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Cool Weather Days and Cold Nights Prompt Spirited ‘Hot Toddy’ Options and Wide Back Bar Sales Opportunities
Popularity of Flavored Coffees, Exotic Teas and Vegetable Vodkas Create Endless Hot Elixir Options and Ideas
www.BarMechanics.com
It’s cold everywhere…and bar sales of coffee, tea and even soup rise naturally as warmth equals comfort. On the homefronts, brandy and rum get poured into nogs and grogs and ciders get spiked with smokey scotches and hearty whiskeys this time of year. The medicinal benefits of the mix of alcohol and hot beverages has been supported by both doctors and grandmothers for years and for the hospitality industry this all means that your guests need to be reminded that the options are unlimited.
The ‘Hot Toddy’ was an actual drink, and even was a hit record in the 1950’s but in this era the words Hot Toddy and ‘Irish Coffee’ are more about temperature than recipe. Mulled cider drinks are usually found in ski lodges and magazines and if your idea of Irish Coffee is Jameson and Coffee with whip cream it shows up lame when you can grab 4 different Godivas or 3 different Bailey’s to make it better. Or maybe you can splash some 360 Chocolate Vodka or Van Gogh Espresso Vodka to make that ‘house’ cappuccino go ‘yum’.
It’s a new table with the emergence of flavored teas that many locations are offering and flavored creamers are becoming a standard more than a feature. But when it’s cold don’t forget that those ’sweet tea vodka’ blends can also be added to hot teas and ciders to create options for outstanding cold weather sippers. Adding Cherry liqueur or cherry vodka to a hot tea just works, and what better way to soothe a scratchy throat than a organic Oolong with some Navan or Calvados splashed in. In fact even without the sore throat you can punch up your tea with some of that cranberry or caramel vodka you’re counting every month. A Graham cracker rim added to a piping hot Earl Grey with a whisper of Apple Vodka and a splash of Butterscotch schnapps will warm the conversation and add sales and variety. Whipped creams, chocolate cool whip, a biscotte or shortbread cookie added to the hot beverage sale makes a dessert sale go from longshot to…must have.
There’s plenty of inventory and plenty of options to warm up the bar, and light up sales when the winter months creates an alternative to dessert from the back bar. Brands like Bailey’s and Godiva make it easy and a bit more expensive and alluring, but every distributor has a variety of options that can accompany any hot beverages already served in your establishment. From Dooley’s Toffee to Castries Rum Cream and from Brinley’s Coffee Rum to Antica Espresso Sambuca, there are new mixable brands that offer tremendous opportunities to turn cold weather into new sales. Patron XO in a double shot of Espresso? I think that Mexican Coffee has grown up….
But wait…soups on, and with the options to add Tomato or Cucumber Vodka to vegetable soup or even to chicken consume or beef bouillon makes me wonder how that Bakon Vodka is doing out west….
Larry ‘Smokey’ Genta and his associates, known as BarMechanics are available to consult, train and improve beverage sales and service. BarMechanics can assist at every tier and has clients that are beverage retailers, suppliers and distributors. BarMechanics individually and collectively are professional friends and leaders in the Hospitality Industry. ‘Smokey’ is known for creative mixology, imaginative beverage promotions and sales related to brand building, and currently is the Managing Editor of BeverageUnderground.com.
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