The St. Patrick's Day and March Madness Bar Plan

By Rob Bruni, founder of OpsEdge Hospitality, twenty years running restaurants, bars, clubs and resorts. Updated November 2026.

In 2027 St. Patrick's Day lands on a Wednesday, the same night as the second round of men's opening round games, and the first round of the tournament starts the next morning. For a bar, that is not one big day. It is five busy days in a row from Wednesday through Sunday, with a weekday lunch rush most bars do not normally staff for. This plan covers the calendar, how to forecast guests and drinks, a calculator for kegs and bartenders, the menu, staffing between games, control on the floor and how to count what the week cost.

Why 2027 is one long week, not one big day

Most years St. Patrick's Day is a single spike: plan it, staff it, count it the next morning. In 2027 the tournament runs straight into it. The men's tournament now opens with a 76 team field and twelve opening round games on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 16 and 17, before the first round on Thursday and Friday. The women's first round starts Friday. That means:

• Wednesday is a double event. The St. Patrick's crowd and the people who want the game on are in the same room. Decide which screens show games and where the music goes before the day, not during it.
• Thursday and Friday are day games on workdays. First round games run from about midday into the late evening. A bar that normally opens the well at 4 PM needs a lunch and afternoon plan.
• The order has to last. If the kegs and the cooler space are planned around Wednesday alone, the bar runs short by Friday afternoon, when distributors are often already sold out of the popular drafts.
• Labor is the trap. Four days of games also means stretches between games when the room empties. Staffing every hour like the peak hour turns a strong week of sales into a weak week of profit.

The 2027 calendar, day by day

Date (2027)	What is on	What it means for the bar
Sun, March 14	Selection Sunday; clocks spring forward	Brackets go out and groups start planning where to watch. Post your game day plan this day.
Tue, March 16	Men's opening round begins (12 games over two days)	Evening games. A soft start, useful as a dress rehearsal for staff and screens.
Wed, March 17	St. Patrick's Day, plus the second night of men's opening round games	The biggest volume day of the stretch for most bars, on a weeknight. Lunch through close.
Thu, March 18	Men's first round, day one	Games from midday into late night. Day bar staffing on a workday.
Fri, March 19	Men's first round, day two; women's first round begins	Another full day of games running into a normal Friday night.
Sat to Sun, March 20 to 21	Second round (men's); women's first round finishes Saturday	Weekend games on top of weekend business.
Thu to Sun, March 25 to 28	Sweet 16 and Elite Eight	Fewer games, bigger audiences, especially if a local team is still in.
Sat, April 3 and Mon, April 5	Final Four and men's championship	Two single big nights. Treat each like a smaller Super Bowl.

Dates are from the published NCAA schedule; check tip times when the bracket comes out on Selection Sunday and build the staffing schedule from the actual games, especially any game with a local team.

Forecasting guests and drinks

Start from your own history, not a guess. Pull the POS for St. Patrick's Day and the first tournament weekend last year and write down covers or checks, sales, drinks sold by category and sales by hour. Then adjust:

• Day of the week. St. Patrick's Day 2026 fell on a Tuesday. A Wednesday usually runs a little stronger, a Friday or Saturday much stronger. Compare last year's day to an ordinary day the same week to see the lift, then apply that lift to an ordinary Wednesday this year.
• Capacity. The forecast cannot exceed the room. Seats plus standing room times the number of turns in the busy window is the ceiling, and on St. Patrick's Day many bars hit it by early evening.
• Events you control. A ticketed party, a band, a block party or a watch party with a set menu lets you forecast from tickets and reservations instead of hope.
• Drinks per guest. Use your own drinks sold divided by checks or guests for last year's day. Three is a common starting point for a long stay on a big drinking day; a quick lunch crowd watching one game is closer to one or two.

Write the forecast for each day of the week as guests, drinks and the share of drinks in the busiest hour. Everything else in this plan, from the order to the schedule, comes from those three numbers.

Worked example: a 450 guest St. Patrick's Day

A neighborhood bar with 120 seats and room to stand expects about 450 guests across the day on Wednesday, March 17, based on last year's checks and a Wednesday lift. Guests average three drinks. Draft is about 55 percent of drinks on the day, and the busiest hour carries about 22 percent of the day's drinks.

Input	Value	Result	Value
Guests through the door	450	Total drinks	1,350
Drinks per guest	3	Draft pints	742
Draft share of drinks	55%	Half barrel kegs (at 110 sellable pints)	6.8, so order 8 with one spare
Share of drinks in the peak hour	22%	Drinks in the peak hour	297
Drinks one bartender can make in an hour	70	Bartenders on the well at peak	4.2, so schedule 5

Eight half barrels with the spare, spread across the draft lines. Most bars split them between the stout, a light lager and one or two locals, rather than ordering eight of one beer. And five bartenders on the well in the peak hour, which is not the same as five bartenders all day: the schedule builds up to the peak and back down. The same math, run for Thursday and Friday with lower guest counts, tells you whether the Wednesday order covers the rest of the week or needs a second delivery.

Calculator: drinks, kegs and bartenders

Keg yields in this guide use 16 ounce pints. If you pour a 20 ounce imperial pint of stout, use the smaller pint count for that keg.

Keg	Volume	16 oz pints on paper	Pints to plan on
Half barrel	15.5 gallons (1,984 oz)	124	105 to 115
Quarter barrel (pony)	7.75 gallons (992 oz)	62	52 to 57
Sixth barrel	5.16 gallons (661 oz)	41	35 to 38

The menu and the order

• Shorten the drink menu. Six to eight drinks that are fast to make: draft, cans, two or three batched cocktails and a couple of shots. A long cocktail list cuts what each bartender can make in an hour in half.
• Batch what you can. Pre-batch the cocktails (everything but the bubbles and the ice), label each batch with the date and the recipe, and cost them before the day so the price hits your target. The pour cost guide covers costing a batched drink.
• Price for the day, then check it. A special at a round price is fine; a special that runs at 40 percent pour cost on your busiest day is not. Run every special through the pour cost calculator.
• Order early. Place the beer order two weeks out and confirm it in writing. Popular stouts and seasonal drafts can run short at the distributor the week of March 17.
• Plan the cold space. Kegs need cooler room and time to settle before they pour well. Count the space you have and schedule a second delivery for Friday if the week needs more than the cooler holds.
• Keep the food simple. Handhelds and shareables that go out fast and travel through a standing crowd. Pre-portion and stage par levels for each game day.

Staffing the days and the gaps between games

Schedule from the forecast by hour, not by the day. The scheduling guide covers the method; for this week, a few rules matter most:

• Bartenders to the peak hour from the calculator, built up with staggered starts and cut back in the same order.
• One barback for every two bartenders on a volume day. Bartenders who stop to change kegs or haul ice are not making drinks.
• A door or ID check whenever the room is at or near capacity, separate from the bar.
• Day game coverage on Thursday and Friday. Schedule shorter shifts across the game windows and keep one person on call rather than a full crew from open.
• Watch the gaps. Between games, and on the late shift when the last game is a blowout, cut on time. A labor check at 3 PM and 9 PM each day keeps the week on target. The labor cost guide covers reading labor as a percent of sales by the hour.
• Feed the team and rotate breaks. Five long days in a row wear a crew down. Plan the breaks on the schedule, not on the fly.

Control on the floor: pours, IDs and over-service

High volume days reward control. Most of what goes wrong on St. Patrick's Day starts at the well when the bar is three deep:

• Measure every pour, with jiggers or metered spouts, even at the peak. A heavy pour on 1,350 drinks is a lot of liquor.
• Ring every drink. No tabs on a napkin, no free pours for regulars without a comp key. The comp and void report at the end of each day should be short.
• Check every ID, at the door and again at the bar for anyone who looks under 30. Busy is never a reason to skip it.
• Plan for over-service. Brief the team on how to slow down and cut off a guest politely, who makes the call, and who backs them up. Keep water flowing and food available.
• Make the ride home easy. Post a rideshare pickup spot and have the number for a local cab ready at the host stand.
• Cash and tills. Pull cash drops during the day and count tills at shift change, not only at close.

The four week timeline

1. Four weeks out (mid February): pull last year's numbers, write the forecast for each day, decide the screens and the music plan, and set the menu.
2. Three weeks out: cost every special and batch recipe, book any band or event, and confirm security if you use it.
3. Two weeks out: place and confirm the beer and liquor order, order glassware, cups and paper goods, and post the staff schedule with the day game shifts.
4. The week before: test every TV and the sound, run a lunch rehearsal on a slow day, prep labels for the batches and walk the floor plan for a standing crowd.
5. Selection Sunday, March 14: check tip times, adjust the Thursday and Friday shifts, and post your game day plan on social and on a sign in the bar.
6. Each day of the week: pre-shift with the forecast, the specials and the over-service plan; labor checks at 3 PM and 9 PM; cash drops through the day.

After the week: counting what it cost

The day after a big day is when most bars find out what really happened. Count the bar on Monday, March 22, after the first weekend, and treat the week as one period:

• Count the bar the same way as every week (the bar inventory guide covers the count) and work out pour cost for the week.
• Compare drinks sold to drinks used. Kegs used times sellable pints against draft pints rung in the POS shows how much beer was poured but not sold.
• Read the comp, void and waste reports for each day and look for the hour they spiked.
• Compare to the forecast. Guests, drinks per guest and peak hour share against what you planned. Write the real numbers down; they are next year's forecast.
• Roll it into the weekly prime cost so the big week is judged on profit, not just on sales.

Next on the calendar: Easter is March 28 and Mother's Day is May 9. The Mother's Day and Easter brunch plan covers both, and the full 2027 restaurant and bar calendar has every date after that.

FAQ

What day is St. Patrick's Day in 2027?

Wednesday, March 17, 2027. It falls on the second night of the men's NCAA tournament opening round, and the first round starts the next day, Thursday, March 18.

When does March Madness start in 2027?

Selection Sunday is March 14, 2027. The men's opening round is March 16 and 17, the first round March 18 and 19 and the second round March 20 and 21. The women's first round is March 19 and 20. The men's Final Four is April 3 in Detroit with the championship on April 5.

How many kegs do I need for St. Patrick's Day?

Multiply expected guests by drinks per guest and by the share that is draft to get draft pints, then divide by the sellable pints per keg (105 to 115 for a half barrel). Round up and add a spare. A bar expecting 450 guests at three drinks each with 55 percent draft needs about 743 draft pints, close to seven half barrels, so order seven plus one spare.

How many bartenders do I need for a busy bar day?

Work out the drinks in the busiest hour, then divide by what one bartender can make in an hour: 60 to 80 on a short menu of draft, cans and batched cocktails, 30 to 40 on a full cocktail menu. Add one barback for every two bartenders and a separate ID check at the door.

How do I keep labor under control during March Madness?

Schedule to the game windows instead of the whole day, stagger starts and cuts around the peak, keep one person on call for day games and check labor against sales at set times each day so the quiet stretches between games do not carry a full crew.