Sports bars are more than just restaurants or meeting places. They are an integral part of the community, providing an ideal atmosphere for people to come together and build a sense of camaraderie. This was especially important to Lintz, who used to feel out of place or bored when visiting other sports bars with Fox. Nowadays, sports bars offer a variety of activities and amenities, such as music, outdoor seating, heat lamps, and a wide selection of drinks.
Fox, a Knicks fan, can still enjoy the games (even if the team didn't have the best season). The sports bar industry is also evolving, with more high-end menus and modern cocktails to keep customers coming back after the games are over. To remain competitive with other restaurants and fast food establishments in the area, sports bars must balance affordability with ambience, service, and quality. The segment's staples, such as macaroni and cheese, fried pickles, curly fries, seasoned onion rings, exclusive French fries and peanuts, are still popular in sports bars.
To stay ahead of the competition, owners should analyze the menus of other sports bars in the area to identify their strengths and weaknesses. As sporting events are the main attraction in these establishments, they must have televisions in view of all seats, sometimes all tuned to different channels. In terms of design, sports bars have gone from a male-oriented atmosphere with lots of TVs and a limited menu to brighter, more cheerful and sophisticated interiors with high-end menus. Since sports bars are tailored to a specific clientele, they must have certain business objectives in place to ensure success.
The stereotypical image of a sports bar isn't necessarily attractive: a dark room with low light and sticky floors, loud images of a soccer match that are the only respite from the darkness. Jenny Nguyen was determined to change this perception when she opened her Portland-based sports bar The Sports Bra – so that no one would ever have to feel out of place or unwelcome. This means that owners must be very aware not only of their bar's performance but also of how their customers perceive it. The Sports Bra became a joke every time Nguyen and her friends had a frustrating experience at another sports bar.
