Drinks are of as much importance as food in any hospitality business – even those that are food-led, so making every drink look as good as it tastes should be a priority. Your summer drinks range should marry with the style of your overall business and provide your customers with the best choice and value possible.
When creating your summer drinks list, key areas to think about are customers’ perception of refreshment, presentation and value. Drinks presentation is often much less thought about than food – relying instead on each member of staff preparing drinks as they think correct. Staff training with regular updates is important to maintain standards and consistency in your drinks offer.
In all drinks categories there are a few simple ways to elevate a drink from just “ordinary” to “special” and appeal visually to customers before they’ve even tasted it. Drinks that have a wow factor can also help to raise the quality and perception of your overall offer and generate customers’ repeat business…
Draught Beer and Lager
The perfect pint begins in the cellar where good cellar practice makes all the difference to quality – especially in the summer. Quality checks are even more critical in hot temperatures when there is added pressure on cooling equipment.
At the bar, a few easy steps help to create the perfect drink. Here, the process always starts with a spotlessly clean, cool glass. In a perfect world, this is a branded glass as these have usually been developed by the brewer to enhance the quality of the drink that they will contain. If this isn’t possible, then a plain, stylish glass is fine. Customers sometimes have a preference for stemmed or non-stemmed glassware so if you have both styles, it’s worth asking the customer for their choice.
Cider/Fruit Cider
During summer months, fruit cider peaks in popularity because of its tall serve over ice, however the rise in sales in hot weather is not as high as in the past couple of years, as other drinks such as pink gin have taken over some share of this market. Fruit ciders look fantastic in the summer in tall glasses half-filled with ice and topped with a garnish.
Top tip: Try garnishing fruit ciders with one of the drink’s flavours e.g. a strawberry, raspberry, blackberry etc. and a couple of mint leaves.
Wine
White, sparkling and rosé wines are year-round favourites and a glass of rosé now isn’t just for summer. The pink drink trend doesn’t show any sign of decreasing either, with the announcement earlier this year that pink prosecco will soon be available.
When serving a perfect glass of wine, always use the best quality glasses you can afford. Chilling these wines down to the correct temperature is also key whilst customers ordering a bottle should also be offered a wine cooler whenever possible especially in hot weather. As with all other drinks, glasses should be cool and spotless and a quick spot check done before use.
Top tip: there is a growing trend towards a more continental oversized glass for serving still wines
Cocktails/mocktails
Here is where you can go to town on the presentation, with glassware and garnishes that are only limited by your own imagination. Just bear in mind that sometimes less is more – so if you find you are serving a salad in a glass you have gone too far! With classic cocktails, it’s important to keep to a standard recipe unless you are deliberately adding your own twist and letting customers know in the name or in the description of ingredients on the menu.
Mocktails can also add extra profitability to your cocktail menu and are now featuring more prominently on drinks menus. For customers not drinking alcohol on ‘big night out’ occasions or just wanting to treat themselves, mocktails can be a special treat as long as customers see the value in them. To demonstrate this value, as much care should be taken in their preparation as for your cocktails containing alcohol.
Top tip: classic and retro cocktails are becoming more popular so why not add a few forgotten classics to your drinks’ menu
Spirits
Along with cocktails, the ideal presentation of a spirit and mixer is often open to interpretation but there are three things we feel are non-negotiables:
- Bottled mixers should always be chilled
- Ice should go in the glass first (unless the customer has requested no ice)
- The spirit should be poured directly over the ice which helps to keep the drink cooler for longer
Ideally you should keep a range of glassware for spirits and mixers.
Top tip: Try some of the retro etched and cut-glass styles of glassware for something out of the ordinary
Soft drinks and alcohol free options
Low and no alcohol options are gaining more credibility as almost all craft brewers now have at least one option in their range. As well as beers and lagers, other drinks producers are following suit – with spirits even getting in on the act.
Our predictions for drinks trends that will be big in 2021
- A continuing pink drink fascination with pink prosecco becoming an instant hit
- More widespread use of coffee flavours in alcohol
- Alcohol free spirit alternatives
- Botanicals
- Sake
- Consumers experimenting with home-made cocktails
- Sangria
- Bitter and sour flavours continue to thrive
- Growing ranges of Far East and Eastern European imports
At Infused we don’t concentrate on food offerings, so if you would like to find out how we can help your business flourish, call us on 0560 387 4926.