10 Ways To Increase Weekday Traffic At Your Bar

You found our list of ways to increase weekday traffic at your bar.

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Have you noticed your bar, while bustling on the weekends, tends to lag Monday through Thursday? Foot traffic lowers, business drops, and time ticks by slower. What to do, you wonder? How can you, the enterprising bar owner, increase weekday traffic to your pub and make it THE place to grab a drink after work or a bite to eat during lunch break? Here are ten sure-fire ways to increase your weekday traffic. With a little bit of luck, your Tuesday afternoons might look just start like Saturday night! Here are 10 sure-fire ways to increase your weekday traffic. With a little bit of luck, your Tuesday afternoons might look just start like Saturday night!

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The list covers:

generating online reviews
targeting local businesses
hosting live events & competitions
pairing up with local interest groups
creating a special weekday menu
promoting your bar using social media advertising

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Let's go!

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1. Make Yourself As Easy To Find As Possible

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If nobody knows about your bar, it doesn't exist. Online reviews help your bar, well, exist! Hundreds of glowing Google reviews would convince anybody that your bar is the place to be. Offering incentives help push reviews — discounts and free-drink coupons to anyone who leaves a review, for example — as does holding fun celebrations when you hit a milestone (100 Review Party, anyone?)

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For a little extra boost, Google “best bars in {my area}”, and see if there are any blogs that are at the top of the Google results page. If so, reach out to the author and ask if they'd consider adding you to the list! Their authoritative voice might just influence bargoers to visit your pub and leave their own five-star reviews!

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2. Offer Weekday Discounts To Local Businesses

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Individual bargoers are amazing, but so are entire businesses! Becoming a hotbed for workday corporate events is an incredible way to increase your bar's foot traffic. You can start trying to entice your local businesses with discounts geared especially towards them — half-price drinks, free side dishes, or maybe even extended Happy Hour.

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You can even promote yourself as a great place to hold corporate events. To do this, you can start by investing a bit in the essential equipment that businesses might need - projectors/tv screens, audio equipment, and the like. If you know any business owners personally, talk to them…not to try to sell them anything, but to ask them when they last hosted a corporate event in an outside location, what was their decision-criteria, and what kind of equipment/ambiance the venue needed to have for their specific occasion. Take their feedback seriously, give them updates over time on how you’re improving your venue to cater to businesses, and they just might reach out to you for their next event!

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3. Host Trivia (Or Some Other Live Game)

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If there's one thing bargoers love as much as drinking and eating, it's gaming! So if you want to increase weekday foot traffic, offer ample chances to play, and play they shall! There are so many types of bar games you can offer and it just so happens we’ve written an article on what kinds of games you can host at your bar for low, or even, no cost! The possibilities here are endless, as is the potential for big weekday business!

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4. Offer Pay-Per-View (PPV) Sports

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Pay-per-view is expensive. Why would anyone pay $60 to see boxing or UFC when they can hit the local bar and see it for much less? Be that bar! Offer up weekday boxing, UFC, and wrestling events at your bar for an unbelievable discount. Charging $5 admission during a PPV means each bargoer saves at least 90%. Who in their right mind would turn down savings THAT steep?!

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You can make the deal even sweeter by offer incentives for buying that admission ticket, like "watch the PPV and receive a 'free Happy Hour drink on your next visit' coupon." Voila, instant repeat customer!

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5. Host Themed Events!

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People love events with fun themes attached to them! So take advantage and offer some during the week. Advertise them properly and your bar will be hoppin' in no time! Your theme could be literally any popular thing. Taylor Swift Night, perhaps? Imagine the foot traffic when every local Swiftie descends on your bar to eat, drink, shake it off, and feel like they're 22! (See? We're hip.) Decade-centric themes are another great avenue. Every decade from the '40s to the 00's oozes nostalgia, and tapping into it will increase both your weekday traffic AND revenue!

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6. Book Live Music

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Many bars offer live music, but only on the weekends. Music is eternal, and can't be confined to just Friday and Saturday! Buck the trend and offer live tunes Monday through Thursday. No matter where you are, we guarantee you'll find plenty of talented (and eager) musicians to book, and an audience eager to hear them play.

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It doesn't have to be acoustic guitar or rock, either. Why not hold a weekday EDM dance party? Party people itch to dance on Thursdays just as much as Saturdays, so offer that opportunity and watch them flock to your pub!

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7. Pair Up With Local Interest Groups

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Earlier, we mentioned turning your bar into a haven for weekday corporate events. You can do the same thing with local interest groups! Market yourself as the go-to place for meetups of any kind and you'll be swimming in weekday foot traffic!

Interest groups are everywhere these days. Want to meet like-minded people into networking, languages, book clubs, writing circles, recipe swaps, career advice, or virtually anything else? There's a Facebook group for that. Not only will embracing interest groups draw more customers, but you might even learn something new while listening to them!

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8. Create A Weekday Food Menu With Special Pricing

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Burgers and fries are delicious, but also ubiquitous. Anyone can get basic bar food anywhere. But you're not a basic bar, right? Of course not!

So get creative with your menu. Conjure up unique dishes you won't find at the local bars: salads with crazy toppings, sandwiches with exotic ingredients, and the like. Then, offer your tasty treats at special weekday pricing. Customers are more likely to try something new if it's discounted. The longer you do that, the more of a reputation you earn for being THE bar for when they crave something both delicious and different for lunch!

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9. Hold A Competition!

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People are competitive and love to win. Give them what they want and offer weekday competitions at your bar. They'll love it and you will too!

You likely already have the tools in your bar for some grand tournaments. Own a dartboard or two? Some pool tables? A few cornhole boards? With those three items, you can host tournaments and entice foot traffic.

Of course, winning isn't everything — there's also prizes. Offer cash or coupons to the tournament winners and don't be surprised when your Thursday Mid-Afternoon “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere” Cornhole Tourney soon becomes the talk of the bar scene!

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10. Push #1-9 Out To The World With Social Media Advertising

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All of the above ideas are great, but you need people to know about them. Word of mouth helps, but social media helps even more! Use Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to let them know what you're offering. Film fun videos advertising your menu or next event. Play around with hashtags until you find which ones drive up engagement. Get friends and family to share your posts so others see them. Reply to every comment and infuse your social media campaign with YOUR unique personality.

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Congratulations, you have now convinced the public to high-tail it to your bar for weekday fun! Now, get back to work!

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