How to deal with landlords

Ben Wiley is an owner of some of the best bars in Brooklyn, NY, like Bar Great Harry and Glorietta Baldy among others.

He's had six different landlords in six different NYC neighborhoods, ranging from mom and pop operations to corporate LLCs.

But despite the different neighborhoods and the different landlords, Ben and his partners hold one thing constant: treat your landlord relationship like gold, and that means treat it professionally.

Ben counts this as a first principle of his business philosophy. Here's more on how he does it, why he does it, and how it's beneficial to him and his partners:

• Not every relationship in your industry life has to be professional, but you have to treat your landlord relationship with absolute professionalism.
• What does that mean? Always, always, always pay your rent on time. Be polite but direct when you speak with them. If something comes up, reach out to let them know. If they contact you, get back to them promptly. Nothing crazy here.
• Why? Your lease is going to fly by. When that lease is coming up for renewal 10 years from now, you want the landlord to say "yes, of course I want them to stay!" 10 years of being 100% on the ball is the most effective thing you can do to make sure that's the case.
• This goes such a long way because finding new tenants is very resource intensive. It's expensive in a bunch of ways: time, vacant months, etc. Landlords want to avoid it if they can.
• What about gentrification and huge rent increases? It's a good question, and it can be scary. The best thing you can do is focus on the things under your control, and that means treasuring that landlord relationship. Remember: they don't want to kick you out if you've been a good tenant, even if rents are going way up.
• This worked for Ben. A giant, fast-moving gentrification wave hit his area of Brooklyn (Carroll Gardens) in the 2000s and a great landlord relationship truly helped Ben and his partner renew one of their leases despite the drastic neighborhood changes.

Why?

Because it helps customers order faster, which can mean better beer sales for you and a better experience for them.

Beer drinkers generally know what kind of beer they want when they walk through the door.

For example, summertime me is looking for something hoppy. There's no world where I'll get a sour, stout, or amber. But, of course, some folks avoid IPAs at all costs.

If I see a section called "Hoppy" on the menu, I go there straightaway: "awesome, no need to scan the whole menu." For those IPA haters, if they see that "Hoppy" section, they can just skip on by: "ok, great, I'll just go find the section I'm looking for."

In each case, sorting the beer by style makes it easier for customers to find the beer they want. And that's a great thing for them and for your beer sales.

How?

You can do this manually. How you'd implement it depends on what works for your team, but it could look like this:

• Create an editable menu doc in Google Docs, Word, Powerpoint, or whatever and give everyone who needs it editing access.
• Make the beer style menu sections you need: Hoppy, Crisp & Bright, Toasted & Nutty, Dark & Roasted, Fruity & Spicy, Tart & Funky.
• Copy and paste your beer (and the beer info!) into the relevant category.
• Anytime your beer selection changes, delete the beer that's gone, then add new beers to the relevant category.

It certainly takes some time, but doing this would definitely be worth it.

• Tariffs continue stinging spirits producers. The Trump administration is trying to offset the drop in spirits exports to Canada by striking deals with other parts of the world. Case in point: during his current diplomatic trip to Asia, Cambodia has agreed to drop its 35% tariffs on US spirits immediately, and Malaysia has agreed to do so over the next 9 years. I guess it's helpful, but there's a very long way to go to make up for what's being lost to Canada right now. The average consumption of US spirits by these two countries is minuscule compared to what our neighbors to the north used to do.
• Champions League beer sponsor shifting to AB InBev. It's been Heineken for three decades, but multiple outlets are reporting that a new conglomerate is stepping in with a big annual contract increase (up 66% vs. Heineken's current deal).
• New chart illustrating which breweries own which US brands. No news here, but it's interesting to see this info represented visually.
• Vermont nonprofit recycles 4-pack holders. If ever there was a place for this, it's Vermont.