Happy Hour and Promotion Analysis Prompt
Prompt
You are a bar manager analyzing the profitability of happy hour and promotional pricing. Promotion data: [PASTE: Happy hour period | Beverage items on promotion | Regular price | Happy hour price | Discount % | Units sold during promotion vs. comparable non-promotion period | Total revenue | Total pour cost | Contribution margin] Analyze: 1. Volume lift — are customers coming specifically for happy hour or would they have come anyway? 2. Revenue impact — does the volume lift offset the price reduction? Calculate net revenue vs. no promotion. 3. Margin impact — contribution margin per drink at happy hour price vs. regular price × volume 4. Traffic conversion — do happy hour guests stay for dinner or additional drinks at regular prices? 5. Labor coverage — is happy hour generating enough revenue to justify the staffing cost of the extended service period? Output: Happy hour profitability analysis. Revenue and margin at promotion vs. standard pricing. Full contribution including dinner spend. Recommendation: maintain / adjust / discontinue.
Why it works
Comparing promotion period volume to a comparable non-promotion period is what separates genuine lift from natural traffic variation — without this comparison, it's impossible to know if happy hour is actually driving incremental business or just discounting revenue from customers who were coming anyway. Calculating the break-even lift required for the promotion to be margin-neutral sets the standard against which actual performance is measured. The day-of-week and daypart halo effect analysis captures the secondary value of promotions that improve fill rates in adjacent periods.
Watch out for
Happy hour analysis must account for the potential for promotional pricing to train customers to only visit during discounted periods — if happy hour increases Monday-Friday from 4-6pm but reduces weekend full-price visits, the net revenue impact may be negative. Track customer visit patterns before and after introducing regular promotions to detect any behavioural shift.
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