Kate Alter is the Golf Shop Manager at the Arrowood Golf Course in Oceanside, California.
Kate Alter on the importance of introducing non-golf items for facility usage:
In 2022 we began our “mug club”, (popular at bars where I am originally from), aimed at repeat visitors to our bar and restaurant. When a guest uses the 21 oz. mug at our restaurant, they pay for a 16 oz. pour of our draft beer but get the other 5 oz free! Bringing the mugs into inventory in the shop meant we would see a profit in our merchandise numbers, and our restaurant would see repeat business with the enticement of a discount on drinks. Housing these in the golf shop also encouraged non-golfers to come see what the shop has to offer outside of just golf items! With a specialty logo that states “Official Arrowood Drinking Team” on the mug, word got out amongst our neighborhood crowd and people were clamoring to get their hands on this limited-edition item.
Kate Alter on the business impact of introducing non-golf items for facility usage:
The mug is marked up higher than normal keystone to account for some of the overall discount the guest receives, so we sell each mug for $40. The restaurant has also offered special promotional pricing on our monthly/holiday specialty cocktails to these mug-holders. We’ve sold nearly 100 mugs overall, bringing in $4,000 in sales. We have needed to reorder the mugs 5 times to keep them in stock for our guests, though we have tried to order these in small doses, so that people felt like they were more limited as well. The mugs did so well that we also began selling a similar wine tumbler in both white and burgundy with the same specialty logo, just altered with a classier font style. Again, our restaurant offered promotional pricing as the tumblers were larger than our normal wine pour. While these products may not appeal to every golfer who comes through our gates, guests who live in our local neighborhood and frequent our on-site restaurant do, and enhanced both the dining and shop experience. That’s a win for all.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email kalter@arrowoodgolf.com.
