How Health Clubs & Gyms can Maximize Smoothie Bar Sales using Software
Fitness and Nutrition go hand in hand. No member is looking for a gym experience with a couple of machines. They are looking for a complete experience at the health club. A Smoothie Bar is almost imperative to that experience.
How is your Smoothie Bar performing? Is it popular, members huddling there waiting eagerly for their nutrition fix? Are your Smoothie Bar sales significant?
Today it is not enough to just have a Smoothie Bar. It must be efficient, have a fantastic range of drinks and be easily accessible for members.
And of course, it should make money for your club.
Is yours achieving its full revenue potential? Is it driving a high volume of repeat purchases? Is it delivering the experience your members expect today?
If not, keep reading.
What’s hurting your Smoothie Bar Sales
There can be many reasons why your Smoothie Bar sales are low and the member experience is not enhanced by it.
It could be that your members are not even aware that you have a Smoothie Bar. Maybe, you don’t promote it enough on your club App, your social media, or other channels to build excitement?
It could be that your ordering process is manual and people have to wait in long lines. That would present a problem to a working professional wanting to get to work in the morning after their workout, or someone else who is just too exhausted after a grueling spin bike session.
It could be that the number of staff members at the Bar are too few, but you do not have the budget to add more people.
At the same time, nearby smoothie bars/chains might steal your customers. For example, popular and widespread chains like Smoothie King, Jamba and Starbucks allow mobile pre-ordering, so a lot of members may just prefer to go there than stand in line at your club.
A Smoothie Ordering Solution can improve Smoothie Bar sales and member experience
May I present 4 strong reasons for a Smoothie Ordering Solution, which can make a positive impact on your smoothie bar sales – improving its member experience and profitability..
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- Enable members to pre-order through a mobile app to minimize wait time for all your members, but especially especially the millennials and the Gen Z, who prefer to do all such tasks online. For them standing in a line to order a smoothie is a pain. Also that many of them are busy working professionals and their time is more valuable than ever before. If they have to wait too long to be served, they’ll go elsewhere.
- Opportunity to promote smoothies with the help of Push Notifications and marketing Campaigns.
- Automate the order management process for your staff and make it doubly efficient with a dashboard.
- Make digital payments saving precious time at the Bar/Counter.
At SHC, we have built a first-of-its-kind Smoothie Ordering Solution for health clubs that provides a simpler and faster ordering experience for both members and staff.
Your members no longer have to wait in queues after an intense workout. They can access your entire menu on the app and pre-order their favorite drink with just a few taps, helping you drive more sales and keeping members coming back for more.
Let’s look at how it works:
How the SHC Smoothie Ordering Solution works
You might think my Smoothie Bar menu is very complex, and we have so many categories, options, variants, add ons: no digital solution will be able to replicate that on an App.
On the SHC App, you will have significant flexibility in setting up your Smoothie menu to represent your menu. The constructs of Product, Categories, Options, Add Ons will allow you to represent your menu on the App.
Input all your Base information for the Smoothie Product
Because you are creating a full menu of your smoothies, you have to first input all your base information. So, you start with creating the Smoothie Product Type and assigning a Base Price to it. Then across all the Smoothies you offer, input the sum total of the Options and Add Ons you have. While you are inputting them, it is a good idea to assign categories to them.
Options are all the customization options you include in your Base price. While Add Ons are items members have to pay for over and above the Base Price.
For example, Chia Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds and Flax seeds can all be part of the SEEDS category under Add Ons, and a member can add them to their Smoothie and pay extra.
Note: Most clubs have ONE base price for a smoothie and it is the Add Ons that can modify the price. But, some clubs have an ADULT smoothie product and a CHILD smoothie product. In that case they can set up two products.
Create your Smoothies and set up your Smoothie Menu on the App
On the SHC App, the next step is to create as many smoothies as you offer. Attach the appropriate Options and Add Ons to each. Give inspiring names to the Smoothies like Strawberry Blast, Apple Mocha or reuse the names you already have. Then attach the base price set earlier to the smoothie. You can choose to price it differently for different membership tiers. Rinse and repeat till you have created all your Smoothies on the App.
Note: An interesting and useful feature SHC offers is the ability to either show or hide a smoothie on your Menu. Your club staff can hide a smoothie if it is out of stock.
Manage orders with the Smoothie Dashboard
Whenever a member places an order, it comes up on the Smoothie Dashboard and your Front Desk or Smoothie Managers can receive the orders.
Orders are color-coded based on when a new order comes in so your staff can immediately check on it.
A loud bell sound plays once an order is placed and the Club staff accept the orders and start preparing the smoothies. Once the smoothie is ready, the staff member can send a notification on the App.
Note: You can set up the Open and Close times for the Bar and then these are automated on the App, so if your Bar open time is 7 am, the App will start taking orders at 7 am.
How will your members pre-order on the App
Members can go to the Smoothie Bar icon on the App to view the Menu. They can jump to a category versus scrolling endlessly on a long menu. After selecting the Smoothie, members can customize it with Options and Add-ons.
For example, a member can select an Avocado Smoothie, add Mango as an Option and then add Protein Powder and Chia seeds to it as Add Ons. Finally, the member can add any special instructions if they want such as: “I want 2 additional paper napkins.”
Once they’ve customized their smoothie, they select their preferred Pick-up Time.
For payment, like any online purchase, members can either use a Card on File or card for payment and add a new payment option and pay via that.
The member receives a Notification once the Club confirms the Order and when the Order is Ready for Pickup.
Bonus tips to get all your members to order through the Smoothie App
Promote the app within the club
Send email campaigns and push notifications to members through your club app. Use good old fashioned posters or use your large TV screens. This is one thing you cannot do enough of. Everything starts with the App!
Offer discounts on smoothies ordered through the app
To get your members started with using the App, offer discounts for the first month of launch, and then for every member’s first order.
Reward points work in F&B
Almost every cafe or smoothie bar has a reward program that celebrates and rewards use and consumption. Some things should just be copied.
Push notifications
When your members check-in, send a push notification and then maybe another one 15 minutes before they close their workout.
To sum up
There is no doubt that Smoothies are going digital.
There is also no doubt that Health Clubs can maximize Smoothie Bar sales using software.
Quoting from Athletechnews:
“As mentioned, consumers may be more willing or only have the option to get a takeout or delivery smoothie rather than passing time in a cafe. So, those that have pivoted to areas like faster takeout, mobile ordering, delivery and bottled options have often seen success. Large franchises like Smoothie King and Tropical Smoothie Cafe continued to grow in 2020, in part due to their ability to leverage digital ordering platforms.”
To make sure you give your members a rich and complete member experience and also boost your revenues, digitizing your Smoothie Bar is a great step in the right direction. What do you think?
Our Smoothie solution is already being used by some of our clubs and we are happy to demo that to you.
