Green Bars

One of the reasons why I signed up for Customer Insights and Brand Management was because I knew that what I would learn could help in me in my future career aspirations.  I have various business ideas but my biggest goal in life is to own a bar. I have always liked being a hostess and trying to think of everything for guests to have an awesome time.  I want to be able to convey that same affect in my bar. I want to keep people coming back and not be affected by the bar hopping sensation in Austin. This city is obviously where I think I would start off but my goal goes beyond that.  I don’t want to just own one bar, but a chain of bars something like Senor Frogs. This bar and night club is found around the world and has been in business for years. This is something that is rarely achieved in the industry because there are high barriers for entry and the life span of one is short lived.  I would like to achieve what Senor Frogs has but also do something that no one else has been able to do before.  That’s why I think that in researching for this paper I can find the innovation that will help me to differentiate myself from others and begin the process of creating my business idea.  One aspect that I believe would help achieve this and that I would like to focus on is the new trend of eco-friendly bars. 

Almost everything nowadays there’s a greener alternative for and helping our planet is becoming one of our highest values.  I can see why this would be a logical move in the bar business. The bills for electricity and water are probably the highest ones since we see that there are many bathroom visits, washing of hands, cleaning of glasses, and the various lights that decorate the place.  These two details have already been tackled by providing low flow toilets, and led lights that save energy. There are some bars that use recycled or recyclable materials like for example recycled glass for tables and there are also sustainable materials like bamboo that are used for the floors, ceilings, and walls. This is just in the building of the bar but some have gone as far as become organic. They serve organic spirits, fruits, mix ingredients and even staff uniforms are made from fair-trade sustainable fibers.  It seems as we have thought of everything already but since this is a new industry there is more room to grow and think of other exciting energy savings ideas. This is where my research will hopefully gain new insights on customer and eco-friendly ideals that may also enhance the bar experience. I would like to know what problems customers experience or what customers don’t like about bars. Also what customers wish they would see at bars and what could make their experience any better.  If green bars would be something that Austinites would welcome and if there are any environmental problems that bars may be having and do not know they are contributing to.  

The connection to gathering and identifying insights will help in designing the ideal bar that will create a valuable customer experience.  The idea that people can party and still be helping reduce a carbon foot print could go a long way.  There is a growing group of customers that only will participate in green activities and this will be the niche I would go after. I would also educate those who don’t really follow this trend in order to try to change their habits. In an article of the Nightclub and Bar magazine the owner of the U.S’s. first eco-friendly club Greenhouse, Jon Bakshi foresees environmentally sensitive design as a growing industry and the response from customers has been very supporting. After reading about his success and how he achieved his goal I believe that this can be something worth researching in order to find the best mix of eco-friendliness design and still serve a rewarding customer experience through insights.

Greenhouse

New York Night Club