Today I want to talk about one of the most challenging issues bar owners face on a regular basis , which is what do you do when a regular becomes too intoxicated and disruptive ?
Hello and welcome to the Bar Business Podcast , where we help bar owners increase profits , attract loyal guests and simplify operations so you can avoid burnout and finally enjoy your life outside of your bar . I'm your host , chris Schneider , the Bar Business Coach .
Before we get started , a quick thank you to our sponsors , spot On , who provide a great , modern POS solution for the bar and restaurant industry , and Starfish , who use AI to turn your books into actionable steps to increase profits .
So today we're going to talk about not just what to do when you have a intoxicated or disruptive guest , but what happens when that guest is a regular , because that changes things a little bit in how a lot of people approach the situation , although we could argue that approaching a situation differently because it is a regular is actually the wrong thing to do .
Now the thing is we should be monitoring folks while we're serving them . We don't want anyone to become highly intoxicated , and so some of that is making sure your staff is trained to understand how to prevent someone from becoming intoxicated .
Some of that is paying attention to the person , because there are times and I'm sure everyone listening to this has had this experience Somebody comes in the bar , they seem perfectly sober , you give them a beer and now they're absolutely fall down drunk , probably because they took some drugs on the way in the door that you didn't know about . Or you know .
Sometimes it's illegal drugs and somebody doing the wrong thing . Sometimes it's just someone that's on a drug and they haven't had any alcohol since they've been on that drug and they don't understand that there's a bad reaction between a legally prescribed drug that they're on and alcohol . What do you do ?
And when it's not a regular you know it's just some random person you've never seen before the answer is pretty simple right , you kick them out and you have that conversation . But when it's a regular , you got to be a little bit more careful and you have to make sure that you're always handling things fairly .
And again , this should be the same whether they're a regular or not . But regulars obviously feel in our industry I was about to say a bit more entitled . Let's be honest here . They feel way more freaking entitled to do what they want in your bar because they see your bar as an extension of their space .
It's their third space where they hang out and , frankly , they think they own the bar just as much as you do . So what can we do ? Regular , not regular , but how can we mitigate this situation ? Well , the first thing is make sure you have policies in place on how to handle these situations .
The worst thing you can do is have a regular say you over-served me and then you kicked me out and you treated me unfairly . And I watched Jim the other night get drunker than I was and nothing happened to him . So you need policies in place , you need procedures in place so that you're treating everyone fairly .
Now we all know that oftentimes , when we cut somebody off , they have a negative reaction to being cut off . One of my favorite techniques when it comes to cutting people off it's not to tell you know , be busy . If it's a busy Friday night , that's easy .
If it's a slow Tuesday afternoon , that might be a little bit more difficult because there may not be many other people in the bar . But if you can just ignore them for 10 minutes , that gives them 10 more minutes to process that alcohol . The other thing that you can always do is , you know , put a glass of water in front of them .
But again , you need a policy in place that says hey , here's how we handle this here , so that your team always is doing the exact same thing . Now , along with that , you need to train your team on psychology so that they understand better how to handle difficult situations .
One thing that I see all the time that is like the worst thing you can do if someone's really drunk is to get aggressive with that , to say anything definitive . And you do have to say definitive things .
But the softer you can be about things , the less harsh you can be , the less likely that person is to have an adverse reaction to being cut off or being told hey , it's time to go home , man . Now , with the regulars .
Something I always used to tell them when they would get kind of towards that point is I'd walk over and say hey , jim , I know you're having a great time . I love that you come in here , and I think you might have had a little bit too much of a good time so far tonight . I'm going to have to cut you off for the night Now .
Tomorrow , we're all good , no problems at all . Now , sometimes that goes fine . Sometimes they have a really negative reaction , in which case I would look right back at the guy and say hey , jim , if you really I don't want to cause a scene . I don't want you to cause a scene . I don't want any of us to say something we're going to regret .
If you're not okay hanging out here and not having a drink in front of you , you might want to go home . Let me call you an Uber , let me get you a cab , let me get you a ride , whatever that may look like , but providing them an option .
Too often , especially with drunk people but this is also true of anybody that's angry or upset in a bar or restaurant the response from the staff , the team working , is you must do this , you must do this gives someone no free will , and when you restrain people's free will , that fight or flight response in their head kicks in .
Now , with drunk people , you're much more likely to get fight than you are to get flight . They're much more likely to get aggressive with you than to just turn around and run out the door . So you need to be gentle in how you handle the situation .
You need to be professional and it needs to be the same every time and all your employees need to know how to do it . Now , the other thing is , every once in a while , these situations will get out of hand .
I tell every one of my clients even people that are doing fancy bars , even people that are doing bars where we should not have issues say , hey look , you're getting people drunk . I mean , or you're not getting people drunk ?
Right , you're responsibly serving people , but people will get drunk in that process and every once in a while , I don't care who it is , some people are going to get in a fight . I remember one of the bars I owned .
I had a fight between two 60-year-old women who , based upon what they looked like coming in , seemed to be kind of professional , but one of them started hitting on the other , one's husband and I'll tell you it was game on and it was a very difficult fight to break up and it took multiple guys and actually physically restraining these women to stop the fight .
So I don't care what kind of bar you are , you're going to run into cutting people off and sometimes they're going to have an adverse reaction to that and want to fight you .
But that's why you have to have policies and procedures in place and also when it gets bad , a lot of bars , a lot of bartenders , say well , we can't call the cops , that's a negative thing against us and we don't want to run to our bar .
Now , obviously some jurisdictions are a little stricter about this than others , but I can tell you from my experience , from everybody that I know , from talking to cops and people on liquor boards and all sorts of different folks when you need help you should call for help , and nine times out of 10 , if you're proactive and you're trying to keep your bar safe
and the community safe , you're not in trouble . You're doing everyone a favor . So if you're going to cut somebody off and you have people in your bar becoming intoxicated and disruptive again , whether it's a regular or not regulars you have to handle with a little bit more kid gloves .
But in general , you need to make sure your staff understands your policies and that there is a standard way to handle all this . Your staff understands your policies and that there is a standard way to handle all this .
You need to make sure that you have training for your team on psychology , on how to talk people down , on how to get someone that is being belligerent or drunk actually comply with what you're trying to get them to do rather than fight you , and you need to maintain a professional relationship with local law enforcement and understand that sometimes we may not want
to , we may not try to , but sometimes we need to call them . That about wraps it up for today . If you enjoyed today's insights , make sure you like , subscribe and leave a review . If you are ready to take your bar to the next level , schedule a strategy session with me by clicking the link in the show notes below .
Until next time , have a great day and we will talk again later .