Saturday Night at the Bar: A Data-Driven Guide to Maximizing Sales

If there’s one universal truth for bar and restaurant operators, it’s that the Saturday night rush is formidable. The bar gets packed, the drink orders rush in, and the staff kicks into high gear.  It’s a venue’s most important night, with Saturdays representing over 25 percent of weekly sales at Union’s high-volume bars and restaurants.

“Saturday nights are crucial for revenue, but they can take their toll. There’s rarely a moment to slow down and analyze what’s working, and what could be optimized,” says Layne Cox, Union’s chief marketing officer. “We wondered what insights could be unlocked by analyzing millions of guest orders.”

OnPrem Insights took a deep dive into its customer ordering data to help operators better understand what’s happening in each daypart of a typical Saturday night — from pre-dinner Happy Hour, through Dinner and Late Night, and into the After Hours. Some of the findings surprised us, and were contrary to conventional thinking. Guests who open their tabs between 4 to 7 pm don’t duck out early, for example. In fact, they tend to stay the longest and drive up the largest check totals. Guests who open tabs later in the evening order drinks — notably Tequila — that have a higher average price, so they’re starting out with premium Spirits orders, even when they arrive at a later point in the evening. And after midnight, Spirit sales hit their peak, as guests look to keep the party going with shots and cocktails, though after 2 am, many guests wind down with beer. 

“It was eye opening to dig into behaviors like these that drive Saturday night sales as guests open and close tabs, order rounds, and make drink choices throughout the evening,” says Cox. Here, we share our top findings to assist venues in maximizing their sales and streamlining operations for smarter Saturday nights.

Saturday Happy Hour: Craft Beer Sales Spike, and Contribute to High Check Averages

Pre-dinnertime “Happy Hour” gatherings are not just popular on the weekdays. In fact, Saturdays represent the highest Happy Hour sales of all days of the week for Union operators. They’re even busier than Fridays, and they’re proving to be an important time period (4 to 7 pm) for getting people in the door.

At Union’s high-volume venues, Saturday Happy Hour sees the highest average total spent per guest. Evening guests who start ordering by 6 pm stay the longest, with a tab that’s open over 140 minutes (compared to just 30 minutes if they open their tab at midnight). 

While the Happy Hour timeframe — which sometimes includes discounted food and drink offers — may not be the busiest daypart, it’s a winning timeframe from the perspective of check sizes. In fact, checks opened in the 5 and 6 pm hours on Saturday represent the highest check averages of the night, which is about 40 percent higher than the check average of 10 pm. The daypart also reflects the highest number of guests on a tab (over 2).

What are guests drinking this early in the evening, anyway? It turns out that grabbing a couple of beers is one of the most popular ways to get the night going. Beer (including RTDs) sells best at about 4 pm, comprising the highest sales share for beer of the entire evening.

1. Bud Light
2. Guinness
3. Michelob Ultra
4. Miller Lite
5. Corona

During the Saturday Happy Hour daypart, Mainstream Beers represent nearly 29 percent of all beers sold by sales share, Craft Beers more than 28 percent, Imported Beers about 24 percent, Malt-Based RTDs 3 percent, and Spirit-based RTDs about 6 percent.

“What really surprised us is just how well Craft Beers sell during this specific time frame. On a typical Saturday between 4 to 7 pm, the sales share of Craft Beer jumps above Imported Beer and nearly matches Mainstream Beer sales share. Craft Beer normally represents about 25 percent of Beer/RTD sales, but on Saturdays during Happy Hour, they represent over 28 percent. There’s a big opportunity to highlight and upsell Craft brands at this time.” 

Guinness, High Noon, and Stella Artois all rank slightly better during Saturday Happy Hour timeframe compared to their average annual sales. Guinness jumps in rank from the No. 3 to No. 2 best-selling item at this time of the week; High Noon from No. 8 to No. 7; and Stella from No. 10 to No. 8. There are so many Craft Beer brands in the market that individual craft brands do not appear on the Top 10 list above, but their overall share of beers sold is a win for subcategory presence at this daypart. 

In Spirits, Gin sales beat out Rum during Happy Hour, though it’s the reverse in other Saturday dayparts. By comparison, Wine sales peak between 5 to 7 pm for the entire evening, just as Happy Hour is ending and the Dinner daypart begins — though their evening sales share is never higher than four percent of all drink types sold at Union’s high volume venues.

“It’s incredible just how impactful Happy Hour can be for a venue on a Saturday night,” says Cox. “Operators can front-load the night’s sales by building their Happy Hour traffic.” 

Cox recommends that operators think strategically about how to attract and retain these valuable customers. “Union’s data shows that they are willing to stick around longer than guests who arrive at almost any other time of the evening, with high check averages. A comfortable corner table, thoughtfully timed drink specials or a free round of appetizers that land just at the right moment could get them to stay even longer.”

Saturday Dinner: Spirits Pick Up, with Category Preference Changing from Round to Round

As the sun goes down, Spirits sales start to pick up and rise steadily throughout the Saturday Dinner daypart (7 to 10 pm), while Beer and Wine sales begin their decline. Guests who open a tab in the 7 pm hour order an average of about two rounds of drinks, defined as a group of one or more drink orders added to a single tab at roughly the same time.

“Round ordering behavior should be a focal point for operators as the night goes on, especially with tabs opened at dinnertime, which show the highest number of rounds ordered per party of the entire evening,” says Cox. By 8 pm, the number of drink rounds ordered per party begins to decline throughout the evening, she notes.

Interestingly, Spirits are most popular for a first round drink ordered at any time on a Saturday night, and are slightly less likely to be ordered again in following rounds, while Beer and Wine, though ordered less frequently, follow an opposite pattern, appearing in orders slightly more from round to round. 

Vodka is the top Spirits category through the Saturday Dinner daypart, though later in the evening Tequila takes over. As it does throughout the week, Tito’s outsells all other brands of Vodka on Saturdays. To no surprise, Tito’s Vodka is a steady winner throughout Saturday night, remaining the top Spirit brand sold across the first, second, and last rounds ordered by guests at all times, including throughout Dinner. Well drinks rank highly on Saturdays, too.

Casamigos Blanco Tequila, on the other hand, has its ups and downs throughout the night as guests order more rounds. It starts out incredibly strong, as the second most popular Spirits brand for a first round order (after Tito’s). But by the second round, guests are opting for something different, and it drops to No. 5, eclipsed by Espolòn Blanco Tequila and Jack Daniel’s Black Label Whiskey. By the last round, however, guests have circled back to Casamigos, surely contributing to the call brand’s standing as Union’s best-selling Tequila brand across all days of the week.

The types of Spirits guests order change from round to round, too. Jameson Whiskey becomes more popular, shifting rank from the No. 3 Spirit ordered in the first round, to the No. 2 item in the second and last rounds. Similarly, orders for Old Fashioneds increase at this time, shifting rank from the No. 7 cocktail to No. 3 between the first and last round. In other words,  Whiskey-based drinks become more popular as the night goes on and more rounds get ordered.

Union data shows that as guests order rounds of drinks, there’s a slight drink price decline for Spirits, as guests trade down from premium brands. Beer orders also decline in price just a bit as rounds progress, though it’s more steady than Spirits. For Wine, it’s a different story. The last round tends to be the most expensive drink, far surpassing the second round’s drink price.

Over 20 percent of Saturday sales happen in the Dinner timeframe, and what a guest orders in their first round can impact sales throughout the rest of the evening.

“Operators should be thinking about how they can keep the average price per drink from decreasing round to round, especially for Spirits,” Cox says. She suggests training staff to communicate the value of the premium-priced drinks in the first round and to upsell premium Spirits in each following round. 

Saturday Late Night: Tabs Spike with Orders for Pricer, Boozier Drinks

When the clock strikes 11 pm on Saturday night, it’s peak hour at Union venues. This is the hour with the highest activity, based on the number of new tabs that are opened at this time.

A guest’s average price per drink increases for tabs opened at 11 pm, as well, meaning that more expensive drinks are being ordered from guests who open tabs later in the evening. Beginning with tabs opened in the 11 pm hour, an average drink costs nearly $9.00, the highest price of the evening so far (compared to about $8.00 for tabs opened during Happy Hour and $8.00 during Dinner). That $9.00 price stays relatively high the rest of the night, though at about 2 am it shoots up to its highest peak of about $9.50. (Prices reflect an average at Union venues across the U.S.)

What sells best at this busiest time? Though Tito’s Vodka steadily holds onto the No. 1 spot out of all Spirits items sold in this time frame, more Tequila brands are represented in this Top 10 list than any other Spirit category, bringing Tequila to the forefront as the night progresses. In a departure from annual sales data for Spirits categories, overall Tequila sales trumps Vodka sales in this Late Night Saturday period. Rum sells better than Gin in this period, as well.

Saturday Late Night On-Premise

Top Selling Spirit Items

1. Tito’s Handmade Vodka
2. Casamigos Blanco Tequila
3. Espolòn Blanco Tequila
4. Jameson Irish Whiskey
5. Casamigos Reposado

When it comes to Cocktails and Mixed Shots, orders for the Whiskey-based Green Tea shot amazingly out perform the almighty Margarita in this 11 pm to 1 am period. Shots feature prominently at this time, with the Vegas Bomb, the watermelon-flavored Mexican Candy shot, and Jager Bomb all proving to be guest favorites, in addition to the Green Tea shot. 

Flavorful, boozy specialty Martinis, like the Espresso Martini and the Lemon Drop Martini, are trending just after the Margarita at this time, with classics — equally as flavorful and boozy — like the Old Fashioned, and Long Island Iced Tea also selling well.

Saturday Late Night On-Premise

Top-Selling Cocktails

1. Margarita
2. Espresso Martini
3. Lemon Drop Martini
4. Old Fashioned
5. Long Island Iced Tea

Saturday Late Night On-Premise

Top-Selling Mixed Shots

1. Green Tea
2. Vegas Bomb
3. Mexican Candy
4. Jager Bomb
5. White Tea

Source: OnPrem Insights, 12 months ending September 30, 2023. Represents Saturdays only, 10 pm to 1 am, top Mixed Shots sold at Union ranked by dollar sales share.

Cox says this is the Saturday night daypart with the most potential for maximizing sales. “Consider that you have the largest number of tabs open at this time. Your staff is slammed. So how can you make the most of this venue traffic?” she asks. “How can you drive up the bottom line on each and every tab, and empower everyone to sell smarter?”

In order to thrive — and not just survive — at this busy time, Cox suggests batching popular cocktails to cut down on prep time, and ensuring that barbacks keep bartenders well stocked. There’s a higher than average interest in Tequila and Rum at this time, so drink specials can highlight those Spirits, and be made with premium brands to improve check averages. Martinis, both traditional and modern, are popular Late Night drinks, too, and those cocktails can be played up with dramatic serving glasses and garnishes, or signature specials.  

Saturday After Hours: Slower Sales, with Tequila and Mixed Shots Dominating

After the midnight hour, Spirits orders peak. “Guests switch to higher alcohol drinks like shots and cocktails around 1 am, but things start to slow down soon after that,” Cox explains.

Specifically, tabs opened in the 1 am hour is the time with the highest share of Spirits and Cocktail sales throughout the night. In fact, nearly 70 percent of all drink orders at this time are Spirits-based, compared to just 59 percent for the night overall.

Then in the 2 am hour, Spirit sales share begins trending downward, representing closer to 60 percent of drink orders. As Spirits sales taper, the inverse happens for Beer, with sales share rising at 2 am, and even more so in the 3 am hour — to a rate equivalent to Beer’s 10 pm sales share, representing nearly 40 percent of drinks ordered during that time.

“While the uptick in Beer sales could be due to some guests trading down for lower alcohol and lower-priced drinks in these late Saturday hours, that’s not the full story,” says Cox. At an average cost of $9.50 per drink, she explains, the 2 am hour also represents the highest average drink prices of the night. “There are plenty of guests still interested in Spirits and higher-priced drinks at this very late hour,” she says.

What guests are most interested in this time when it comes to Spirits is, without question, Tequila, which appears largely to be consumed as shots and Tequila sodas, based on ordering data. Overall sales of Tequila grow significantly between the Late Night period and After Hours, representing the highest dollar sales share of the evening for the agave spirit, with a negative impact on Vodka sales. The Margarita, though, drops in rank while the Lemon Drop Martini and Long Island Iced Tea become the most coveted cocktails of the hour.  Mixed Shots including the Green Tea and Vegas Bomb trend upward at this time, as well.

Saturday After Hours On-Premise

Top-Selling Cocktails

1. Lemon Drop Martini
2. Long Island Iced Tea
3. Margarita
4. Espresso Martini
5. Old Fashioned

Source: OnPrem Insights, 12 months ending September 30, 2023. Represents Saturdays only, 1 to 4 am, top Cocktails sold at Union ranked by dollar sales share.

Saturday After Hours On-Premise

Top-Selling Mixed Shots

1. Green Tea
2. Vegas Bomb
3. Mexican Candy
4. Jager Bomb
5. White Tea

Source: OnPrem Insights, 12 months ending September 30, 2023. Represents Saturdays only, 1 to 4 am, top Mixed Shots sold at Union ranked by dollar sales share.

Bars close at a variety of times due to local ordinances and operator preferences, but for those that do remain open late, there’s a benefit to understanding this night owl crowd. “Spirits sales begin their Saturday night decline around 2 am, so getting your staff to maximize sales before that peak Spirits-selling hour is key,” Cox says.

Still, this late period represents some of the slowest moments of a Saturday night: The lowest number of rounds on a tab (about one per tab), the lowest number of guests per tab (under two per tab), and the lowest average total spent per guest — about $16.50 per guest compared to $23.00 per guest during Happy Hour.  There’s one bright spot for staff clocking in those late night hours, however. Tips are at their highest rates in the 3 am hour, at an average rate of 16.7 percent. That may be a reflection of lower check amounts, like a $1.00 tip for a $7.00 drink.

Based on findings from this report, operators should consider prioritizing Saturday Happy Hour over the very late After Hours period, Cox says. “It’s a much more impactful daypart in the grand scheme of a Saturday night.”

Data-driven insights like these can help venues of all sizes make the most of the busiest night of the week, when operators are serving their highest volume of customers.  “Start out your Saturdays feeling empowered, and ready to make it count. Give your team a chance to shine,” says Cox.  “Small changes on this most important day of the week can make a significant difference to your bottom line.”