Spring opens up new avenues for franchises

Spring is good for business, and not just for purveyors of sunscreen and board shorts.

After a long winter spent bundled up indoors, consumers are excited to break out and enjoy the open air again (almost as excited as they are to get rid of their heating bills). This is especially true in cities that experience brutal winters. Case in point: Chicago.

This explains why local publication RedEye shot out of the gate with a roundup of the city’s best patios and rooftops as soon as the sun showed its much-missed face in The Second City.

Popular spots like Kirkwood, Gaslight and Crossing all got shout-outs, showing how an open-air area in a bar or restaurant can lead to major curb appeal when the weather is nice. In fact, a location’s menu can become secondary to whether or not it offers customers a chance to catch some rays.

However, it’s not just sunshine that can help bring customers into an establishment. March Madness has arrived, and places that want to appeal to a wide swath of the dining and drinking public would be wise to put some basketball on the tube.

Eater listed some of the top basketball bars in the city, with Kirkwood making a second appearance as the place to be, along with watering holes like Benchmark and Schoolyard.

The point is: No matter the location or type of establishment, attracting crowds doesn’t necessarily have to mean spending big bucks on a new marketing campaign. Sometimes taking advantage of the melting snow and sports on TV is all you need to build some buzz.

Check out the full stories here and here.