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The Importance of Temperature

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Ensuring the proper temperature of beverages and across your entire beverage system makes a difference in taste, experience, and profit. Staff may know the ideal temperature for storing wine, keeping kombucha fresh, and serving the perfect beer, but seemingly tiny habits can drastically affect temperature and therefore, your product. Storage temperature can affect beverage foam, carbonation, and flavor, impacting the customer experience and your revenue. As simple as it is for temperature to negatively impact your venue, it’s just as simple to implement processes that can prevent unwanted temperature changes. Read on to learn more about the effects of temperature on beverages and how Sestra’s TapWise technology takes the guesswork out of managing your product temperatures.

Foam

Beer foam is a result of a phenomenon known as nucleation. Proteins with a high rate of hydrophobicity form bubbles with the help of CO2 produced in the fermentation process. Thick, compact, and long lasting foam aerates beer’s aroma and affects taste sensations.

Increased temperatures can create too much foam, causing your lines to fill. Foam is 25% beer so when you have to clear your lines, that foam becomes wasted beer, causing your venue to pour revenue down the drain. When you consider the effort involved in ordering, stocking, moving, and connecting each keg, it is important to ensure that every ounce turns into revenue for your venue.

Beverage temperature and foam

These graphs illustrate a venue’s storage temperatures and resulting top offs due to foam. As you can see, at the same time temperature spiked, the venue was topping off 1 in 3 beers, as a result of increased foam. 

Carbonation

As temperatures increase, carbon dioxide separates from your beverage, causing carbonated beverages like prosecco and kombucha to lose their characteristic “fizz”.  This also often results in lost revenue due to the need to replace a drink. “Flat” is a common beverage complaint that can often be avoided by optimizing temperature.

When beer begins to go over 38 degrees, even by as little as half a degree, the CO2 begins to come out of solution and  creates major foaming issues.  

Flavor

To put it simply, cold beverages stay fresher longer and taste better. While higher temperatures don’t result in a specific taste, they speed up the oxidation process, causing beverages to stale prematurely or enter a second stage of fermentation. Beer, for example, can develop a cardboard-like flavor, lose its hoppiness, and have a degraded aroma. 

Most cold brew coffee becomes bitter and metallic if not kept properly chilled. 

The above issues all impact…

The Customer Experience

What happens when a venue serves beverages that haven’t been stored at the proper temperature? Customers won’t stay customers for long and both your bottom line and your reputation are affected. Prioritizing beverage temperature in storage, in the line, and through dispensing, contributes to the ideal beverage and a positive customer experience. 

5 Ways Your Venue Can Prevent Unwanted Temperature Changes:

1. Train staff to rotate kegs quickly, minimizing the time kegs are between refrigeration

2. Keep walk in doors closed at all times

3. Schedule defrost cycles well outside of service hours

 

Your refrigerator intentionally turns off to raise the temperature during defrost cycles (pictured above). Scheduling these cycles at least 3 hours before beverage service prevents your inventory from freezing while ensuring beverages are the proper temperature when dispensed.

4. Place light beers furthest from the door as they’re most impacted by high temperature

5. Sign up for Sestra temperature alerts 

TapWise temperature alerts occur in real time, warning staff of potential issues and allowing your venue to solve problems before they happen. You can check your temperature trends to isolate behaviors that are increasing temperatures and affecting your product. In addition to the alerts your venue and staff receive, Sestra’s Pour Center Control monitors customer temperatures on an ongoing basis as a part of our Dispensing as a Service (DaaS) solution.

While seemingly tiny habits can sabotage your inventory, simple changes can optimize storage temperature, resulting in just the right amount of foam, carbonation, and flavor. Not only can TapWise send alerts that help you address problems before they can negatively impact your product and the guest experience, Sestra’s Customer Success team can help your venue analyze data, isolate trends, and update practices. Whether you’re ready to implement TapWise beverage dispensing or ensure you’re getting the most out of your current Sestra service, contact us today. 

Save Space with TapWise

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Space is a valuable and limited commodity and saving space creates opportunities and benefits that can make a real difference. Save space with TapWise beverage dispensing through self-service, tap layout, inventory management, and more, optimizing your venue for maximum capacity. Not only does TapWise make space for additional guests and minimize excess inventory, those benefits generate additional benefits, including improving your bottom line and reducing waste. Whether you’re interested in monetizing your lobby, optimizing inventory at sea, or satisfying thirsty fans, TapWise beverage dispensing can be your venue’s space saving solution.

Self-Service 

Allowing patrons to serve themselves reduces staffing needs, optimizing space for guests while also helping your venue combat the labor shortage. If your venue packs in the patrons, reducing staff means you’re able to maximize the number of paying customers on site while still providing exceptional service. The staff that are on site are then able to fulfill food orders, ensure cleanliness, and heighten the guest experience.

Not only does self-serve through TapWise create space by reducing staff needs, the stations themselves can be built to optimize space at your venue. You can easily integrate beverage technology with your existing hardware or update your technology.

Tap Walls

Sestra tap wall behind the bar

Tap walls can be installed behind the bar for streamlined tended service or without a bar to allow for self-service. Kegs can be stored in cabinets directly below the taps or behind the wall itself.

Tap Walls Behind the Bar

Tap walls behind the bar keep counter space clear, offering a clean look and better staff/guest interactions. And don’t worry about having your back to patrons, touchless and one touch dispensing allow bartenders to serve the perfect pour while engaging with guests.

 

Self-Serve Tap Walls

Self-serve tap walls offer double the space savings by reducing staff needs and increasing floor room. 

Self Serve Tap Wall

Tap walls aren’t just for restaurants and breweries. The space saving benefits of TapWise also apply to tap walls at event spaces and performing arts centers. Self-serve tap walls in lobbies allow those who want to indulge to fill up their glasses without disrupting the flow of other theater goers. It also allows for more guests to be served during limited intermission times.

While cafeteria style venues can implement self-serve beverage dispensing, tap walls in lobbies and other open areas can utilize Bring Your Own technology to ensure patrons are of drinking age and have paid for their beverages before dispensing.

Mobile Bars

Mobile bars are exactly what they sound like. They’re 4-line, 67” mobile carts with room for up to 2, 20 liter kegs of beer, wine, kombucha, cold brew, or cocktails. Mobile bars can be moved throughout your venue, moved between indoors and out, and increase points of service depending on seasonality, for large events, or year-round. If there is a single exhibit or area of your venue that typically receives more foot traffic, stationing bars throughout opposing areas of your venue can disperse crowds, optimizing your venue’s space.

In addition to their self-serve and space saving capabilities, mobile bars reduce wait times and provide consistent pours. If you’re considering adopting mobile bars at your venue, check out 4 Game Changing Ways Mobile Bars Are Increasing Sales.

Inventory

The space saving benefits of TapWise beverage dispensing extend beyond the layout of your taps. IoT technology connects dispensing data from taps directly with otherwise siloed data, including Point of Sale data, guest behavior, and loyalty programs. Data can be used to track seasonal changes, the success of specials and promotions, and even daily trends, helping you predict inventory and staff needs. The ability to predict inventory needs ensures you’re not storing more beer, wine, liquor, or cocktails than you actually need, saving space and reducing waste from spoilage.

Ongoing Support (Dispensing as a Service)

As long-term solution partners, we are able to offer ongoing education and support to ensure our customers’ layout and operations are optimized. If customers want assistance analyzing data and making inventory decisions, we’re on it. If they want to update their hardware as soon as something new is available, we’ll make it happen. While every venue and customer relationship is different, our commitment to our customers’ success is consistent.

TapWise dispensing hardware helps venues optimize their tap layout, software helps create storage space through inventory management, and relationships with our customers and partners help ensure they’re making the most of their data and emerging opportunities. If you’re interested in learning more about the space saving benefits of smart dispensing, contact us today.  

Top Wedding Venues Are Winning with This Hot Tech

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The wedding venue tech and services industry is a 50 billion dollar a year industry within the United States and is expected to increase by 11% in the next year. Aside from flowers, music, and photography, couples spend an average of $10,500 just on their event space. These event spaces do more than host the happy couple and their guests. They typically work closely with other vendors while also catering the event and serving beverages. Implementing Sestra’s TapWise beverage dispensing allows your venue to provide one touch beverage dispensing, can add additional points of service as needed depending on the size of the reception, and provide efficient service that keeps drinks in hand and everyone happy.

Cocktails on Tap

Signature cocktails are very popular at weddings. Cocktails on tap put a streamlined spin on the newlyweds’ specialty drinks. By mixing and kegging cocktails ahead of time, bartenders are able to quickly and accurately serve the same drink every time, without guests having to wait for servers to measure and mix ingredients. Sestra’s platform connects to your Point of Sale system, allowing your team to easily track beverages dispensed and consumed. In addition to streamlining actual beverage service, this connectivity also streamlines beverage invoicing at the end of the reception. 

Mobile Bars

Offering cocktails, beer, or wine on tap, mobile bars make beverages more accessible to guests. Whether your venue accommodates large parties of hundreds of guests, more intimate affairs, or you are flexible in your capacity, mobile bars allow your venue to add points of service as needed based on the size of the reception. For example, if your venue has five mobile bars onsite to maximize the efficiency of your largest events, the easily cleaned, maintained, and stored units can be kept out of sight when not needed and pulled out individually when needed, depending on the size of the event. 

Mobile bars can also help alleviate congestion in otherwise busy corners of your venue, and can be set up outdoors when conditions allow. 

One Touch, Touchless Dispensing, and Self-Serve

One touch self-serve beverages on tap increase efficiency, allowing staff to accommodate other needs of your guests. In addition to alleviating existing staff, the need for fewer staff to run the reception allows your venue to reduce costs, a savings that you can share with your hosts. Not only will your customers appreciate the savings, they’ll be thankful for the seamless service that allows them to enjoy their special evening.

Advertise Your Wedding Venue Tech

Ensure potential customers know what sets your venue apart from competitors. Update your website, incorporate your reception services to your social media strategy, and share successful celebrations with your community. Sestra works with customers to provide ongoing support, maintenance, and training. Part of that support is promoting your events, offerings, and successes across our own LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. We encourage your venue to reshare these posts or compose your own communications sharing your event space services.

 

The wedding industry, like the hospitality industry, is constantly growing and evolving, creating opportunities for businesses to innovate and grow. Sestra not only evolves with your venue, it allows you to offer quick, clean, and frictionless service to wedding parties and their guests on one of the biggest days of their lives. Whether your venue already offers reception services or you’re interested in launching an event space, contact us today to learn more about how Sestra can help you book out your wedding venue. 

 

How to Make Beverage Sales a Home Run on Opening Day and Beyond

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Opening day 2022 for the Washington Nationals is Thursday, April 7th with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm. Whether attendees are fans of the sport, the Nationals, or Max Scherzer, now pitching for the visiting team, the New York Mets, they’re sure to be entertained. While the main event is happening on the field, concessions sales equal a win for the park, regardless of which team earns the most runs.

How Sestra Helps Baseball Parks Win

A Major League Baseball park wanted to increase revenue, reduce waste, easily ensure regulatory compliance, and improve the fan experience. Sestra’s patented solutions achieved all of their goals, including a positive ROI, in just three months. The venue continues to see year over year improvements in yield, operations, and revenue and has been a loyal Sestra customer since 2016. To read about additional stats, product implementations, and the Park’s big wins, download our case study, HERE.

Customer Challenge

The Major League Baseball park wanted to increase the number of beverage points of sale throughout the park in a sustainable and controlled way. They wanted to streamline their operations and eliminate any waste or theft associated with overpouring. In addition, they wanted to increase revenue by reducing the time between keg changes, understanding service trends and beverage popularity, and pinpointing inventory needs. The operations team wanted to leverage technology to achieve these goals so their staff could focus on providing the best fan experience.

By achieving these goals of faster service, shorter time between keg changes, and increased visibility, the baseball park drove an improved fan experience through shorter lines and perfect pours as well as increased profits.

Read the entire case study and discover how we helped an MLB ball park hit a home run by improving service, speed and quality while increasing revenue. 

Year over year expansion at the park as well as our continued partnership speaks to the success of the program. Interested in learning how your stadium or event venue can benefit from Sestra’s TapWise technology? Reach out to our team for a free custom consultation. 

 

Sestra’s Self Serve Dispensing Integration with CLEAR Debuts

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As the industry leader in smart, cloud-connected beverage dispensing, Sestra partnered with CLEAR, the secure identity platform, to deliver on Marriott International’s vision for innovation in guest services at The Americas Lodging Investment Summit. Sestra and CLEAR demonstrated their joint solutions to provide menus, ordering, age verification, payments, and dispensing for an easy to use self-service lobby bar. 

Held earlier this year, attendees at the 2022 Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles, had the opportunity to see the power of Sestra’s self-serve technology and CLEAR’s opt-in age verification capability together and showcased within the Marriott brand area. The innovative solution received positive interest from hotel investors and owners. 

Thanks to Smart Dispensing, it is easy for guests to pour themselves beer, wine, cocktails, cold brew, and more. The intuitive self-serve capabilities create increased efficiency and maximize revenue while creating a frictionless guest experience with faster speed of service.

Self-service bars and kiosks offer different ways to provide guest amenities, create new revenue opportunities and can play a significant role in overcoming labor challenges for beverage sales. Smart Dispensing also drives service efficiencies, freeing up staff to focus on other areas of the business.  

Interested in learning how Sestra’s integration with CLEAR can benefit your venue? Contact us today or check out https://www.sestrasystems.com/how-it-works/.

The Perfect Pour for St. Patrick’s Day and Beyond

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Whether your venue is a busy hotel lobby, restaurant, bar, or cruise ship, hospitality venues are bustling places with guests typically outnumbering busy staff. Holidays and events exacerbate the discrepancy, making providing frictionless service seem next to impossible. So how can you ensure staff have the capacity to provide frictionless service to each and every guest? One touch Smart Dispensing can help bridge the gap, allowing staff to efficiently serve the perfect pour of Guinness, Jameson, and more on St. Patrick’s Day and beyond.

Behind the Bar

Not only does Smart Dispensing dispense the perfect pour every time, it allows staff to fulfill beverage orders while engaging with guests. This attention results in better service and tunes staff into changes in guest behavior and needs. 

Self Service

Self-service stations are also an effective option for freeing up staff to engage with guests. Whether mobile bars or tap walls, self-serve stations dispense the same perfect pour as permanent bars and can be set up to automatically limit the number of beverages each patron can dispense. Mobile apps, BYOD technology, PINs, and RFIDs are all options for implementing personalized self-service that associates individuals with their specific orders and pours. Whether all guests are cut off after a predetermined number of pours or have to check in with staff to initiate each pour, self-service makes staff more available to pay attention to guest needs, habits, and behaviors. 

In addition to freeing up staff attention, Smart Dispensing improves the guest experience by reducing wait times, encouraging guests to order that second (or third) Guinness.

St. Patrick’s Day Classics

Guinness may be a St. Patrick’s Day staple but it’s not the only festive beverage you can dispense on tap. Smart Dispensing also supports wine, cocktails, liquor, coffee, kombucha, and more. So whether your guests are team Bushmills or team Jameson, your venue can dispense shots and cocktails without the need for measuring glasses or speed pourers. 

Ready to have Smart Dispensing on your side? Contact Sestra today to learn more about how one touch and self-service dispensing can benefit your venue.

Why You Should Offer Multiple Pour Sizes

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“Why You Should Offer Multiple Pour Sizes” was originally published on 5/26/17 and has since been updated.

Offering multiple pour sizes provides your patrons with choice, resulting in increased revenue for your venue. While small, medium, and large aren’t the only options, offering three sizes provides multiple price points for your guests as well as the physiological benefit known as The Decoy Effect. The decoy effect is a phenomenon in which consumers are presented with three choices, one of which is intended by the vendor to be a decoy. The decoy option influences the consumer to purchase the more expensive option, choosing the best deal over spending the least amount of money. Read on to discover the benefits of offering small, medium, and large servings as well as which size serves as the decoy effect.

Small Pour Sizes

Small pour sizes depend on the beverage being dispensed. For wine, a tasting is typically a 1-3 oz. pour, but for beer and cocktails it can be more. Whether you’re updating your beverage menu, welcoming new guests to your venue, or hosting regulars who like to test their taste buds, offering small pour sizes are a must. Small pour sizes allow your patrons to sample beverages they normally wouldn’t try and learn about different varieties before jumping into a full glass. Offering samples encourages guests to find a drink they truly enjoy before upgrading to a larger size. Ensuring guests are happy with their beverage choices reduces waste and makes them more likely to place additional orders.

Medium Pour Size

Medium pour sizes serve a greater purpose than assuaging Goldilocks. While medium sized pours of beer, wine, cocktails, and kombucha are the perfect pour for enjoying with a meal, they are our “decoy” size when we talk about The Decoy Effect that encourages patrons to size up their beverage selection. 

Here is an example of how to implement your “decoy” within your small, medium, and large offerings: If your venue offers beverages on tap in small (4 ounces), medium (12 ounces), and large (16 ounces) pours at the following price points:

Small (4 ounce): $4

Medium (12 ounce): $10

Large (16 ounce): $12

As the size increases, the price per ounce decreases, encouraging customers to choose the best deal over spending the least amount of money. The most dramatic savings is between the middle and largest pour sizes. The medium, or our decoy size, is meant to increase interest in the largest, most expensive option. 

In the scenario outlined above, the consumer is offered the opportunity to save money per ounce while simultaneously benefitting the venue’s bottom line. 

Large Pour Sizes

While small sizes allow your guests to try out different beverages before they commit and medium sizes pair well with meals, large sizes are for those who already know what they want and are looking for cost savings. And, if you have a specialty beverage or one that’s more popular than the rest, offering them in a larger size will help your revenue stream soar. If a guest doesn’t plan to order a second drink, they may choose a large pour to get the most out of their order. This option is especially popular in event spaces and theaters where guests risk missing some of the action to search out their next drink.

How To

There are several different ways to implement and regulate multiple pour sizes at your venue, including:

Use Different Cup Sizes

If this one seems obvious, that’s because it is. By using different cup sizes, you make it easier for staff to know how much to pour, reducing the likelihood of overpouring. It also puts pours in perspective for guests. Rather than offering a guest who ordered a small a half-full large glass, they receive a small glass that it filled to the brim. 

Use Pre-Packaged Beverages

While pre-packaged beverages are a simple way to ensure you know exactly how much you’re giving your customers, the carbon footprint of bottled beer and wine is exponentially greater than serving beverages on tap.

Utilize a Dispensing System with Pour Control

If you’re interested in an eco-friendly option that also prevents loss, consider utilizing a beverage dispensing system with programmable portion control. Your servers can select the size your guest has ordered without worrying about measuring themselves or hauling bottles out of storage. Beverages on tap also allow your venue to offer a wider range of samples, including beer, wine, pre-mixed cocktails, kombucha, coffee, liquor, and more. 

Offering multiple pour sizes gives your guests the opportunity to try something new, save money per ounce, and ensure they’re happy with their beverage choice. In addition, it gives your bartenders the opportunity to upsell and benefits your venue’s bottom line. If you’d like to learn more about how Sestra’s Smart Dispensing can help your venue track, dispense, and upsell your pours, contact us today.

22 Things You No Longer Have to Do After Installing Smart Dispensing

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Not only does technology connect us with others, it can connect our tools and data. Sestra utilizes technology to benefit your entire venue- from management, concerned with increasing profits while decreasing waste, to the bartenders slinging drinks on the front line. Interested in implementing technology to make your life easier? Here are 22 things (and counting) you no longer have to do after installing Smart Dispensing.

  1. Open a tap handle
  2. Shake a keg to see if it is empty or to figure out how much is left
  3. Go around and lock taps with padlocks and keys
  4. Open a tap and pour off foam
  5. Measure pour sizes in a glass or jigger
  6. Count the number of drinks you poured
  7. Open the tap only to find out the keg has kicked
  8. Call someone and tell them a keg is empty
  9. Pour bottles of wine down the drain because they oxidized
  10. Count inventory at the end of the night
  11. Monitor your line cleaners to see if they were actually cleaned
  12. Worry about beverage theft (whether intentional or not)
  13. Physically walk to the cold room to check temperature, FOBs, or keg volumes
  14. Pay for trash pickups for too many bottles
  15. Be on-site to see what you are pouring
  16. Call your vendor multiple times for service calls and worry about whether or not they will show up
  17. Hire third parties or consultants to ensure your new beverage system design is sound and provides future flexibility
  18. Worry about whether you should wait for the next revision before you purchase
  19. Worry that you’ll have to upgrade your hardware again in five years
  20. Pay more to have the latest and greatest equipment and features
  21. Invest in a different beverage solution for each application
  22. Wonder if automation would have made the job easier

1. Hold open a tap handle

With one touch and touchless dispensing, bartenders no longer have to hold open tap handles. Instead, they can interact with guests, prep other beverages, and communicate with staff, knowing they’re dispensing the perfect pour, down to a fraction of an ounce. Handle-free taps also ensure a smooth, fresh pour by eliminating friction, maintaining in-line pressure, and keeping air away from your product.

2. Shake a keg to see if it is empty or to figure out how much is left

No need to shake or guess how much wine, beer, cocktail, etc is left in the keg when Sestra’s Smart Dispensing system tracks inventory for you.

3. Go around and lock taps with padlocks and keys

Lock taps with the push of a button on your personalized Remote Station Manager. You can even set up automated locking and unlocking schedules to cut off pouring after last call, at the seventh inning, or at any regular, designated time. 

4. Open a tap and pour off foam

Smart FOBs (Foam On Beer) keep your beverages flowing smoothly by controlling pressure and preventing foam from filling the line. 

5. Measure pour sizes in a glass or jigger

No need to use cups, jiggers, or speed pourers to measure ingredients or drinks. Smart Dispensing apportions the perfect pour, down to a fraction of an ounce.

6. Count the number of drinks you poured

Your Smart Dispensing platform counts pours for you, accumulating data that helps you determine how much inventory to order, staff to have scheduled, and seasonal (or even daily) trends to account for. 

7. Open the tap only to find out the keg has kicked

There are no surprises when Smart Dispensing is tracking your inventory. Receive alerts when kegs are running low so staff is prepared to switch them out.

8. Call someone and tell them a keg is empty

Set up alerts that notify the appropriate staff members when a keg is ready to be changed.

9. Pour bottles of wine down the drain because they oxidized

Smart Dispensing protects wine from oxidation and premature spoilage in the keg, through the chilled lines, up until it pours into the glass.

10. Count inventory at the end of the night

Smart Dispensing is way more than hardware. Your system tracks inventory, eliminating the task from your closing checklist.

11. Monitor your line cleaners to see if they were actually cleaned

Control the who, what, and when of every cleaning with automated alerts and maintain hygiene standards.

12. Worry about beverage theft (whether intentional or not)

Link dispensing usage directly with your Point of Sale data, holding staff accountable for every pour.

13. Physically walk to the cold room to check temperature, FOBs, or keg volumes

Rather than walking to your cold room, or having to be onsite at all, refer to your Remote Station Manager to ensure temps are just right, FOBs are performing properly, and keg volumes are adequate.

14. Pay for trash pickups for too many bottles

Dispensing beer and wine on tap allows your venue to ditch the bottles and save on trash pick up and reduce your carbon footprint.

15. Be on-site to see what you are pouring

Remote Station Manager allows you to view what is being poured, update menus, and even change access rules.

16. Call your vendor multiple times for service calls and worry about whether or not they will show up

Sestra customer success representatives respond within 15 minutes and can be scheduled when assistance is needed on site. 

17. Hire third parties or consultants to ensure your new beverage system design is sound and provides future flexibility

Our team of industry experts are your consultants, there to evaluate and update your hardware and software as needed.

18. Worry about whether you should wait for the next revision before you purchase

No need to wait to implement automations that will save you money and man hours. Your Smart Dispensing solutions are future-proof, allowing you to upgrade to the best of the best, as soon as it’s available.

19. Worry that you’ll have to upgrade your hardware again in five years

Dispensing as a Service allows Sestra to be your long term solution partner. We offer the best and newest technology as soon as it’s available and continually educate and train your staff to get the most out of your Smart Dispensing system. 

20. Pay more to have the latest and greatest equipment and features

The latest and greatest is included in your Dispensing as a Service solution- no surprise charges here!

21. Invest in a different beverage solution for each application

Your food and beverage ecosystem is connected with two-way data and control using Sestra’s API-driven platform. Smart Dispensing also links dispensing usage directly with otherwise siloed data such as POS data, guest behavior, loyalty programs, and inventory details.

22. Wonder if automation would have made the job easier

Automation ensures consistency and reliability while reducing waste and enhancing the guest experience. Automation 100% makes the job easier and when you’re utilizing Smart Dispensing, you can be confident that you’re employing automation across your connected solution. 

If you are already a Sestra customer and want to make sure you’re taking full advantage of your system, contact your customer success representative. If you’re ready to become a customer so you can stop worrying about these 22 things you no longer have to do after installing Smart Dispensing, contact us HERE.

Unbelievable Super Bowl Food and Beverage Stats

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Fans and players alike are prepping for Super Bowl LVI, scheduled to be played on February 13, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. With viewers tuning in for the game, the commercials, and the halftime show, featuring Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, viewership is expected to surpass 100 million. Thanks to the popularity of the game and its accompanying food and beverages, Super Bowl Sunday consumption is second only to Thanksgiving and, according to the National Retail Federation, viewers plan to spend an average of $74.55 on food, beverages, and team apparel. 

Super Bowl Food Statistics Infographic

According to Hungry Fan, Americans spend over $387 million on snacks, $130 million on pizza, and over $2 billion on chicken  wings. So, just how much do viewers spend on beer in preparation for the big game? Americans spend around $1.3 billion on beer in the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl Sunday and consume 325 million gallons of beer on game day. If you can believe these Super Bowl food and beverage stats, every American would have to drink an average of 10 cans of beer! Limited only by what the local beer store offers, it makes sense that home viewers are not shy about enjoying their favorite pint (or ten) during the Super Bowl. But what about the fans enjoying the game from the stadium?

According to Mercedes-Benz Stadium officials, fans in attendance at Super Bowl LIII purchased 117,400 beers and 16,300 hot dogs. The stadium recorded 110,184 different food-and-beverage transactions during the 2019 New England Patriots versus Los Angeles Rams game, including 76,446 credit-card transactions.

While football fans trail MMA fans and hockey fans in terms of average beer consumption, it’s clear that the Super Bowl rivals any other single match in terms of beer sales and consumption. And, regardless of the sport, it’s also clear that stadiums and arenas have immense opportunity for concessions sales which also means immense opportunity for waste and loss. 

Smart Dispensing, however, can help stadiums and arenas eliminate overpouring and reduce waste, getting the most return from their dispensing opportunities. Smart Dispensing pours consistently and accurately, down to a fraction of an ounce, according to pre-set pour sizes.

In addition to reducing beverage waste, Smart Dispensing reduces wait times for both your staff and the fans. Perfect pour technology saves bartenders from having to measure out ingredients and pour sizes while alerts warn staff of low inventory, allowing them to preemptively prep new kegs. A dependable and precise system minimizes wait time for thirsty fans, allowing them to quickly get back to enjoying the game. 

Professional sports may feel a world away from other businesses within the hospitality industry but that’s exactly what it is; a pillar of the hospitality industry. Stadiums and arenas, like hotels, cruise ships, and restaurants, depend on satisfied guests becoming raving fans. If these Super Bowl food and Beverage stats have convinced your stadium or arena to offer frictionless service through reduced wait times and perfect pours, contact Sestra today to learn how we can help. Tuning in for the Super Bowl? Let us know how you’ll be contributing to food and beverage sales on the second largest consumption day in America. 

Smart Dispensing and Thirsty Fans- The Ideal Stadium Combo

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While sports fans may attend their favorite team’s live events for support and camaraderie, there’s no denying the allure of stadium hot dogs and an ice cold beer. Sure, you can get those things at home but it’s just different when you’re surrounded by thousands of your closest friends, cheering on your favorite team. 

While passion may look similar across sports, each set of fans have their own eating and drinking habits. So which sports fans drink the most? Read on to find out and to learn how Smart Dispensing can help your stadium improve your bottom line.

While the song implies that peanuts and Cracker Jacks are the go-to baseball stadium staple, 20 million hot dogs and 4.5 million sausages are consumed by Major League Baseball fans each season. And what pairs perfectly with hotdogs? Ice cold beer. Fans enjoy an average of three beers while cheering on their team, with Chicago White Sox fans drinking more than any other fanbase. According to a survey by NJ Online Gambling, the team’s fans consume an average of 4.2 drinks per game and spend $40 or more on drinks per game.

That’s a lot of beer. And a lot of opportunities to improve sales and reduce over-pouring. After working with an MLB park for over six years, we compiled a case study showcasing their beverage program and improvements since implementing Smart Dispensing. The program at the park has grown year over year with more than 200 connected taps driving increased speed of service, better visibility, and easier operations. In the 2021 season, over 2 million ounces flowed through Sestra’s connected taps. Faster service, shorter time between keg changes, and  increased visibility drove an improved fan experience through shorter lines and perfect pours. As a result, the park saw positive ROI in 3 months, 25% volume growth, and 19% increase in yield. Sestra increased beverage revenue at the major league baseball park and revenue per keg by 27%. To learn more about our partnership with this major league park, download the entire case study HERE. While these stats are specific to one customer’s results, similar ROI is seen across sports venues – including hockey.

With Gretzky’s love of hotdogs being what it is (one Redditor calculated he ate 7,224 over the course of his career), it’s no surprise that hockey fans love hot dogs as well. So, how do their beer drinking habits compare to those of baseball fans? NHL fans drink around 3.5 beers per game and their drinking habits are similar whether they’re watching a game from home or live at the arena.  

Mixing it up, football fans favor pizza over hot dogs with 37% of spectators claiming the savory pie as their favorite football food. Luckily, beer pairs well with all stadium offerings, as fans continually prove. While NFL fans trail hockey fans in beer consumption, they average more than 3 beers per game. The Cincinnati Bengals have the thirstiest fans, who claim to average 5.2 beers per game (including their tailgating beverages). 

Let’s not forget MMA and UFC enthusiasts. Unlike the team sports mentioned above, MMA and UFC fighters are alone in the ring but far from alone in the stadium. Fights are typically attended by tens of thousands of fans, most with a beer in hand. Live spectators enjoy an average of 4 beers at MMA/UFC fights, more than any other sports fans. 

While drink preferences and habits differ across sports, one thing is clear; sports fans love beer. With so much beer being poured and served, that’s a lot of opportunity for waste as well as missed potential sales. Having Sestra’s Smart Dispensing and ongoing support in your corner allows your stadium or arena to decrease waste and customer wait time while also increasing efficiency, tap control, and actionable analytics. Learn more by reading Beverage Technology at Stadiums and Arenas or contact us to learn how we can help improve your bottom line.