Attention, operators looking to add excitement to your bar menu: The sun has not set on the Tequila Sunrise.
Nostalgia is trending. More than half of consumers say they are interested in vintage and Tiki-style cocktails, which brings to bar menus a bevy of beverages awash in colorful booze, fruit juice and hunks of luscious fruit. With their eye appeal and exotic names – Mai Tai, Piña Colada, Blue Lagoon, Gimlet, etc. – these drinks also appeal to those who weren’t yet born during their original heyday.
That’s great news for operators who can leverage this trend to build sales, increase check averages and boost profitability while differentiating their menus. Here’s how:
Ready Pours for Steady Service
Batch-blend fresh-squeezed juice or convenient ready-to-drink Rejuv® juices with other cocktail ingredients and refrigerate until service.
Be Prep Perfect
Mise en place matters as much for cocktails as it does for food prep. Assemble the ingredients and tools you’ll need. Follow food-safety protocols: avoid cross-contamination; store fruit and other perishable cocktail elements under proper refrigeration; handle fruit and ice with tongs; use clean bar towels, etc.
Be Instagrammable
Make your cocktails picture perfect by garnishing them generously with fresh fruit from Ready-Set-Serve® by Markon®. Beautiful presentations enhance the experience, increase perceived value and generate buzz when customers post their photos on social media. Plus, the sight of trays of gorgeous cocktails whet guests’ appetites for something nifty to wet their whistle.
Reimagine and Reinvent
Leverage retro cocktails’ popularity by innovating in ways that appeal to today’s adventurous diner-drinker. Infuse fruity cocktails with fresh herbs from Markon® as well as savory and/or spicy elements from Katy’s Kitchen® that tingle the tongue, tantalize the imagination and for which you can charge a premium price.
Menu Premium Mocktails
For some, January’s not the only dry month, so menu nonalcoholic versions of fruity retro-style cocktails.
The bottom line? Tasty, gorgeous drinks slake guests’ thirst for an enhanced experience. So, go ahead. Encourage a fling with a Singapore Sling — or any number of fruity cocktails.
On-Trend Cocktail Flavors
They're Everywhere
Tomato, apple, pomegranate, blueberry, cranberry, lemon, lime, peach, raspberry, strawberry, orange, mango, cherry, grape.
Rapidly Growing (Chain Restaurants/Grocers)
Watermelon, passion fruit, blueberry, basil, jalapeño pepper, cucumber, blackberry, blood orange, rosemary, elderflower.
Catching On (Trendy Restaurants/Specialty Grocers)
Pumpkin, lavender, hibiscus, thyme, pear, ancho pepper, chipotle pepper, yuzu, cilantro, maraschino, prickly pear, violet.
Emerging
Papaya, peppercorn, carrot, jam, lemongrass, anise, serrano pepper, lychee, fig, rhubarb, beet, tamarind.
Source: Datassential, March 2022.
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