Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

Now that we’re just two weeks away from St. Patrick’s Day, it’s time for bars, pubs, and restaurants to start getting prepared–if they haven’t already. First celebrated in the early 17 ^th century, the holiday was originally meant to commemorate St. Patrick bringing Christianity to Ireland. Since then, it has evolved into a cultural phenomenon–replete with parades, festivals, bar crawls, and green as far as the eye can see! Falling on Friday, March 17 ^th this year, St. Patty’s Day will likely bring out even more party-goers than usual. Make sure you’re ready for the massive influx of customers by adhering to these simple steps:

Stock Up on Traditional St. Patty’s Day Drinks

It’s no secret that many of the people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by drinking alcoholic beverages. Whether your customers want to indulge in just one drink or test the limits of their livers, it’s in a restaurant’s best interest to offer all the classic Irish standards. These drinks include:

• Guinness Draught (4.2% ABV) and Guinness Original (5.0% ABV): the preferred stout beers for everything St. Patty’s Day
• Murphy’s Irish Red (5.0% ABV): a red ale that tastes like freshly baked bread
• Irish Coffee: hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar. Topped with thick cream
• Irish Car Bomb: a shot of Irish cream and whiskey in a glass of stout beer
• Irish Flag: a layered cocktail with green crème de menthe, Irish cream liqueur, and Grand Marnier
• Irish Cola: Irish whiskey, Bailey’s, and cola
• Grasshopper: crème de menthe, white crème de cacao, and cream
• Shamrock Juice: gin, tequila, rum, vodka, blue curacao liqueur, and orange juice
• Honeydew Martini: vodka, Midori, triple sec

Make sure you’re also fully stocked with beverageware that will help keep your St. Patty’s Day crowd satisfied. Beer glasses, cocktail glasses, and shot glasses are absolutely essential to any bar, pub, or restaurant.

Special Menus

Serving St. Patty’s Day-themed food and drink specials can help attract patrons who want to completely immerse themselves in the holiday. One way to do this is by offering discounted prices on popular Irish dishes like potatoes, Irish stew, shepherd’s pie, corned beef, and cabbage. Restaurants can also serve green foods like spinach pizza, green Jell-O, salads, broccoli pesto, and stuffed avocados.  Another option is to utilize food dye. Potentially turning any meal or drink into an Irish celebration, green food dye goes exceptionally well with bread, pancakes, cake, mashed potatoes, and rice crispy treats. You can also rename meals so they’re more in tune with the Irish theme of the day.

Decorating the Restaurant

Ideally, your bar or restaurant will be a sea of green for St. Patrick’s Day. Green balloons scattered throughout! Green shamrocks that hang from the ceiling! Green wreaths that festively decorate the walls! Green plates and green table covers adorning your tables! Every little bit makes a difference. If you really want to go all out, outfit bars or countertops with small pots of gold! Or at least pots of candies with gold wrappers.  

Music

Your foodservice should both look and sound the part for St. Patty’s Day. This means crafting an Irish music playlist that will help cultivate a fun and celebratory atmosphere. A nice mix between traditional Irish music and well-known musicians of Irish descent is the ideal formula. Artists like U2, Van Morrison, The Script, The Cranberries, and Thin Lizzy are all great options. Though not from Ireland, the Dropkick Murphys have plenty of Celtic influence and are another great choice. If you want to go all out in the music department, consider bringing in a band to perform live.

Social Media

Make sure to utilize social media to inform customers about your St. Patrick’s Day plans. Mediums like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can show patrons what you’ve done in past years and what you plan to do this year. By promoting your bar or restaurant’s planned festivities, you can bring in customers who otherwise would have gone elsewhere. Show them a good enough time, and they’ll return in the future for more food and drink!

Staff Attire

Consider allowing your staff to break from their usual attire and dress in green clothes that complement the holiday. Many bars and restaurants encourage this, as it enhances the environment and experience for customers. Other popular options include green top hats and green bowties. Much cleaner than paint, face stickers can also make great impressions on customers while getting your staff in the holiday spirit.

Alternative Patricks

Maybe St. Patrick’s Day isn’t so popular with your clientele. If that’s the case, use March 17 ^th as an opportunity to differentiate yourself. St. Patrick Swayze Day has gained some nationwide popularity, but there are plenty of other options if he’s not your style. St. Patrick Ewing Day is perfect if a lot of New York Knick fans frequent your establishment. If you’re located in Canada or Colorado, St. Patrick Roy Day might be more your speed. Music-based locales can celebrate a legendary jazz guitarist by embracing St. Patrick Metheny Day. Patrick Tillman–an ex-NFL player who left the league and passed away on the battle field–is also more than worthy of honoring.

The Early Bird

Eager to get the most they can out of the holiday, some St. Patty’s Day fanatics like to start celebrating first thing in the morning. One way to attract these holiday diehards is by offering a hearty Irish breakfast and a voucher for a free shot or beer. Another option is to feature an eggs and kegs promotion. The strategy that’s right for you depends on your particular establishment and who makes up the majority of its customers.

By properly preparing and executing a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, your bar, pub, and restaurant can have an extremely profitable day while winning over new customers who will return in the future. That’s why it’s important to get an early start on your planning and take every detail into account. On March 17 ^th, make sure your foodservice takes full advantage of the St. Patty’s Day celebration.