Customer service on the fly.

Yesterday 2-1-17, I received a filled out form from my website requesting bartending information.   As I read it, I realized that it was someone that had already inquired last year for their wedding.    This potential client filled out my online form after she had gone through some major obstacles in getting her wedding date confirmed.  Turns out the venue is under construction and it has been delayed past her original date.

Now 3 months later, she is reconnecting with us to get more information.  Our original contact was was through Thumtack.com.  Then we had an over the phone discussion about her event and needs.   Whats more, she is actually living out of the state of Arizona.

After reviewing and updating my excel spread sheet.  (Click here to read more about it.) I called her to see how I could help her.

Well, we talked for about 45 minutes.    Going over what her wants were and her ideas for drinks and all the details that go into a wedding.

Toward the end of our conversation she asked about how much she should budget for the alcohol.   In most cases this a a bit of a trick question.  But wit the help of my handy spreadsheet I could roughly give her a ball park cost.  We agreed this is by no means concrete, but it is a realistic approach to starting to get an idea of the cost.   Since here wedding is now pushed to Feb 2018, she has time to plan.

Here is how I approached this with my spreadsheet.

First, we know the guest count, we know how many hours of bartending service she wants.  So the spreadsheet calculated how many drinks are needed for the night.

Next we can enter in how many of the guests are wine drinkers as a percent.  This will tell us how many servings of wine are needed for the night.

Now the spreadsheet will calculate how many bottles of wine are needed because I know that 1 bottle provide 4-5 servings of 5-6 oz servings of wine.

Next we enter the same information for beer drinkers to find out how many servings of beer are needed for the night.

Now the spreadsheet will calculate how many kegs are needed for the night.   We know how much volume are in each different size keg.  The large ones are 15.5 gallons, and we know that 12oz are one serving of beer.   So the now the spreadsheet will tell us how many kegs are needed based on the size of keg.

Now that we know how many bottles of wine and kegs needed, we do a price search on google or on Beverages and More website to find out how much they charge for each.  I found a large 15.5 gallon keg is roughly about $120.00 average, and I just guessed on a reasonable wine bottle is $15.00

So based on this information I could estimate that 2 kegs would roughly be $240.00, and 8 bottles of wine would be roughly $120.00.

Now since I know how many guests are attending, how many drinks are needed for the whole night, how many of those drinks are wine and beer, I can now subtract those numbers and find how many cocktails are needed for the night.

Since my client has no idea of what drinks they want yet. I selected some  basic cocktails just to start a rough idea.  I picked 6 common one to get a variety of vodka, rum, tequila, etc.

So with this information this spreadsheet calculated how many bottles of liquor were needed.  I estimated that a 1.75L bottle of inexpensive booze is about $15.00.  This is low but just a starting point.  You can estimate how you like.

So for hard liquor if figure 5 bottles were needed at 15.00 per bottle, would be $75.00 to $100.

Just of the top of my head I estimated that mixers would be about $100.00 to last the night, even for the non alcoholic drinkers in the crowd who just want soda or juices.

Now we know that total ballpark estimate would be for all the supplies is $560.00 to get the ball rolling.  This does not include things like ice, or cups and napkins.  But this is a good starting point at this time, till we get closer to the wedding date and know a more exact head count and time frame.

When we get closer to the actual wedding date I will update the information and to provide a better shopping supplies list.   While this spreadsheet does not calculate the costs of the event, it does provide some basic information for you to use in order to deliver some great customer service on the spot.  With a little web searching, some creativity, and some quick thinking you can truly deliver a quality customer experience that will truly show your client you care and are willing to go the extra mile to help them.

Do you have a question about running your mobile bartending business?  Send leave a comment or send me an email at vince@bartendervince.com.


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