Why You Should Play Music at Your Bar or Restaurant

Music can be an integral part of a bar or restaurant’s identity. It helps set the mood, affects customers’ emotions and can even influence what certain people buy. That’s why the right jukebox or TouchTunes can greatly improve your business.

If you’re not currently playing music in your bar or restaurant, here are some reasons why you should reconsider:

Music Leads to Customers Staying Longer

There are tons of studies out there examining how the psychological effects of music can help a bar or restaurant’s sales. For instance, one study shows that slow tempo music leads to customers staying in an establishment longer and leads to a 40 percent increase in drink and dessert sales.

Or Music Can Help Get Them Out the Door Quicker

Alternatively, if you’re a restaurant that is very busy and often have customers waiting for tables, you can actually use music to get customers to eat faster, which means they’ll leave quicker and you’ll be able to serve more customers, thus increasing your revenue. Fast and/or loud music activates the body’s sympathetic nervous system, a.k.a. our “flight or fight” response, which will diminish a person’s appetite, which will make them cut lunch early, allowing you to seat new customers quicker.

Music Makes Food Taste Better

This might sound weird, but scientific studies have repeatedly found that music can help enhance the taste of food for a customer. Lower pitch music usually helps improve the taste of savory dishes, and higher pitches help sweeter tastes. And if a customer thinks their dish tastes good, then they’re more likely to come back in the future. So why not add a little music to help improve their taste experience?

Music Makes People Drink More

While playing music at a restaurant leads to a more pleasurable experience as we mentioned above, playing music too loud will do the opposite and will turn diners off. However, that’s not the case at bars. Repeated studies show that bars playing loud music leads to people drinking more alcohol. And while you obviously shouldn’t overserve your patrons, giving them a little musical encouragement for one more drink isn’t such a bad idea.

Music Sets the Mood

We’re all influenced by the environment around us, and that includes music. Your choice for background music will affect a customer’s mood, and therefore influence their purchasing decisions. Playing happier or more upbeat music will put them in a good mood, and influence them to stay longer and spend more. More sad or depressing music will make them feel bad, which will likely cause them to leave and possibly not comeback. And easy listening jazz will make them feel bored. So make sure you make the right choice of songs.

People Love Country Music

About 42 percent of Americans consider themselves country music fans according to recent surveys. And surveys also say that country music fans tend to go out to eat more than fans of other types of music. So if you’re looking to attract new customers, or make sure current ones keep coming back, playing country music may help. But you know your customers better than the stats, so if there’s a different type of music that you think your clientele likes more, don’t feel pressured to play country.

How do you approach music at your bar or restaurant? Let us know in the comments below!