How to Use Fish Bowls for Drink Promos in Your Restaurant or Tavern

Fish bowl drink promotions are rapidly gaining popularity among taverns and restaurants that sell liquor, but before you dive into this lucrative drink promotion option, check out the three steps below that will help you make the best choices when it comes to the fish bowls and drinks you choose, as well as how you promote your establishment’s new drink menu item.

Step 1: Order Your Fish Bowls

The first step to planning your restaurant’s drink promotion is to order your fish bowls. Consider these tips:

• For drink promos, you want to make sure your fish bowls are large enough to accommodate the number of people who order them. For example, you might want to sell drink promotions in fish bowls sized just right for two people, three people, or even four or more people. Fortunately, fish bowl containers are available in numerous sizes. Keep in mind the most popular size for drink promo purposes is the 2.5-gallon fish bowl, so if you’re not sure what size to order or you don’t want to order a variety of sizes, you might want to start with this size until you determine how in demand your drink promos will be.
• Just as you can find fish bowls in various sizes, you can also find them in various materials – the most popular being plastic and glass. The material you choose is entirely up to you, but you should keep in mind that, generally, plastic fish bowls are more durable than glass fish bowls. In other words, if an accident should happen, a plastic fish bowl is less likely to break.

Step 2: Decide Which Drinks to Sell

Now that you know what kinds of fish bowls you’re going to use, it’s time to decide what you’re going to put in them!

Mixed drinks are the most popular options for fish bowl drink promotions, and most restaurants that offer these kinds of drinks also pay attention to factors such as the time of year (for example, are your customers likely to order a Hawaiian-themed drink in December?), upcoming and current holiday seasons (many restaurants and taverns have fun with options like Halloween-themed drinks), and the kinds of mixed drinks their customers regularly request.

Step 3: Promote Your Fish Bowl Drinks!

This step is especially important, because chances are you’ve never offered fish bowl drink promotions before (otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article!), which means your customers aren’t familiar with ordering them from your establishment.

In addition to making sure your drink menu reflects the additions, consider ideas like placing small signs on the bar or on your restaurant’s tables promoting the drink, or even placing advertisements on your local radio station promoting a night of drink specials.

As is the case whenever you try something new with your business, you can expect a growing and learning period when you add fish bowl drink promotions to your restaurant’s menu; however, once you observe and take note of your customers’ reactions and make changes to reflect those reactions, you’ll find that the new addition has become a lucrative one!