.
And “taking a leaf out of Hawksmoor’s book”, each Wednesday corkage will cost just £5.
Padfield ponders: “Are we, however, just robbing Peter to pay Paul, ie, are we discounting bills when the customer would have eaten with us anyway? The evidence from our ‘Tasting Thursday’ promotion shows otherwise – we have more than doubled the numbers of customers electing to eat from our tasting menu each week.
“Think of it this way perhaps… the retail sector has traditionally had significant January sales for a reason… .”
Consistency needed
Pete Marshall, operator of the Kings Arms in Bexleyheath, Kent, which won the Best Pub for Entertainment category in the Great British Pub Awards 2023, explained increasing dwell times was key to boosting trade all year round and not just in January.
He recently told the Lock In Podcast: “Consistency is key. We tend to keep a similar programme of events that we would all year long. We take some of the bigger ones out because we know people won’t turn up to those in January.
“Quizzes, live music, etc carry on and we will run ‘rocky-oake’ rather than karaoke, which is one of our singers playing the guitar and makes it a bit more fun. We tested it in November and will run it in January.”
The pub also ran a murder-mystery event in a building it took on recently, which Marshall said was a “fantastic night” and charged customers for the event that included three courses of food per head.
He adds: “We are not getting any dwell time so we needed to try something to retain people for longer. We had them for hours and it was a success.
“It’s not an event we want to run constantly but maybe once or twice a year – you’ve got to do different things at different times and provide something extra.”
Bird of Cheshire Cat – which operates sites in the north-west of England and won the Best Drinks Offer in The Publican Awards 2024, and includes the overall title of Pub of the Year at the Great British Pub Awards 2023 for its Cholmondeley Arms site in Malpas, Cheshire – insists pubs can lose sales in the new year if they don’t get the offer correct.
He states: “New Year’s resolutions and dry January can have an impact on sales if you don’t make sure your low & no offer is, on the one hand imaginative, and on the other, inclusive.
“I would always say that we should call it ‘Try January’ where we encourage our guests to try new drinks, dishes and experiences.
“Your events, quizzes and live music should continue as planned like it’s any other month. All too often everything stops in January because it is like the old ’70s song ‘January… sick and tired you keep hanging on me’.
“When treating it like a normal month, guests believe it is like a normal month.”
Make drinks interesting
He adds if you have live fires, make sure they are lit and they will create lots of warmth and atmosphere and keep the mulled wine going at weekends to reward the “chilly walkers”.
Keep drinks interesting because a lot of people do not change their drinking habits in January so want to see activity ramp up around new cask ales and winter warming drinks such as red wines, whiskies, brandies and ports.
Finally, remember Saturday 25 January is Burns’ Night so the opportunity is there to make a long weekend of festivities with perhaps some great Scottish specials and whiskies to match.
Game season also as January gives way to February and many people may have ended their health kick and there’s the possibility of gaining fans with an end-of-game season meal matched with warming red wines.
Moving into February, Bird laments St Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday and is more useful midweek but many may be making a weekend of it starting on Thursday ‘Valentine’s Eve’ through to and including the Sunday.
He concludes: “February is a short month and needs a week of activity to catch people’s imagination. People have been paid and want a reason to head out. Food and drink matching weeks are a great thing to do and are popular as long as they suit the season.
“We have an extended winter quarter with Easter so late into April in 2025. It is vital that more activities are planned in March now and these are publicised well ahead like all the above opportunities.”
