The process of running a public house or a bar these days is as hard as ever, with so much legislation to take into account, as well as a harsh set of economic circumstances. One of the major aspects of running a bar-based business is getting hold of good quality bar supplies.
The term bar supplies really covers a huge range of items that are necessary for the smooth running of a bar. This article intends to look at what the most commonly needed supplies are, as well as where someone who is new to the business might go about obtaining the required supplies.
If you’re considering setting up a bar, you’ll obviously need enough chairs and tables so that your clientele can really relax in your bar. These items would normally be purchased through a furniture retailer, rather than a pub furniture or bar supplies specialist. Genuine bar furniture can often be found at auctions (following a recent pub closure for example) or other clearance centres.
The brewery your pub or bar uses will no doubt provide a certain degree of advertising/artwork – especially beer mats, which offer a good way of protecting the wood varnish of the tables as well as putting certain beer brands in the minds of customers.
Among the most crucial items among bar supplies is the ice machine – or ice maker. Without one of these you will have a drastically reduced number of customers. Many drinks require ice in them – and in recent times even cider has been given the ice treatment. Ice makers can be found in many retail outlets, although the internet is probably one of the better places to find a reasonably priced machine of this kind.
Among bar supplies – even more crucial than an ice maker – are glasses. Hundreds of these are required in order to deal with a typically busy Friday or Saturday night, where a great many glasses will be required. Having too few glasses means that bar staff will need to be constantly walking around picking up glasses. There will naturally be a few breakages along the way too.
There are a wide range of wholesale suppliers of glasses that offer good prices when glasses are bought in large volumes. If your pub intends on putting on live music or dealing with a rowdy football crowd, then investing in a back-up set of plastic glasses is a good idea. You will need a great many of these as they are obviously not recycled (or at least shouldn’t be!).
These are just a few of the major bar supplies required in order to run a successful pub or bar.