Every bar has TVs. Most of them are showing a cable news channel or a game nobody asked for. That same screen could be quietly driving extra revenue every single hour you’re open.
Digital menu boards aren’t a new idea in quick-service restaurants — McDonald’s, Starbucks, every airport coffee shop has been using them for years. But behind the bar, most operators are still behind.
Here’s what the data says and what you can actually do about it.
Why what’s on screen matters
When customers sit down, they look up. If your tap list is on the TV, they read it. If it’s on a chalkboard at the far end of the bar, half your guests never see it. If it’s on a paper menu that hasn’t been updated since last week, they order the same thing they always order.
Digital menu boards work because they remove friction from the decision. The customer sees the full tap list with names, styles, ABV, and a description — without having to ask the bartender, squint at a board, or flip through a menu.
That lowers the barrier to trying something new, and trying something new almost always means ordering something higher-margin.
The upsell you’re not making
Your bartenders can’t describe every beer on tap to every customer who walks in. Your digital tap list can.
When a customer sees “Double IPA — tropical, juicy, 8.2% ABV — $9” on screen, they self-select into an upgrade. No pitch required.
The same applies to seasonal taps, limited releases, and guest kegs. Put them on screen — prominently — and they move faster. When they run out, update the menu from your phone in about 15 seconds.
Real-time updates change the game
The biggest failure mode with any static menu — chalkboard, printed, or slide deck — is that it goes out of date and stays that way. Staff stop trusting it. Customers get disappointed when something listed isn’t available.
Pourwall updates across all your screens the instant you save a change. Mark a tap inactive and it disappears. Move a new keg to active and it appears. Do this from your phone, at the bar, mid-shift.
When your menu is always accurate, customers trust it. When they trust it, they use it.
What to put on your tap list screen
A few things that consistently work well:
Show ABV. Customers making decisions about a third or fourth drink appreciate knowing what they’re getting into. It also positions your high-ABV specialties as a premium choice.
Write short descriptions. Even one line — “Hazy pale ale, stone fruit and pine” — helps. You don’t need full tasting notes. Just give people something to latch onto.
Use images when you have them. A clean beer label image next to a tap description looks professional and slows down the eye on that item.
Highlight what’s fresh. If a keg just landed, put it at the top of the list. Digital menus make this trivially easy — just drag and reorder.
Have an On Deck section. Pourwall’s Premium plan lets you show what’s coming next. “On Deck: Schwarzbier from Black Kite Brewing” creates anticipation and gives regulars a reason to come back.
Multiple screens, one menu
If your bar has three TVs, you don’t want to manage three separate lists. Pourwall casts the same live menu to as many screens as you want, all updating simultaneously. Change it once, it’s everywhere.
This matters most at shift change. The outgoing bartender marks the kicked kegs, the screen updates, the incoming bartender doesn’t waste five minutes figuring out what’s still on.
The cost math
One Chromecast is $30. One Fire TV Stick is $40. A Pourwall free account gets you a live digital tap list on one screen with unlimited taps and real-time updates at zero cost.
If a single customer orders a craft beer instead of a domestic because they saw it on screen, you’ve paid for the hardware in one transaction.
Your TVs are already there. Put them to work. Try Pourwall free →
