Since taproom pricing is a personal mission of mine, I thought I would lay out 3 reasons to increase your on-premises pricing.
- Average price per pint in the US is $3.62. Are you above or below that? Jeez, I hope above. I will assume you are at $4.00 or $4.50 per pint. What are your accounts selling that same beer for? At a minimum, I suggest your taproom pricing mirror your accounts pricing. Geographic location does not affect this theory. add $.25
- You are local. You are as fresh as it gets. The public is grasping on to the “buy local” theme. Your product is as fresh and local as it gets. Your beer demands a similar premium because it is a local, quality product. add 5%
- Experience – Yes, I am going back to experience again. The reason why customer experience is a recurring favorites of mine is because breweries, unlike other consumer packaged good manufacturers, have an opportunity to crush this one. The result of great customer experience is an annuity of recurring business. add 10%
Let’s say you take my suggestions and implement them at your brewery. Currently, you charge an average of $4.50 per pint.
Current price $4.50
accounts +$.25
local +5%
experience +10%
New Price $5.49
Too much, all at once? Stagger the price increase over time. Adjust the variables to your market. My goal with this post is get you thinking about the possibilities and understanding your value in our economy. Don’t be scared, do it!
In my example the increase came out to $1.09 per unit. Expand this over the number of units you sell in a year. The increase will have a positive impact on revenue which could facilitate growth sooner than planned.
-cf