Busy Bar Menu Layout: Build the Rush Board Ahead

To make the tap list work when the bar is 3 deep, build a rush version of it on a quiet afternoon and put it up on a written cue. The rush layout keeps every pouring beer orderable by tap number and price, collapses slow sections to 1 line and takes the on deck list off. On a 16 tap list, that takes the board from 27 lines to 19.

Below are the 3 rush states for a section, worked layouts for a 16 tap list and a 30 tap wall, the cue to switch, the switch back, the digital version and a card to print.

Why does a packed bar need a different menu layout?

A packed bar needs a different layout because the guest reading the board has changed. On a quiet night they read all of it from a stool. At 3 deep they read between shoulders from the back row, and they need 2 things: what's pouring and what it costs.

Everything else on the board slows that guest down. Laws of UX sums up Hick's law as "the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices," and its advice is to cut choices when response time matters. A bar at 3 deep is that case. A guest still reading when the bartender reaches them means a wait for everyone behind them.

The back row also reads from farther away. The U.S. Access Board's guide to the ADA sign standards sets a minimum letter height for signs mounted above 70 inches and up to 10 feet: 2 inches for a viewing distance under 15 feet, plus 1/8 inch for every foot beyond 15. Those rules were written for signs, not menus, but they show how fast the needed size climbs.

Here's the math with made-up inputs. Measure your own.

• The screen hangs between 70 inches and 10 feet off the floor.
• A guest at the rail stands 14 feet from the screen.
• Each row of standing guests behind the rail adds about 2 feet.

The third row needs letters about 19% taller than the rail does (2.375 / 2 = 1.19). On a board with a fixed amount of space, the only way to give every line more height is to carry fewer lines.

If guests at the rail can't read the board on a quiet night, the problem is type size, and the across-the-room test for tap list type size comes first. A rush layout can't save a board that fails when the room is empty.

What happens to each section in the rush layout?

Each section gets 1 of 3 rush states, decided ahead of time and written down.

2 rules hold the rush layout together:

1. Nothing that's pouring comes off. A collapsed section gets shorter, but every live handle can still be ordered by number or name.
2. Nothing changes order. Lines keep their order and their tap numbers, so regulars and bartenders still know where every beer sits. The rush layout only removes and shortens.

A collapsed line drops brewery and style. It keeps what a guest needs to order: strength, pour size, tap number, beer and price.

The flight line follows what you serve. If you keep pouring flights when it's packed, the line stays. If you stop, it comes off and goes back up with the full board.

Pour sizes work the same way. If the normal board lists a 5 oz taster or a fill size you won't pour in a rush, leave it off the rush version. Showing ABV, style and pour size on a draft menu covers which pours earn a spot on a normal night.

What does a rush layout look like on a 16 tap list?

On a 16 tap list with 6 sections, a house flight line and 3 beers on deck, the rush layout cuts the board from 27 lines to 19, and every tap can still be ordered. The choices below are 1 way to build it, so swap in your own sections.

The collapsed line reads like this:

BIG AND STRONG, 10.5% to 12.4%, 8 oz: 12 Barleywine $9 / 13 Imperial Stout $8 / 14 Barrel-Aged Stout $9

A guest who doesn't want a big beer skips 1 line instead of 4. A guest who does still sees the tap number and the price.

If the board's height is shared evenly across its lines, 19 lines instead of 27 gives each line 27 / 19 = 1.42 times the height, about 42% taller. That covers the 19% the third row needs in the distance example above, with room to spare.

Make the physical version now. On chalk, that means a lettered card that covers the Big and Strong section and a blank panel for On Deck. On paper, it means a second printed sheet. The digital version comes further down.

How does the rush layout scale to a 30 tap wall?

On a 30 tap wall split across 2 screens, the same 3 states take the list from 44 lines to 31. Big walls usually have more slow sections to collapse, so the cut runs deeper.

The saved lines only help if both screens share them. If each screen keeps its own fixed sections, the screen with the fast sellers stays as full as it was, because the cuts all come from the slow sections. So on a wall this size, the rush plan says which sections go on which screen, in the same order.

The fullest screen goes from 23 lines to 16, and 23 / 16 = 1.44, so its lines can be about 44% taller. Sour and Fruited moves to the right screen, but the reading order from left to right doesn't change.

Collapsed lines get ordered by number, so the handle numbers have to match the board. Numbering the handles on a 30 to 40 tap wall covers how to set that up.

What is the cue to switch to the rush layout?

The cue is a written trigger anyone on shift can see, so the switch never waits on someone's feel for the room. Write down 2 and go on whichever comes first:

• A clock cue for nights you can see coming, such as a set time before a big game or the hour your Fridays usually fill.
• A room cue for nights you can't, such as a second row forming behind the stools.

Name who switches: the shift's board owner, the same person named on the shift handoff card. When the cue hits, they put the rush layout up without asking anyone.

On game nights, put the switch time on the same sheet as your game night keg prep. The cold backups and the rush layout are planned for the same hour.

How do you switch back without leaving a wrong board?

Switch back on a written cue too, and walk every collapsed and removed line against the handles before the full board goes up. A rush layout hides changes, and one still up at noon the next day is a wrong board.

Write down 3 things for the switch back:

1. The cue back. Use the room cue in reverse, held for a stretch you choose (say the second row has been gone 20 minutes), or a clock cue such as 30 minutes after the game ends.
2. Who switches back. That's the board owner who switched to rush, since they know what they collapsed.
3. The check first. Every collapsed line and every removed section gets walked against the handles.

Here's how a collapsed section hides a change. Say tap 13, the imperial stout, kicks during the rush. The collapsed Big and Strong line drops it, and the bar runs the usual routine for a keg kicked mid-shift: call it, offer the sub, fix the board, and swap the keg only when it's safe.

Meanwhile tap 6 kicks too, and the IPA that was on deck for tap 6 goes on. When the full board comes back, it can't show the imperial stout in Big and Strong or that IPA still waiting in On Deck. Fix both lines and check the rest of the on deck list before it goes back up.

As a backstop, the full layout goes back up before close every night, so the opener never walks in to a rush layout.

How does a rush layout work on a digital board?

On a digital board, the rush layout is mostly a choice of what each screen shows, and the lines you cut buy back type size. On a TapDisplay board, one list can be split across several screens, or each screen can show its own sections. The rush card then lists the sections each screen carries in each layout.

A long list on a TapDisplay screen adjusts its type to fit, then turns pages. In a rush, a page turn means a guest at the back waits for their beer to come around again. Fewer lines on a screen leave room for larger type before it has to page, so plan every rush screen to fit on 1 page.

Check the plan against rule 1: every pouring section has to sit on at least 1 screen in the rush. The on deck section can come off the screens facing the room.

The switch may need a manager. In TapDisplay, staff accounts edit the menu, including marking a beer kicked and changing prices. Managers and owners also run the screens. If the switch changes which sections a screen shows, the board owner on a rush night needs a manager or owner login, or a manager makes the switch.

Each connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so the rush layout shows within about 30 seconds of the switch. A beer that kicks mid-rush stays on the board, struck through. Keg menus such as a bar, brewery or cidery label it KICKED, and the word comes from the business type.

The activity log records who changed what, and undo reverses a change made by mistake. That helps when the switch back happens on a different shift from the switch to rush.

A TapDisplay screen shows 2 pours per item by default and up to 4. If yours shows 3 or 4, put the rush pour count on the card too.

What goes on the rush layout card?

The rush card holds the whole plan on 1 page: what collapses, what comes off, the cue each way, who switches and the check before the full board goes back. Here it is filled in for the 16 tap example, with made-up times:

RUSH LAYOUT CARD
Collapses:          Big and Strong, to 1 line (card behind the board)
Comes off:          On Deck; House Flight line (no flights while packed)
Stays:              everything else, same order, same tap numbers
Switch to rush:     7:30 pm on game nights, or a second row at the bar
Switched by:        the shift's board owner
Switch back:        second row gone 20 minutes, or 30 minutes after the game
Switched back by:   the shift's board owner
Check first:        collapsed lines and On Deck against the handles
Full layout up by:  close, every night

On a digital board, add 1 line per screen with its sections in each layout, plus the name of the manager who can make the switch.

Test the card once on a slow afternoon. Put the rush layout up and walk the handles, because every live tap has to appear. Then have a bartender who didn't build it switch to rush and back using only the card. If they have to ask a question, write the answer onto the card.

The bottom line

Build the rush layout on a quiet afternoon so nobody decides anything mid-rush. Keep every pouring beer orderable by tap number and price, collapse the slow sections, take off what guests read for later, and put the cue and the owner on 1 card. In the 16 tap example that's 19 lines instead of 27, and the full board goes back up, checked against the handles, before close.