June 2017 Bar Business

June 2017

THE HOW-TO PUBLICATION

BAR BUS NESS MAGAZINE

Going with the

FLŌH Vodka founder discusses his vision and process

+

INVENTORY CONTROL

Maximize your pours and profits

HOW TO

The latest in blender technology

ACHIEVE BALANCE

Ensure your cocktail menu has something for everyone

Draft Beer How to sell more pints

Jon Taffer’s

Rescue Tour Page 33

steadyserv.com

Know when your kegs are going to kick Don’t let history repeat itself

With SteadyServ iKeg, you’ll have the power to know when your kegs are going to kick before it happens. View real-time information on each keg you have tapped and get alerts when they are about empty so that you can sell more, waste less and increase your profits.

Schedule a free demo at steadyserv.com/demo or call 800.257.6898 to see how SteadyServ can empower your business.

Contents How Tos

16

Don’t Pour Profits Down the Drain

June

How to make more money on draft beer.

20

Maximize Your Pours & Profits

26

The Benefits of Blenders

34

Tuning Up: The Sound of Music

Ways to identify how and where you’re losing out on your inventory.

Are you getting the most out of your blenders?

Jukeboxes harness the power of apps to easily connect with customers.

Departments

4

From the Editor

6

On Tap

A letter from our Editor Ashley Bray Industry news and announcements.

10

Behind the Bar

14

Happenings

In-depth analysis of beer, wine, and spirits.

Important dates for the month.

48

Bar Tour

52

Inventory

56

Q+A

38

Serving up great customer service alongside cocktails at San Francisco’s P.C.H. Featured product releases.

Ben Silver – Magician and Sommelier.

Cover STory Going with the FLŌH

FLŌH Vodka Founder Jacques Evans discusses his vision and process.

Features

42

Something Old, Something New

A well-balanced cocktail menu ensures the thirsts and tastes of all customers are quenched.

Cover photo: Benjamin Meyer.

Contents photo: Shutterstock/ vanilla_soup.

barbizmag.com

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

1

THE HOW-TO PUBLICATION

BAR BUS NESS MAGAZINE

JUNE 2017

What city are you looking forward to having a cocktail in this summer?

Vol. 10

No. 6

Bar Business Magazine (ISSN 1944-7531) is published

by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 55 Broad St 26th Fl., New York, NY 10004

subscription department 800-895-4389

executive offices President Arthur J. McGinnis, Jr. Publisher Art Sutley 212-620-7247 asutley@sbpub.com

editorial

Editor Ashley Bray 212-620-7220 abray@sbpub.com

“Dallas, while at the Texas Restaurant Association Marketplace Show.”

Contributing Writers Emily Eckart, Elyse Glickman, Andria Park, Rachael Robbins

art

Creative Director Wendy Williams “I’m looking forward to a beachside cocktail in Narragansett, RI.”

Art Director Nicole Cassano Graphic Designer Aleza Leinwand

production

Corporate Production Director Mary Conyers mconyers@sbpub.com Digital Ad Operations Associate Kevin Fuhrmann

circulation

“I’m looking forward to having drinks with friends on a rooftop in Chicago.”

Circulation Director Maureen Cooney mcooney@sbpub.com

advertising sales Art Sutley 212-620-7247 asutley@sbpub.com

Bar Business Magazine (Print ISSN 1944-7531, Digital ISSN 2161-5071) (USPS#000-342) is published February, April, June, August, October, and December. January, March, May, July, September, and November will only be offered in a digital format at no charge by Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, 55 Broad St. 26th Floor, New York, NY 10004. Printed in the U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and Additional mailing offices. Pricing, Qualified U.S. Bar Owners may request a free subscription. Non-qualified subscriptions printed or digital version: 1 year US $45.00; Canada $90.00; foreign $189.00; foreign, air mail $289.00. 2 years US $75.00; Canada $120.00; foreign $300.00; foreign, air mail $500.00. BOTH Print & Digital Versions: 1 year US $68.00; Canada $135.00; foreign $284.00; foreign, air mail $384.00. 2 years US $113.00; Canada $180.00; foreign $450.00; foreign, air mail $650.00. Single Copies are $10.00 ea. Subscriptions must be paid for in U.S. funds only. COPYRIGHT © Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation 2017. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information contact: Art Sutley, Phone (212) 620-7247, or asutley@ sbpub.com. For Subscriptions, & address changes, Please call (800) 895-4389, (402) 346-4740, Fax (402) 346-3670, e-mail barbusiness@omeda.com or write to: Bar Business Magazine, SimmonsBoardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 3135, Northbrook, IL 60062-3135. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Bar Business Magazine, PO Box 3135, Northbrook, IL 60062-3135. Instructional information in this magazine should only be performed by skilled craftspeople with the proper equipment. The publisher and authors of information provided herein advise all readers to exercise care when engaging in any of the how-to activities published in the magazine. Further, the publisher and authors assume no liability for damages or injuries resulting from projects contained herein.

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Bar Business Magazine

June 2017 barbizmag.com

HAVE A TOUCHTUNES JUKEBOX? Join the FREE Bar Rewards program and enjoy exclusive benefits for bartenders, wait staff, bar managers and owners.

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GET 10 FREE JUKEBOX CREDITS It’s easy, fun, and totally free. Just go to: touchtunes.com/join

REWARDS INCLUDE: • Free TouchTunes jukebox credits every week • Special giveaways and chances to win prizes • Priority for getting new music on the jukebox

• Create personalized welcome messages for your customers who use the TouchTunes mobile app ...and more!

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from the editor

From The Editor

The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.

– Peter Drucker

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I

recently found out my favorite bar is under new ownership, and as someone adverse to change, I decided to avoid it because I was afraid the food and drinks wouldn’t be what I’d been accustomed to ordering. You’d expect more from the Editor of this magazine, right?

My friends and I frequently meet at this establishment, however, so it wasn’t long before I found myself at a table with the new menu in front of me. And while many of the dishes were new, there were still many offerings in the vein of the comfort food I’d always come to the bar to enjoy.

The cocktail menu was also a mix of familiar favorites—like my go-to Tiramisu martini—as well as some new concoctions.

And most important of all, my favorite bartender was still behind the bar.

I’ve since been back a few times, and after having some of the best calamari of my life on a return visit, I realized I’d been too quick to judge—change can be good!

Change works best when it’s balanced with the tried-and true, whether you’re a new establishment or just looking to shake things up at your existing one, and it’s a topic we cover in detail this month in Elyse Glickman’s “Something Old, Something New” on page 42. Give it a read if you’re looking to mix some new flavors in with the old favorites on your cocktail menu.

In this issue you’ll also find some considerations on changes in the draft beer market. According to the Brewers Association (BA), craft brewers continued steady growth last year as American craft beer production volume increased 6% on a comparable base, representing 12.3%

market share by volume of the overall beer industry. In addition, the BA reported that in 2016, the number of operating breweries in the U.S. grew 16.6 percent, totaling more than 5,000 breweries. With the explosion of craft beer comes more options, and bars need to carefully consider what to put on tap. Turn to page 16 to find out what changes you can make in your bar to maximize your draft beer profits.

While I realized the error of my ways and learned to embrace change, some bars are hesitant to introduce any changes because of fear of pushback from not only their customers, but their employees.

I’ll leave you with some wisdom I collected from the Bar Rescue Experts Panel at BAR 17 in the NRA Show this past May. Bar Rescue Star Mia Mastroianni recommended making your employees feel like they’re part of the process as you institute any changes.

If your bar is changing its processes or procedures, Bar Rescue Star and Beverage Consultant Lisamarie Joyce recommends putting your new standards in writing so that all employees are on the same page.

Change can be scary, but it can also be necessary. Don’t be afraid to mix things up with new dishes and drinks—the results may surprise you.

Ashley bray, Editor

June 2017 barbizmag.com

NEXT GENERATION

IN ENTERTAINMENT

®

877-792-1101

Menus Matter: Material Considerations

any factors go into making a restaurant or bar successful, but there may be one you’re overlooking—

your menus.

“The second thing people see when they sit down at a restaurant is the menu, which is why it is important to have a great-looking menu,” says Kyle R. Ewing, President/Founder of TerraSlate, a leading provider of durable, rip-proof, and waterproof paper.

In fact, Ewing says restaurants with clean, more professional-looking menus get more five-star reviews on sites like Google and Yelp, which can lead to more business.

A better-looking menu can influence a customer’s order as well.

“If the menu is of professional quality, restaurant patrons are much more likely to order the more expensive wine and food options available as the overall feel of the restaurant is heightened,” says Ewing.

“The same is true in reverse, which is why having a quality menu makes a big difference on the bottom line.”

So how do you create an impressive, durable menu? Lamination is the way many establishments choose to go, but it’s not the best answer. “The problem is that laminated menus not only look cheap and plasticky, but they don’t last very long,” says Ewing. “They tend to get fingernail bites, frayed corners, and they crack in the sun if used outside.”

With TerraSlate menus, Ewing aims to provide a higher-end menu that helps to elevate a restaurant or bar’s image.

TerraSlate is a polyester, synthetic material. “TerraSlate menus are 100% waterproof and rip-proof, which means they can withstand spills, frequent handling, and the rigors of daily use in a restaurant environment,” says Ewing.

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Bar Business Magazine

“Since TerraSlate menus won’t stain, they can be wiped clean and reused again and again for over a year.”

One of the benefits of using a more durable menu like TerraSlate’s is that owners save on the costs associated with reprints since menus aren’t getting ruined. “When restaurants use paper or laminated menus, they typically need to keep a stockpile of menus on

Invest in quality menus, and you’ll see the results.

hand,” says Ewing. “Paper menus are easily stained or ruined by water, sauces, or greasy hands, which forces the hostess to throw menus away on a daily basis or risk giving a customer a dirty menu.

However, when a restaurant switches to TerraSlate menus, they typically only need about one menu per seat as the menus will not degrade, fray, or crack like paper or laminated menus will.”

If restaurants or bars reprint their menus less frequently than monthly, then TerraSlate menus can save them money on their bottom line. “We are typically able to save restaurant and bar owners 30-40% on their menu printing costs while delivering a product that makes a positive impact on customers,” says Ewing.

TerraSlate handles the printing for its customers, and the menus are available in a variety of sizes and styles, including flat table, bi-fold, and tri-fold.

For an upscale restaurant like a steakhouse, Ewing recommends a white or cream-colored background with black text and lots of space. “This look gives the impression of a high-end restaurant where the quality of the food is worth the price,” he says. “We often make steakhouse menus and insert them into a leather backing to even further increase the appeal and exclusivity of a high-end restaurant.”

Whereas cafes or beach restaurants with fun logos and clever names for menu items will do better with a singlepage or double-sided flat menu that features a few colors that match the establishment. “These menus often have elaborate designs, background colors, and color that goes all the way to the edge, which is called a full-bleed design,” says Ewing.

No matter the type of establishment, one thing is for certain—an owner who invests in his menus will see the results. terraslatepaper.com

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: TerraSlate.

M

ON TAP

From ON TAP The Editor A Lunar Light Glow for the New Blue Moon Brewing Company Restaurant

I

n 1995, Denver-based Blue Moon Brewing Company got its start in the basement of Coors Field. More than twenty years later, the brand is a subsidiary of MillerCoors, but in a nod to its local, craft brewer roots, Blue Moon has opened its own brewery and restaurant in Denver’s River North neighborhood.

From a functional standpoint, the 30,000-square-foot standalone structure now provides what the location in the ballpark could not—dining and event

space that also serves as a laboratory for research and development.

Aesthetically speaking, the design team literally looked to the moon for inspiration—conceiving large-scale circular elements to help fill the wideopen interior space.

The result is two 16-foot circles and twelve, six-foot diameter rings made out of 325 linear feet of iLight Plexineon 2X CQ White 2700K LED fixtures.

Suspended from the high ceilings, they create warm haloes of light.

Roth Sheppard Architects, LLP was responsible for the project’s design from conception through construction, including choosing all interior finishes and lighting. Adam Harding, Partner at Roth Sheppard Architects, selected Plexineon after seeing a product sample.

“The greatest advantage is the ability to create different shapes,” says Harding. “You’re not hindered by just

four-foot or eight-foot sections—you’re able to create something entirely new.”

Harding says one challenge was understanding how the spheres would be constructed. “It would be in sections, but we wanted it to appear as one solid ring,” he says. “I was concerned it would look distorted at the connection points.”

But once the product was received in the field, any concerns he had were quickly erased as the spheres were smooth and round.

In fact, installation was just as smooth, and the glowing rings of light have been a big hit since the brewery/ restaurant opened.

“At night, it definitely reminds me of a neon light,” says Harding. “When people see it, they’re pretty taken aback. They ask what it is.” bluemoonbrewingcompany. com/rino-brewery-page

NRA Show & BAR 17: A Savory Success

T

he National Restaurant Association Show & Beverage Alcohol for Restaurants (BAR) 17 took over McCormick Place in Chicago last month and offered up a bevy of beverages, food, kitchen and bar equipment, and the latest tech innovations in the industry.

At more than 695,000 square feet, the show was the largest ever, and it welcomed more than 66,000 total registrants.

Over two days, BAR 17 displayed spirits, glassware, equipment, and more—all aimed at making bars more profitable and efficient. The show also offered education sessions and a bar management

conference. The Main Stage served up demos and presentations on beer, food, and cocktails, while in the Bar Bites section, Chicago establishments explained how they use food to increase check averages and the length of patron visits.

Keynote Speaker Jon Taffer opened BAR 17 with a session on “reaction management,” which gave bar owners and operators some actionable steps to grow their guest counts and sales.

In addition, NRA & BAR 17 hosted the 2017 Star of the Bar, a national mixology competition, where they crowned Chad Brown of Sacramento’s

B-Side as the winner. He was awarded $5,000 for his Bitter Sweet cocktail.

Save the date for next year’s events— May 19-22, 2018 in Chicago! show.restaurant.org

What’s Trending On BARBIZMAG.COM Summer sippers

Luxury tequilas on the rise

honoring military heroes

BACARDÍ Hires Jillionaire

Ultimate Bartender

Summer beer season

Recipes for the Eastern Standard and the Grapefruit Rosemary Cocktail.

The new Minister of Rum will help revolutionize the rum category.

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Bar Business Magazine

Tequila has seen substantial growth, particularly in its high-end offerings.

The 2017 Ultimate Bartender Championship kicks off.

Crown Royal & Indianapolis Motor Speedway erect a Wall of Gratitude.

Independent beer distributors deliver a variety of beer brands for summer.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Let’s talk

Behind The Bar: MIXERS

MIXERS

Achieve consistency with highend mixers.

BY Rachael Robbins

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Bar Business Magazine

I

magine bringing your best piece of clothing to a new dry cleaner. When you pick it up, it looks pristine! It smells fresh, it’s stuffed with tissue paper, and covered in plastic. But the next time you pick up your favorite frock from the cleaners, it’s rolled up in a ball in the bottom of an old plastic grocery store bag and smells like smoke.

Now I ask you, would you ever go to that cleaners again? Never! Why? Because the experience had zero consistency.

This is exactly how a customer feels when they go to an establishment and have “the best drink” they’ve ever tasted, but upon their return, receive a cocktail that can’t hold a candle to the

first one. Do you think that customer will come back a third time and roll the dice on a $14 cocktail that may or may not be a fulfilling experience? Nope.

You just lost a customer.

So how can you ensure that your customers are experiencing consistency every time they visit? High-end mixers!

There are a ton of companies that do all the hard work for you by mixing beautifully crafted syrups, purees and mixes. Arm your bar staff with nothing more then a jigger, and they will be able to produce not only a consistent drink, but a memorable one too!

The wildly popular yet simple dirty martini can be elevated to the next level

June 2017 barbizmag.com

All Photos: Chris Capaci; Location: La Isla.

Behind The Bar: MIXERS

with the right ingredients. It’s so tempting to use the juice from the olive jar, but if you can’t always get the same olives from your purveyor, the brine will taste different. The biggest problem is there’s a finite amount of juice in each jar, and you may just run out!

This is exactly what kept happening to Eric Tecosky, a mixologist at LA’s iconic Jones Hollywood. So he did something about it—he developed the best tasting olive juice I’ve ever had!

From the humble beginnings of his Los Angeles apartment, and after lots of research and experimentation, his delicious olive juice and blue cheese stuffed olives are being carried at barbizmag.com

every P.F. Chang’s location nationally.

“Dirty Sue Premium Olive Juice is made with grade-A Spanish green olives, which produces a more viscous brine and features an olive-forward flavor with a salty kick and fruity finish,” says Tecosky. “This is a stark contrast to the lower-grade brine used primarily to keep most cocktail olives from drying out.”

This high-end olive juice also solves the problem of cleanliness. “Ever seen a bartender reach his hands into an olive jar to refill his olive tray?” asks Tecosky. “By using Dirty Sue, customers are guaranteed the ‘cleanest’ dirty martini they’ve ever enjoyed.”

We are in the age of craft cocktails, and customers are keen to try new twists on old standards. The easiest way to do this is with a great product like Cocktail & Sons Spiced Demerara Syrup (demerara is a fancy name for sugar in the raw). Add this to bourbon with a few dashes of bitters, and an Old Fashioned will be swirling with flavors of white peppercorn, sichuan peppercorn, coriander, all spice, cassia bark, birch leaf, and wild cherry bark with a kiss of orange peels—with no more effort than just measuring out half a shot!

I was also able to try the Fassionola Syrup, which unfortunately is a limited edition. But fear not! They offer a range of unique, intriguing flavors like Honeysuckle Peppercorn, Mint Verbena, Toasted Cardamom, and Ginger Oleo Saccharum.

Cocktail & Sons’ all-natural syrups are created in New Orleans by Max Messier, an award-winning bartender and spirits consultant, and his wife Lauren Myerscough. Their products are wonderful for heightening any bar to a craft cocktail level and are user friendly enough for a home-mixology enthusiast.

I had never met a pre-packaged Bloody Mary mix that I didn’t doctor up—that is, until my first sip of The Hoboken Mary Mix. I was immediately smitten by the adorable canning jar packaging and the fact that it’s allnatural. It’s also gluten free and low sodium (less sodium means less bloating and more room in your belly to order another drink. ChaChing!).

I tried it the traditional way with vodka, then with a mix of tequila and

MIXERS ARE A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO FRESH FRUIT JUICES, WHICH CAN BE COSTLY TO KEEP BEHIND THE BAR.

THE CLASSIC DIRTY MARTINI CAN BE ELEVATED TO THE NEXT LEVEL BY USING A MIXER.

USING HIGH-END MIXERS ENSURES THAT YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE EXPERIENCING CONSISTENCY EVERY TIME.

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

11

Behind The Bar: MIXERS

mezcal, which blew the culinary experience to another stratosphere! But there’s more, La Isla, an old-school Cuban restaurant in Hoboken, uses it to make their ceviche! I tried it, and it is amazing.

Next stop, Hoboken Bloody Mary oyster shooters, also fantastic. Add one superior product, and your establishment has the ability to offer three very cool and consistent options.

Fresh fruit elevates the level of any drink, but it can be very costly to keep it behind the bar or use it for large batched drinks. Fear not! I have found a company that makes such great alternatives to fresh fruit that, at times, I actually prefer using them to the real deal.

The Bevolution Group has their eye on two important things: the quality of their products and the profitability of your business. This is a huge, one-stop shop for any beverage mix, and they carry everything from juices to cocktail mixers to cream of coconut and even coffee frappes! They are proud to say they don’t use any artificial colors or corn syrup. If 12

Bar Business Magazine

you’re a small mom and pop or a huge hotel chain, they can accommodate you.

“Our products are shelf-stable, handmixed, made of fortified juices, and can even be ordered in counter top dispensers,” says Toby Campbell, Director of Marketing at Bevolution Group. “The cocktail mixes are a threeto-one ratio for ultimate cost control.”

As a former drink slinger, I implore you to eliminate the guesswork. Give your customers something they know they can count on the same way time and time again. Consistency. The name of the money game!

Rachael Robbins owns the cocktail consulting company Chickologist. She’s tended bar in NYC, Miami, LA, & NJ for 20 years. She opened a speakeasy in Jersey City and began creating innovative cocktails. She is the in-house Mixologist for VDKA 6100. Reach her at chickologist.com or @chickologist.

Find Chris Capaci at @capacityimages or capacityimages.com.

Animal Farm

(The Loaded Vegan Bloody Maria) 2 oz silver tequila 1 oz Mezcal The Hoboken Mary Bloody Mary mix Preparation: Fill a large glass with ice, add liquor, and top with The Hoboken Mary Bloody Mary mix. Garnish with a veggie “cheese” burger, vegan buffalo chicken nuggets, tater tots, curly fries, and vegan chicken fingers.

Add celery stalk, olives, and dust with old bay seasoning.

By Rachael Robbins

June 2017 barbizmag.com

JEVO ™ does all the work to make hundreds of gelatin shots in minutes.

The great customer experience, the high profit margin, these are reasons why we love gelatin shots. But making them is a hassle. Jevo is fully automated and makes hundreds of shots in minutes, turning gelatin shots into a steady source of fast, hassle-free incremental revenue for your bar.

Jevo also promotes at the point of decision and tracks usage. Then, it smartly ships you more flavor pod supplies right when you need them. Basically, Jevo is everything you could want from a profit center.

Š 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Happenings July 2017

16

JULY 16 National Ice Cream Day Get your blenders fired up and cool your patrons down with some boozy milkshakes and floats.

4

JULY 4 Independence Day Otherwise known as National BBQ Day. Have a back patio or outdoor dining area? Spark up the grill and serve up some hot dogs and hamburgers.

JULY 24 National Tequila Day

JULY 1 Canada Day Tip your hat to our neighbors to the north with some Canadian beers like Labatt or spirits like Canadian Club Whisky.

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Bar Business Magazine

JULY 25 National Wine & Cheese Day Are your Tuesday nights slow?

Why not plan a wine and cheese tasting today to perk up the middle of the week?

June 2017 barbizmag.com

All Photos: Shutterstock.com

Offer up your best tequila cocktails. Bonus points if you include some mezcal cocktails—the spirit is growing in popularity!

Happenings JULY 6 National Fried Chicken Day

Upcoming

Not that anyone needs an excuse to eat fried chicken, but now your guests will have one.

JULY 2 World UFO Day Have your patrons keep their eyes on the skies while sipping some UFO beer or an out-of-this-world cocktail like Alien Secretion.

EVENTS

July Texas Restaurant Association Marketplace

2

July 9-10, 2017 Dallas, TX

tramarketplace.com

Tales of the Cocktail July 18 -23, 2017 New Orleans, LA

talesofthecocktail.com

August The Texas Bar & Nightclub Alliance Show JULY 10 National Piña Colada Day

10

Put together a special menu of piña coladas and help transport your patrons to a tropical paradise without the need for a plane ticket.

August 14, 2017 San Antonio, TX

tbnaconvention.com

BevCon

August 22-24, 2017 Charleston, SC bevconchs.com

San diego Spirits festival August 26-27, 2017 San Diego, CA

sandiegospiritsfestival.com

JULY 13 Embrace Your Geekness Day

July & August

It’s safe to say we all “geek” out over food and cocktails. Why not share your knowledge today and invite patrons in to taste and learn more about wine, mixing cocktails, or craft beer?

Jon Taffer’s Rescue Tour

barbizmag.com

June 2017

Check dates & cities on Pages 32-33 or go to: www.jontaffer.com/rescue-tour/

Bar Business Magazine

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How To

How To: DRAFT BEER

How to make more money on draft beer.

Don’t Pour Profits Down the drain 16

Bar Business Magazine

By Ashley Bray June 2017 barbizmag.com

How To: DRAFT BEER

Photos: (left) Shutterstock/Arina P Habich; (right) SteadyServ.

D

raft beer is a big moneymaker for bar owners, but what if I told you that you could be making even more money?

Steve Hershberger, director of Marketing and Founder/CEO of SteadyServ, a draft management system that enables you to view and analyze your retail location’s draft beer data on any device, believes we’re all currently operating in a “broken system.”

Rather than making data-driven decisions on sales, product purchases, and what to put on tap, on-premise owners are using guesswork and basing decisions on incorrect guidance. “Drafts typically represent two times the margin and one to two times the revenue for beer-centric bars that have more than ten taps,” says Hershberger. “But how much more money could you be making if you were making good decisions? If you know what’s going on inside your four walls, you can make better decisions.”

SteadyServ arms its users with this invaluable knowledgeable through “kegonomics.” Kegs are monitored, and the data is fed into the iKeg application, which offers a real-time view into your current tap lineup, accurate keg levels, monitoring of draft sales and performance, and other analytics.

SteadyServ also offers digital menus that display keg levels and information about the beers on tap. “Our job is to help you maximize the draft mix that you’ve got, the amount of sale and share that comes from that draft, and supplement that in the most appropriate ways in the share mix from bottles and cans,” say Hershberger.

He believes that establishments who don’t start tracking and monitoring their sales data will fold or be bought out by larger chains. “If you’re not being proactive and thinking about your customers, products, and experience, and what information is available to you, in a strategic way, you’re going to get marginalized,” he says.

So just what are the solutions to repairing this broken system? It starts with focusing on data to determine what to put on tap, improving the quality of the beer, reducing waste, and doing more to drive sales. barbizmag.com

Focus on data to make decisions on sales, product purchases, and what to put on tap.

What’s On Tap? It’s become more important than ever to have the right mix on tap since more and more patrons choose their bar based on what they can get on draft. “Ten years ago, the average person made their destination decision based on three things: proximity, price, and food,” says Hershberger. “Today, it’s proximity, rating, and beverage. People are making decisions about where they’re going to go based on what’s on tap.”

So how do you choose? For one, be sure you have a diversity of styles on tap. “Beer styles should not be overly redundant,” says Scott Hempstead,

Director of National On-Premise Accounts, Boston Beer Company. “If there are four IPAs on tap, and no seasonal or wheat beer, nix one IPA and replace it with an alternative style.”

But it’s also important to know your clientele and what they want. “You want to get the right mix for the patrons that are coming to your establishment,” says Hershberger, who stresses that mix should be based on what you’re selling and how it compares to what’s being sold around you.

Being aware of the current trends can go a long way in properly managing your taps and in selling. “The [brewing companies] are helping to market the product—follow their trends. They’ve done half the work, so support them,” says Michael Manion, CEO of TurboTap. One of the current trends you’re probably aware of is the explosion of craft beer, and as a result, a multitude of offerings. But while the craft beer drinker often seeks out variety, Hempstead cautions against the frequent switching of taps, “If draft lines rotate too frequently, it can be confusing to drinkers and also wait staff.

We recommend that no more than 20-25% of taps should rotate. Rotating beers too often can slow down knowledgeable and quick service.”

Sales Secrets Knowledgeable wait staff is often half the battle in selling beer, as wait staff can be misinformed about the style or how much of a beer is left.

Availability and visibility is key here.

TAFFER TIP #3 Presented By Jon Taffer

“‘Get the BIG BEER it’s the BEST VALUE!’ 35% of your guests will say YES to this simple sentence—increasing beer sales dramatically! Learn more of my favorite sales tactics to greatly increase your revenue today!” ~ Tap into Taffer Virtual Teaching.

TAFFERVT.COM

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

17

How To: DRAFT BEER

“It’s important that bar owners evaluate which draft beers are listed and how they’re featured on a menu,” says Hempstead. “When a guest first sits down, they wonder, ‘what am I going to drink?’ Beverage options on a menu should be first and foremost—not at the back of the menu!”

With SteadyServ, digital menus aim to not only display information about what’s on tap (beer type, ABV, etc), but also how much is left in a keg. The company is also getting ready to launch SteadyServ TV, which will include social video content and contextual ads based on what’s selling. Bars will be able to put their draft menus on social media feeds and interact with customers.

“They can track and promote products to influential customers,” says Hershberger. “We can drive the insight to say, not only should you be carrying this and not that, but here’s what you should be advertising and promoting and pushing out to the social sphere so when those people see it, they’re coming to you versus somebody else.”

Hempstead maintains that training is also important. “We find that the best way to help bar owners sell more beer is to help train staff, not just about beer itself, but how to properly store, serve, and pair it,” he says. “We’ve found that when servers and bartenders can speak intelligently about what craft beers are available, and the beer itself is the best it can be—fresh, proper temperature, clean draft lines, etc.—the customer will 18

Bar Business Magazine

have a great drinking experience and continue to order draft beer.”

The quality of the beer is paramount, and the new TurboTap 2.0 patented beer faucet aims to help maintain the quality of the pour. “Beer is very difficult—it’s pressure, temperature, and cleanliness,” says Manion. “If any of those three are out of wack, it’s hard to pour beer. We really help that process.”

Make more money from draft beer by reducing waste.

The improvements made to TurboTap in this new 2.0 version include attaching the faucet to the tap so that it is one piece, which allows it to fit on any beer tower and makes it easier to clean. It’s also been shortened to 3.25 inches so that almost any glass can fit under the faucet.

The high-grade stainless steel faucet better controls the flow of the beer with fluid dynamics that deliver beer to the bottom of the glass for the perfect pour with a consistent temperature. “If your beer is really hot, it’s going to pour foamy, but we’re going to help that

Eliminating Waste One of the easiest ways to make more money from draft beer—and coincidentally where the most money is often lost—is in reducing waste.

Because you can’t see inside of a keg, it’s quite difficult to determine how much beer is left and how fresh the beer is, which can lead staff to throw it out prematurely.

SteadyServ’s system measures keg levels to help owners determine how much is left and how long it has been sitting. “We help our customers lower their waste by 25-35%, which means that the beer they paid for, that they were previously throwing away— whether it was in shrinkage, residual beer in the kegs, or overpours—they’re now selling to other people,” says Hershberger. “That’s free money.”

TurboTap 2.0 also aims to eliminate costly waste through a better pouring system. “You get more out of your kegs.

The industry standard is about 70%; we get you up to a solid 10% more than that as our standard is between 90-95% out of your keg,” says Manion. “We’ll save you enough to pay for at least half of your next keg, if not the whole thing.”

Making money on draft beer all comes down to control and better management. “[Draft beer] is a beautiful thing,” says Hempstead, “and when handled correctly, it’s a great experience.”

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: SteadyServ.

Digital menus, like this one from SteadyServ, help inform both guests and staff about the type of beer on tap and how much is left in the keg.

process. So as the pressure changes in that keg, we pour consistently through the whole keg,” explains Manion.

Of course, even the most perfect pour won’t help a low-performing beer, but Hershberger warns against the kneejerk reaction to slash the price. “If you want to get rid of product, you promote it. You don’t discount it,” he says.

Promotions can come in the form of beer and food pairings. “I believe that you don’t just sell alcohol—you sell alcohol with food and entertainment,” says Manion.

Hempstead agrees. “Beer can cut, contrast, and complement food,” he says. “By suggesting a pairing on the menu—like Rebel IPA and buffalo wings, or Summer Ale and fried fish— the customer has an easy and expertrecommended ordering option.”

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How To

How To: inventory control

Maximize Your Pours & Profits Ways to identify how and where you’re losing out on your inventory.

S

o you’ve managed to get through a 70-hour workweek without any signs of slowing down. But the fun doesn’t end there. You’ve got a closing shift tomorrow night followed by a product inventory scan. Then, you need to place 10 orders by 4 p.m. on Tuesday or else a swarm of angry patrons will be looking at a sad array of half-empty bottles of Jim, Jack, and Jose. Sound familiar?

Pro Tip Put away the pen and paper and look into a software system that reduces the amount of time it takes you to complete your inventory.

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Bar Business Magazine

Inventory control is essential to the bottom line, but it’s likely the last thing you want to do—let alone think about— at the end of a long night.

Rory Crawford, Co-Founder & CEO of BevSpot, understands your pain.

Crawford’s own struggles as a formerly licensed retailer for his own wine club app, WineSpace, led him to create his three-year-old Boston-based tech company. As he began dealing with distributors, suppliers, and the industry as a whole, he was amazed at the lack of software that would help him (or anybody else in the industry) run his business.

“It just jumped out at me and amazed me that I had to pen and paper inventory counts, that I had to manage my inventory information in Excel, that I had to place phone call orders to my vendors, that I had to track all my data in full systems or Excel,” explains Crawford.

After Crawford’s preliminary

prototype was discovered by MIT students Chidubem Ezeaka and Alex Lesman, the rest was history.

BevSpot was born as a Web-based, easy-to-use software system that would also integrate mobile tools to provide more time for bar and restaurant owners to do the things they love while also maximizing the success of their businesses.

So how does it work? After the user creates an account on BevSpot, they’ll start counting their bottles, input the numbers into the system, and let the software work its magic. The system will map all of the items that are being sold in the user’s point of sale with the underlying ingredient costs. All of that information then totals up to tell the business owners exactly how much wine, spirits, and beer that they’re sitting on based on how much inventory they’ve been going through in the past. Once they’re completed, they can generate their order to be

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: Shutterstock/ Studio Romantic.

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How To: inventory control

communicated out to all of their distributor vendors with a click of a button—just like Amazon.

“When the price of a bottle of Ketel One vodka goes up by $3 a bottle, that affects the cost of the ingredients,” explains Crawford. “We can actually show the customers exactly how that affects the profitability of all the cocktails that they sell with that product. So it enables them to identify instantaneously, ‘I got these five products that are under profitability of my target if I just tweak them.’

“We have visualizations that show them which products are doing very poorly and need to be moved off the menu, which products need to be repriced, and ensure they know exactly how much they sold relative to how much they went through. All of this is provided automatically through our software, and they’ll receive emails in their inbox—even if they’re not in the 22

Bar Business Magazine

restaurant—telling them all that critical info.”

According to BevSpot’s customer success stories, the average customer that uses BevSpot is reducing the total

Inventory control is essential to your bottom line. amount of time it takes for inventory, accounting, as well as completion and reporting, by 50% on average. And their ordering time is now reduced by up to 75%.

Imagine spending three hours a week

on your weekly inventory where you used to spend six and spending a half hour to put in and track your orders where it used to take you a couple hours a week.

Crawford also claims that typical total dollar value of inventory will be reduced on average 20-50% within the first three to six months of using the software product.

“So if you have $40,000 or even $10,000 of wine, spirits, and beer, we’re going to put $2000 to $4000 back into your pocket instantly because we’re going to identify opportunities to reduce excess inventory,” he explains.

Another company that’s making the lives of bar and restaurant owners easier is eight-year-old, Colorado-based, full-service brand Bar-i Liquid Accounting that offers four different solutions. And by full-service, they mean exactly that.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: Bar-i Liquid Accounting.

Bar-i physically goes into a bar to count all the bottles and weigh them.

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“We physically go to the bar early in the morning [each period for every week or every two weeks], we count all the bottles for and weigh all the bottles for the client, and then we integrate the deliveries data and sales data to produce a detailed components report with results that are verified to the serving,” says Jamie Edwards, owner of Bar-i Liquid Accounting.

In addition to this thorough analysis, you’ll also receive an explanation of how many servings of all products were sold during the period and how many were actually poured.

“You can describe it like auditing for booze,” says Edwards, “in the same way you manage your cash drawer at the end of the business day—you make sure that the amount of money of the sales is matched by cash and credit card receipts in the payment system. We’re essentially providing that same idea but for your alcohol.”

Their second hybrid-designed model, Speed Count Pro (aka Bar-i Self Count), follows a more independent and cost-effective approach where the client counts the inventory themselves using Bar-i’s dedicated scales and software. When the client is finished counting, they can submit that delivery invoice through a cloud system to Bar-i, who will then perform the numbercrunching data entry to provide them with a comprehensive sales report.

Though both models vary vastly in terms of price, Edwards notes that the quality is comparable between the two options because of the expert on the other end who’s producing the results in either case.

Edwards admits that the feedback he receives from bar owners is that of skepticism. After all, why pay someone for what you can do yourself?

“What happens is once we get our foot in the door...we perform trials for people, and then the first reaction is, ‘Oh my God, there’s no way I’m missing that much [inventory],’” he explains. “They’re typically missing between 15-20% of all the product poured. It’s not actually being sold; it’s being given away, overpoured, forgotten to be rung in, you name it.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

How To: inventory control Once they start to see that, then they’re very receptive.”

Edwards also explains that every bar owner should think about the following question as a good litmus test for your bar inventory system: “If you want to know if a bar has a good inventory system, you need to ask yourself a single question: How many servings of Fireball were you missing last week?

“If that product’s missing, it’s not because of overpouring because it goes in a shot glass,” he says. “But if it’s not Fireball, every bar has that favorite shot product. And if they don’t know how many shots were missing last week, they don’t have a handle on this.”

Of course, the problem isn’t only surrounding spirits. The industry average for unaccountable loss of draft beer is between 20-25%, according to KegSafe.

(Note: For more on draft beer, check out our article on page 16.)

KegSafe is a brand-new Texas-based company that uses a proprietary system that determines exactly how much beer is left inside a keg using state-of-the-art technology and software.

Bar owners can place their kegs on a base that contains ultrasonic transducers that come in contact with the bottom of the beer keg. The transducers send the sound waves through its walls to tell you how much beer is inside each keg to a thousandth of an inch.

“There’s scales out there and then there’s flow meters,” explains Mark McCoy, CEO of KegSafe. “Yeah, it works, but you’d much rather know, ‘Hey, I still got a quarter of a tank. I’m good. I can make it to that next gas station.’ So we are extremely accurate.”

The transducer will then relay the level information to the transceiver mounted inside of the cooler room, which will send the data to the Web— allowing you to access it on your smartphone in real time.

While the company is still in its initial stages of operation (tentatively aiming for an August launch), they have big plans for the future such as tying in the system with your POS as well as expanding the system to identify levels of wine. barbizmag.com

the industry average for unaccountable loss of draft beer in bars & restaurants, according to kegsafe.

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How To

How To: Blenders

The Benefits of Blenders Are you getting the most out of your blenders?

W

hen you think of blenders, frozen drinks probably come to mind. But if piña coladas and margaritas are the only things you’re using your blenders for, your machine can barely chop up an ice cube, or your blender has become a large paperweight collecting dust at the end of your bar, then you’re missing out on profits.

Pro Tip When choosing a blender, go with commercial products that are built to last and that can withstand a greater amount of use.

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Bar Business Magazine

Decisions, Decisions Making sure your bar has the right blender is the first step in getting the most out of this bar tool, and there are a few factors to consider before making a purchase.

Volume. First and foremost, running to your local home goods or big box store and buying the first blender you see on the shelf won’t work. Go with commercial products that are built to last and that can withstand a greater amount of use.

“The first consideration should be the volume of drinks per day,” explains Terry Copenhaver, Senior Product Manager at Hamilton Beach Commercial. “Bars with lower volumes of frozen drinks can save money by purchasing basic bar blenders. For higher volume locations, a highperformance blender with more power will achieve a smooth, creamy drink in about half the time as a basic bar blender. High-performance

blenders will also have larger jars, which enable bartenders to save time blending batches of cocktails versus individual drinks.

“High-performance blenders typically also come with stackable jars, saving valuable storage space.”

Hamilton Beach Commercial offers a number of products for bars, including its Wave-Action® blender, which continually forces the mixture down into the blades for smooth results, as well as their basic 908™ Commercial Bar Blender, which is a favorite for its reliability and value.

When discussing volume, prep time also needs to be considered, and blenders can typically cut down on that prep time significantly.

“You’ll also need to assess the time it takes to blend any given drink and the desired overall performance,” says Jeff McClure, global director at KitchenAid, which offers a variety of stand blenders and ½-hp immersion

June 2017 barbizmag.com

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How To: Blenders

Create a specialty blended drink menu to enhance the customer experience while helping to increase revenue.

blenders (also known as stick blenders) that are ideal for mixing cocktails.

Menu. Bars should also consider the ingredients they’ll be looking to blend.

“What is their menu—is it handcrafted ingredients or off-the-shelf syrups and flavorings?” asks Christy Bezuijen, commercial product manager at Vitamix. “Do they need a prep machine so they can create new syrups, sherbets, and infusions from scratch for an evolving menu? Or do they need a machine that is going to mix ice, alcohol, and flavorings?”

Vitamix offers a wide range of products for the bar space, including its Vita-Prep® line, which has variable 28

Bar Business Magazine

speed controls and can help cut down the labor of bar prep; and the Drink Machine Advance® line, which provides programmed blend cycles to deliver consistency.

Controls. Consistency is important, and blenders with controls for programming and timing will make a bar’s work easier. “A good blender will do the work for you, so let it,” says McClure. “Add your ingredients, set the program or time, and walk away.”

Controls and timers enable bar staff to multitask. “A timer with an automatic shutoff is critical for highvolume bars so that bartenders can multitask while the drink is blending,”

Beyond Drinks The right blender can lead to a bevy of benefits for a bar, including greater staff confidence. “Give your staff the best tools for them to succeed,” says Bezuijen. “That boosts creativity, customers get better drinks, and the staff can feel great about it.”

Blenders also allow bartenders the opportunity to make new and unique drinks. “To truly leverage your investment, create a specialty blended

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: Vitamix.

Bevy of Beverages

explains Copenhaver. “Many of the high-performance blenders have buttons to assign pre-programmed cycles. These buttons can be used to assign the most popular drinks.

“This also enables consistency between bartenders as well as multiple stores for large chains. Custom programming is also available and these programs are uploaded via USB or memory chips.”

Typically, the manual should provide instructions on how to program the blender. “Look to the manual for guidance on optimal program selection for menu item processing,” says Bezuijen.

Warranty. Always consider the warranty—not just how many years, but the technical support and replacement parts available.

“The blender should be easy to use and easy to clean since time is critical during peak hours,” says Copenhaver.

“The jar pad should be removable and the base designed without areas where liquid can pool.”

Noise. Blenders can be loud when in use, so determine if noise level is an issue for your environment.

“Depending on the type of bar, room acoustics, and size of the crowd, as well as if the bar has music being piped in over a sound system, the noise level of the guests’ conversations are often as loud or louder than a blender, so use during service does not impact atmosphere,” says Bezuijen.

But if it’s determined the blender’s noise is a nuisance, then you may need to choose a quieter option like Vitamix’s The Quiet One® or Hamilton Beach’s Eclipse™ blender, both of which use a sound enclosure to cut down on noise.

How To: Blenders drink menu to enhance the customer experience while helping to increase revenue,” recommends McClure.

Those drinks can include fresh and seasonal produce or premium-priced frozen drinks that sell great in the summer months.

Low-ABV or non-alcoholic drinks are also growing in popularity. “The drink menu can also be expanded to offer ice cream drinks (with or without spirits) with premium prices as well,” says Copenhaver.

But don’t forget that blenders can handle much more than beverages.

“Of course you can use blenders to mix drinks, but they also come in handy for making purees and doing other prep work,” says McClure.

Blenders can also be used to make simple syrups, infusions, bitters, flavored syrups, toppings like Chantilly cream, and more.

“Making simple syrups in the bar can keep the front of house staff out of the kitchen,” says Bezuijen. “It also creates a

staff can prep minimal amounts of citrus juices for service and quickly make more if they run out on a particularly busy night.

Maintenance & Cleaning Proper use and maintenance of your blender will extend its life, and Copenhaver recommends always loading the blender properly by

putting liquids first, fruits and other ingredients next, and ice last. “Have multiple jars on hand for peak hours,” she says. “Do not try to put the jar on the base if the motor is still on. This will shorten the life of the jar and base coupling. A blender which shuts off when the jar is removed is an important feature to prevent this issue.”

Bezuijen also recommends using the

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Blenders can handle much more than beverages.

more consistent product. Because it uses gentle heat from friction, there is significantly less evaporation and less opportunity to burn the syrup or end up with caramel.

“Vitamix recently introduced a new Aerating Container that can be used to aerate citrus juices—bringing them from an astringent state to one where the aromatics and flavor are increased in just seconds. It usually takes about four hours after citrus is fresh-pressed for it to reach the optimum flavor profile. But when citrus juice is aerated, it gets to a great flavor state right away.”

As a result of this faster process, bar barbizmag.com

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How To: Blenders you hear a change in tone or a scraping noise when in use, the blade assembly should be replaced.”

Keeping the blender clean is also important. Immediately wipe up spills, clean under the centering pad, and rinse between uses so that thick and syrupy ingredients won’t have time to dry and harden.

“Hand-washing the containers with approved chemicals in the correct dilution ration will extend the life of the container and the blade assembly,” says Bezuijen. “Avoid high-temp dishwashers or soaking to extend container life as both processes shorten the bearing life by damaging the seal.”

Copenhaver recommends using a three-step washing process. “Clean the container daily either in a threecompartment sink (wash, rinse, sanitize),” she says, “or by placing hot water and a drop of mild dish soap in the container and pressing the pulse button for 15 seconds. Then sanitize and air dry.

Vitamix Drink Machine advance This line of blenders provides programmed blend cycles to deliver consistency.

Photo: Vitamix.

highest speed setting possible since it will deliver more air to cool the motor.

“Regularly check that the equipment is in good working order (drive socket, blade assembly, container, control system, etc.) and have maintenance work done by a qualified professional when needed,” she says. “Ideally, you should space your blenders 12 inches away from walls and additional blenders to avoid cycling hot exhaust air between blenders.”

Copenhaver says blenders with a temperature gauge or indicator on the display to alert the operator that the motor is about to overheat is also helpful and allows the operator to run a twominute cool down cycle.

Always check your machine for warm parts after blending, such as the drive socket and blade assembly. “If these feel warm, that is an indication that they need to be replaced,” says Bezuijen.

“Also the drive spline or sprocket on the bottom of each container should rotate easily by hand, but not spin freely. If it does begin to spin freely or

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Bar Business Magazine

June 2017 barbizmag.com

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Tuning Up

TUNING UP: JUKEBOXES

HOW TO

The Sound of Music Jukeboxes harness the power of apps to easily connect with customers. he word “ jukebox” might call up nostalgic memories of CDs, records, and decades past, but these music machines have kept up admirably with the changing times.

Today’s digital jukeboxes feature high-definition screens, smart music selections, and integration with your

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Bar Business Magazine

venue’s TVs. Best of all, they come with cutting-edge mobile apps that drive your bar’s revenue by engaging with your customers.

“The jukebox experience has been around for decades,” says Garrett Dodge, CEO of Rockbot, a background music service. “People love it when their song comes on, and they get to share it

with the people around them.”

The current jukebox offerings fulfill the traditional functions. A customer chooses a song and pays a dollar or more to play it through the whole venue. But the machines have been updated to go beyond these expected functions with new features.

“Today, music searches on digital

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: Shutterstock/Pressmaster

T

By Emily Eckart

Photo: AMI Entertainment.

TUNING UP: JUKEBOXES jukeboxes are conducted over big high-definition touchscreen displays with smart search features that simultaneously search by artist, album, and song as soon as you begin typing,” says Jillian Fisher, Marketing and Public Relations Manager at AMI Entertainment Network.

Jukeboxes can be highly profitable.

“Digital jukeboxes require no upfront financial investment,” Fisher explains. “[They] generate more shared revenue per week than any other electronic entertainment device.”

To obtain a jukebox, the venue contacts an Amusement Operators vendor—a company that installs jukeboxes for both AMI Entertainment and TouchTunes.

The vendor installs the jukebox hardware at no cost, and the two parties work out a revenue split for the jukebox profits.

Fisher explains, “The venue gets a portion of the proceeds out of the cashbox without having to purchase new equipment for themselves. Likewise, the coin-op vendor receives their portion of the cashbox, and in return, agrees to routinely service the equipment to maintain its operation.”

Unlike the old days when jukeboxes were stuck with a few songs on records or CDs, digital jukeboxes offer unlimited music content, which you can curate to fit your brand.

“A digital jukebox offers an unbeatable music selection that can be as wide or as narrow as you wish it to be,” explains Fisher. “A live connection to the Internet ensures today’s latest and greatest hits are automatically delivered to your jukebox without requiring any manual effort on your part.”

And AMI jukeboxes provide more than just music. “[We] offer guests the ability to pay an extra credit to have a music video accompany their favorite song,” says Fisher. “Our latest model, the NGX Ultra, showcases this feature by including a 32-inch monitor in the upper portion of the cabinet to showcase music video play at all times.”

Perhaps the most exciting tools offered by digital jukeboxes are their accompanying mobile apps. barbizmag.com

TouchTunes, AMI Entertainment, and Rockbot all offer free apps to customers.

Customers can choose jukebox songs without ever leaving their seats, paying via Apple Pay or PayPal. “Our mobile app, AMI BarLink, is another way to ensure you are reaching music consumers as potential new guests,” says Fisher. “[It] allows players to locate which bars and restaurants have an AMI-powered jukebox with BarLink enabled. They can find your

Jukeboxes can be a highly profitable addition to your bar or restaurant.

venue and even browse what’s popular to see if the music tastes of your current customers match their own. This is a relatively new way for locations to become engaged, but it can be incredibly powerful when targeting specific demographics.

“Promotional cards with free mobile credits can also be handed out to

patrons, encouraging them to download the AMI BarLink app and play the jukebox, as a way to ‘reward’ them for being a good customer.”

Apps allow you to use proximity marketing through beacons or geofencing. If a customer downloads the jukebox app on their phone, they can check in when they arrive at your venue.

Then you can offer personalized messages and promotions.

Dodge explains how this works with Rockbot. “We have iBeacons,” he says.

“The user can check in manually when they come to the location. [Then] we look at your preference history from either the songs on your phone, if you’ve imported them, or your previous voting and requesting. We’ll look for artists and songs within that and try and match that to the playlist of the business.

“Particularly if you’re returning to the same business, you come in and it might say, ‘Great! We just put some Elton John into the playlist for you, have a great time!’”

This personal interaction creates a positive experience for your customer, which then encourages them to use the jukebox and return repeatedly to your venue.

TouchTunes offers similar features.

Marc Felsen, Senior Vice President of Corporate and Product Marketing at TouchTunes Interactive Networks,

AMI jukeboxes let guests pay an extra credit to have a music video accompany their song.

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

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AMI NGX Mini 2

TouchTunes Virtuo

Ami NGX Classic

With a compact 31-by-19.5-inch frame, the NGX Mini 2 is perfect when space is at a premium in your location.

A 26-inch widescreen format, intuitive user interface, and a huge selection of songs make it fun and easy to find music.

A robust digital jukebox with millions of songs, intelligent search features, and multiple Smart Skins that take only minutes to install.

explains, “The bar [can] create a message so that when the consumer comes in, [they] check in. If you check in on the mobile app, you see a list of locations and you can pick the one you want to be at. When I do that, I get a message from the bar. It can be anything from ‘Hi, thanks for coming!’ to offering me a special or telling me about an event.”

Felsen suggests creating a unique message for each night. “It makes people want to use the app, and then they’ll play more music, which is also good for the bar.”

The TouchTunes app also lets customers see the top songs and artists for that venue’s jukebox, which encourages them to pick songs that others might enjoy.

TouchTunes, AMI, and Rockbot also

integrate with TVs in your venue.

TouchTunesTV lets customers see their pictures on bar TVs when they post to social media with a specific hashtag. Customer-generated photos rotate on screens throughout the night. “People love it,” says Felsen.

“It’s really just taking an activity that people are doing and encouraging them to do it in a way that gives them their fifteen minutes of fame within the venue.”

The organic social marketing is invaluable. And you can gather data on who’s posting, which allows you to message social media influencers with discounts and promotions.

AMI offers an “Ad Manager” feature.

“Managers [can] use our free digital signage feature to create high-resolution ads to be displayed on the jukebox

monitor and external TVs connected to the jukebox for music videos,” says Fisher. “There are over 1,400 different templates to choose from, including a wide variety of beer, wine, spirits, and food items.”

With Rockbot, Dodge says, “Our media player can also power an on-screen application that can be connected to the TVs in the business.

[Some] businesses utilize that to drive awareness, customer engagement, and then if they want to switch to the football game, they can do that easily.”

The TV can also show what’s playing on the jukebox, along with information about the song.

“We also have an API, [and] a lot of that functionality can also be integrated in other platforms,” says Dodge. “For instance, tabletop tablets, or other digital signage applications, or if you have your own branded mobile app, we can integrate into that as well.”

Interestingly, Rockbot has done away with physical jukeboxes entirely, providing song-choosing functionality only through their app.

The absence of a physical jukebox might work for venues that have limited space or young customers who grew up with digital music.

But if your establishment has the space, and you want an eye-catching display that’ll delight customers and generate extra revenue, a jukebox might be just the thing.

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June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo (bottom): TouchTunes.

TUNING UP: JUKEBOXES

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VODKA

Going with the

FLŌH I

n creating FLŌH Spirits, LLC, CEO & Founder Jacques Evans also coined the term “floh,” which means “the plan or desire to go towards a good time.”

With a background in entertainment and promotions, Evans is no stranger to a good time. He spent years promoting

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various liquor brands but wasn’t impressed with the vodkas he came across.

“It made me want to create something that I felt fit the true upscale profile,” he says. “Something that was truly upscale from beginning to end, and not because of who was pushing it, but because of what it’s made from and how it tastes.”

The Founding of FLŌH Evans set out to develop what would become FLŌH Vodka, which required plenty of research and a lot of learning.

“Being a party promoter and working with brands is totally different than actually being on this side of it. So I had to learn,” says Evans, who studied

June 2017 barbizmag.com

VODKA

FLŌH Vodka Founder Jacques Evans discusses his vision and process.

Photo: Jacques Evans.

By Ashley Bray

everything from liquor laws to distribution to package design. “Some people take swim lessons and then start swimming.

I had to learn to swim as I was drowning.”

After about two years of development, Evans launched FLŌH in his home state of Ohio in 2014. This was a challenge in and of itself since Ohio runs a statebarbizmag.com

controlled liquor business. But it was important for Evans to start at home before “taking over the world,” as he explained to the superintendent of the Division of Liquor Control, who eventually agreed to carry his vodka based on Evans’ dedication to his new spirit as well as FLŌH’s eye-catching

and carefully designed packaging.

FLŌH is now available in a growing list of states, including California, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Affluent Affiliations Where Evans’ background in promotion has helped is with FLŌH’s partnerships.

“When I first launched FLŌH, I was looking at different ways to get the brand out there,” he says. “There are a lot of vodkas that come out every year, so I had to figure out a way to separate myself from all the new products.”

FLŌH was the Official Vodka for the ESPN Rose Bowl Tent, and the spirit has also partnered with Dimmitt Automotive Group—known for their world-class luxury and performance vehicles including McLaren, Aston Martin, Bentley, and Rolls Royce—for various events including Cars and Carats.

In addition, FLŌH opened the FLŌH Lounge in the BMO Harris Bradley Center, home to the Milwaukee Bucks.

The full-service cocktail lounge offers FLŌH Vodka signature drinks and includes a full-bar, additional seating, and multiple flat-screen TVs. Evans agreed to the partnership with the Milwaukee Bucks because the team is a growing, young team just as FLŌH is a burgeoning, new brand.

Crafted with Care FLŌH’s distillation process is one of the things that sets it apart from other vodkas. Using only premium ingredients grown, harvested, and produced in the US, including the best American corn and Oregon water, FLŌH is distilled 10 times using a unique filtering process.

The distillation takes place in small batches in Bend, Oregon.

The vodka is also gluten-free, allergen-free, and Kosher Seal Certified.

Evans had the foresight to make the spirit gluten-free after speaking with his food scientist, who saw the upcoming trend way back in 2011. It now means even more to him since his son was diagnosed with a gluten allergy.

The vodka is currently available in original or in pink grapefruit dragon fruit. “I wanted to create a taste that was unique, and when I was doing research, June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

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VODKA

You only get one chance to make a first impression.

I was seeing a lot of fresh fruit and natural ingredients,” says Evans. “Dragon fruit is sweet, grapefruit’s bitter, so we tell people the pink grapefruit and dragon fruit is the perfect balance between bitter and sweet.” (Note: This flavor is not allergen-free.)

FLŌH plans to release other flavors in the future such as honey ginger lime, peach pomegranate, and even coffee.

“A lot of the flavor profiles that we do are combinations,” says Evans. “We have 13 different flavor profiles that could potentially come out in the future.”

But for now, Evans is satisfied with his two current offerings. “I believe there’s such a thing as too many flavors for a brand, especially a new brand,” he says.

By using premium ingredients and unique flavors, Evans has elevated his vodka to a premium, sipping spirit rather than a “drunken vodka” that people look to hide the taste of by mixing it with other ingredients. His attention to detail and taste has quickly earned the spirit the title “The Caviar of Vodka.” “I created FLŌH for people who like to enjoy vodka and want a highend, but affordable, choice,” says Evans.

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“The flavor is so good that a lot of people drink it straight.”

When creating FLŌH, Evans also had his eye on the craft cocktail market and the way it has elevated drinks to an art form. “The craft cocktail industry is huge,” he says. “When we designed FLŌH, I particularly wanted to be a part of that market.”

Design details What’s inside the bottle is only rivaled by what’s on the outside. “Bottle design is very, very important,” says Evans.

“You only get one chance to make that first impression.”

The first impression Evans aims to make with his handcrafted, selfdesigned bottles is one of intrigue. “I wanted to create a conversation piece,” he says. “I wanted you to see the bottle and not know what it was from a distance so you had to ask the bartender, ‘What is that?’”

The original vodka comes in a glass bottle with a smoky exterior and a black cap. “When I designed it and sketched it out, I wanted it to look like a tuxedo,” explains Evans. “So the bottom is tinted,

the black top is like a top hat, the label around the neck is like a bow tie, and the label at the bottom is embossed with a pewter finish.”

For the pink grapefruit and dragon fruit bottle, Evans’ inspiration was a woman in a pink party dress.

Both bottles feature handcrafted pewter labels. “I went with the pewter label because I knew it was sexy,” says Evans. “We could have went cheaper with the packaging, but it wasn’t what I wanted; it wasn’t what I felt the people would want.”

And Evans was on to something as many FLŌH drinkers keep the bottles and display them. With this and the greater awareness of green practices in mind, Evans hopes to soon implement a recycling program that would allow him to collect the bottles back, clean and sanitize them, and then refill them. “If we could go green, I feel like it would be huge,” he says.

One thing is for certain—FLŌH will continue to innovate. “I don’t feel I have to drink the same stuff my parents drank,” says Evans. “We have to start something new.”

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photos (left): Benjamin Meyer; (right) Robert Grimm.

— Jacques Evans, CEO & Founder

VODKA

Ascension

FLŌH 75

Sweet Heat

2 oz FLŌH Vodka 1/4 oz Luxardo 3/4 oz fresh lemon 3/4 oz Blueberry Lavender Shrub 3/4 oz simple syrup

1 1/2 oz FLŌH Vodka 3/4 oz fresh lemon 3/4 oz simple syrup Champagne Chambord

1 1/2 oz FLŌH Vodka 1 oz Limoncello 1 oz fresh lemon 1 oz jalapeño simple Strawberries Basil

Combine all ingredients in a Boston shaker.

Add ice.

Shake and strain into a lavender flower-rimmed martini glass.

Garnish with blueberries and lavender sprigs.

barbizmag.com

Add FLŌH, lemon, and simple in a Boston shaker with ice.

Shake and strain into a champagne flute.

Pour Chambord down the side of the glass with a bar spoon to layer.

Top with brut champagne.

Garnish with a lemon twist and a raspberry.

Muddle strawberries, basil, and a lemon wedge in a rocks glass.

Add ice and the additional ingredients.

Transfer to a Boston shaker to shake.

Return all ingredients to rocks glass.

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

41

Balanced Cocktails

T

here are some old-school cocktails that define our restaurant and will always remain staples,” says Tara Shadzi, Lead Bartender at BOA Steakhouse. “However, when we add things to our menu, we can peel the layers back on the details of that drink and tell a story to our customers. We frequently get questions from guests, from, ‘What was that cocktail?’ to, ‘Why are you putting gold flakes or pink pepper on that drink?’”

As Shadzi’s experience at the trendy West Hollywood steakhouse underscores, it is common sense to expect that the pendulum dictating flavor profiles and spirits constantly swings. “Prohibition” cocktails may reign one year while the next brings craft cocktail innovation to the fore. And then there’s the change of season. The one thing that remains constant is change.

Even if your establishment is built around a specific concept (i.e., the whiskey or tequila/mezcal focused bar), there will always be somebody who wants something “different.” So how does one go about catering to that person while maintaining the bar’s integrity with die-hards? The answer lies within a carefully balanced and planned cocktail menu.

“I’ve always been a huge proponent of balance because it’s a great way to encourage people to step outside of their comfort zone,” says Erik Weatherford, Partner and Bartender at Viva Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. “Each menu has a few cocktails for every spirit. Each of those spirits has a variety of flavor profiles that captivate and intrigue even the most hesitant regular. By continuously updating one’s cocktail list, one is able to regularly broaden a guest’s knowledge and scope of what they know about cocktails.”

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Make a List, Check It Twice “[Balance in the menu] is achieved by giving customers in your market what they want, but it’s still something that you personally can take immense pride in and use to show off the bar’s seasonality and sustainability,” says Jesse Marino, General Manager of the New York Yankees Steakhouse. “Finding that holy trinity takes time and effort but is worth it. Exciting new craft beers, wine varietals, and craft cocktails have taken off, and this allows us to challenge our guests and introduce them to something new alongside old favorites.

Some people are not only open to that, but seek it out.”

Johnny Swet, Consulting Mixologist at The Skylark in New York City, says customizing a menu to the venue and its core clientele is a good starting point. However, bars inspired by historic period, geographic location, or foodie trends will all have rotating selections throughout the year. For this reason, it’s a wise strategy to consult your venue’s chef, whose suggestions can transform a menu from a mere list to a compelling read. “[Chefs] are always turning me on to ingredients I wouldn’t usually think of putting into cocktails, like pink peppercorns, exotic fruits, and herbs,” says Swet. “I’ve loved working with parsley where, for example, I’ve replaced mint in a mojito with it.”

There are menu pitfalls to be mindful of that may alienate a certain clientele, such as odd combinations of ingredients.

“If someone is dying to try what you’ve got, but find it inaccessible, you’re doing something wrong because you’re missing out on passionate and potentially loyal guests,” cautions Marino. “There is a reason some specials are typically tied to a Happy Hour or ‘Restaurant Week.’ They

Photo: Shutterstock/ Ann Haritonenko

A well-balanced cocktail menu ensures the thirsts and tastes of all customers are quenched.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Balanced Cocktails

Photo Credit

Something old,

Something new

By Elyse Glickman

barbizmag.com

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

43

Balanced Cocktails

1½ oz Skyy Vodka 2 strawberries cut into halves Fresh lemon sour Dash balsamic vinegar Simple syrup Fresh cracked black pepper 1. In a mixing glass, combine strawberries and simple syrup.

2. Muddle thoroughly.

3. Add lemon sour and dash of balsamic.

4. Shake well over ice and strain into martini glass.

5. Garnish with cracked black pepper and fresh strawberry.

Tara Shadzi, BOA Steakhouse, West Hollywood, CA

La La Land 2 oz Belvedere Citrus 1 oz lemon ½ oz Gifford Pamplemousse ½ oz Demerara Syrup 2 dashes Aged Whiskey Bitters Splash of Prosecco 1. Shake all ingredients (except prosecco) with ice.

2. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.

3. Add bitters and prosecco.

By Erik Weatherford, Viva Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Yankeetini

1½ oz Absolut vodka ½ oz Blue Curacao 3 oz white cranberry juice 1. Blue sugar rim on martini glass.

2. Shake ingredients in mixing tin.

3. Strain into martini glass.

4. Garnish with lemon twist.

By Jesse Marino, New York Yankees Steakhouse, New York, NY

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Classic “Rocks” vs. Trending Hits Cocktail lists can be likened to a rock band’s concert set list. A constantly changing lineup can include a mix of classics that never grow old mixed with clever remakes and original creations that may or may not last beyond the season they were created for. Like well crafted songs, some selections will evoke feelings and memories that strike a chord with so many people that they will either never go out of fashion or enjoy a comeback a few years up the road.

In other words, by balancing a menu, a bar maintains consistency and appeal to the widest audience while remaining true to its concept.

“The ‘Viva Margarita’ is an excellent example of a short-term [cocktail] that ended up remaining a permanent fixture on our cocktail menu,” says Weatherford. “Instead of trying to boast [about having the ‘best’

Yankeetini

margarita], we created a variation with a flavor profile supported by crisp mint and fresh cucumbers all locally sourced that was initially going to rotate every new menu.”

Adam Seger, Lead Barman at Tuck Room Tavern in Westwood, California and Tuck Room New York, has to not only consider current pop cultural trends and seasons, but their impact in different parts of the U.S. He notes that although L.A. customers favor seasonal changes and new flavor combinations on the menu, a signature drink or two balances it out and keeps key elements about the bar’s branding omnipresent.

“It gives [customers] something consistent to come back for and speaks to what your place is all about,” he says.

“It also keeps our bartenders and servers engaged and gives us something to talk about as to what is coming up on future menus. Sometimes we can do both when we offer different versions of the same cocktail but with different luxe upsell options and enhancements, such as a float of Champagne.”

Remakes of cocktail hits, meanwhile, can also help a bar move its inventory.

“When your menu is balanced but has some interesting options, it’s easy for a regular to stretch their wings,” adds Swet. “For example, if a customer loves a Manhattan made with rye, he or she will be likely to try some other rye cocktail on that same list like a Sazeracinspired drink.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: New York Yankees Steakhouse.

BOA 405

provide guests looking for ‘specials’ a time to come in and experience what you offer. These people may not become your high-end regulars, but they will come back for special occasions and may be open to trying the cocktail staples of a list.”

Price points can also turn people off.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to a variety of restaurants and bars, and what I see most that I don’t agree with are cocktail menus ordered by price points,” says Weatherford. “Segregating prices in this manner creates a divide.

Sure, a customer could spend $75 on a margarita with top-shelf ingredients and find it delightful. Though in doing so, it lends itself to a perspective among other customers that the more expensive cocktails are a far better quality than the others. However, we aim to have all of our cocktails have the quality and richness guests look for.”

Weatherford’s remedy for this is keeping Viva Hollywood’s price points within a certain range while maintaining a high level of quality to ensure value for the customers. This balances out the menu while also allowing the bar team to educate customers on spirits and give them a greater appreciation for the cocktails they have created.

Balanced Cocktails important as the creation of the cocktails. Although anyone can print a recipe list with tasting notes and photos and hand it over to the staff, the cocktails can be lost in translation if the staff isn’t given the proper time to learn everything about the cocktail.

“From the cocktail inception itself, I am already breaking down the ingredients, using, educating, and testing

the staff on it piece-by-piece,” says Weatherford. “In this way, they aren’t overloaded with information and put into a position to sell something they know nothing about. I will never consider a cocktail ready for a menu until all have their own tasting notes, comparisons, and thoughts on the cocktail. Without this sense of family among the staff, and the unity that exists in harmony between our food and beverage programs, our cocktail program wouldn’t have any of the success that it has.”

If the staff can talk with passion and confidence about the offerings, they pass that excitement on to their guests and enhance the experience, according to Marino. “It is important for your staff to know how to connect an eccentric wine or cocktail to something the guest is familiar with,” he says. “If a regular who usually drinks Chardonnay is looking for something different, staff will be able to recognize the customer will enjoy some of the similar notes in Chenin Blanc.

They can give the guest confidence to be more adventurous in the future.”

BOA’s Shadzi makes sure her staff has all the information they need about new cocktails. “I like to make samples of the new drinks as tasting is believing,” she says. “It’s a great way to predict the success of a new cocktail by staff reactions. We also give them preliminary descriptions of the drinks, and the history of how the [foundation] liquor is made. Telling a story gives the cocktails layers, and I like to arm our staff with that information.”

BOA 405

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June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photo: BOA Steakhouse.

The Training Table “Training is paramount because the drink needs to be made the same way every time,” says Swet. “Bartenders are amazing salesmen. Therefore, they must know the drink backwards and forwards, so the guests can really have an enjoyable drinking experience.”

Weatherford, meanwhile, insists staff training with a new menu’s contents is as

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Bar Tour

Bar Tour

Pacific Cocktail Haven (P.C.H)

San Francisco, California

P.C.H serves up great customer service alongside cocktails.

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Bar Business Magazine

Diedrich. “We had to do a lot of work to reconcept it and rebuild it.

“We stripped everything down, cleaned it, and kept the bar intact.”

But there were still renovations that needed to be done to get the space to where Diedrich envisioned it.

Rather than keep the location closed as those renovations were completed, Diedrich decided to open as a pop-up to raise both awareness about the space and the capital they needed to finish the renovations.

“We brought in a small team that included myself and a lot of bartenders and people that had worked with me in the past, and we ran it as a pop-up for about five-six months,” he says. “We called the pop-up Turnkey, a Cantina, which was attributed to the fact that it

June 2017 barbizmag.com

All Photos: Allison Weber.

I

f you sit next to a longtime regular at Pacific Cocktail Haven (P.C.H), they’ll tell you that the bar didn’t always look the way it does now. In fact, it went through an extensive renovation that many of those regulars witnessed firsthand.

P.C.H’s location comes with a lot of history. It was once Williams Sonoma’s first San Francisco retail store. And before Andy Chun and Jan Wiginton, managing partners of Sidecar Hospitality, bought the business, it was a South American-themed bar called Cantina.

When Kevin Diedrich, Sidecar’s bar director/partner and general manager/ partner of P.C.H, took the reins of the business, he knew it was going to need some work.

“It was old and neglected,” says

BY Ashley Bray

Bar Tour was turnkey ready.”

Over the next few months, Diedrich divided his time between demoing and renovating the space in the morning and serving up cocktails at night. “It was waking up at 4 am and knocking down walls and tearing things apart and then stopping at about noon, cleaning up the whole bar, prepping, and opening up for service at five,” he says. “I would never do it again like I did, but it was definitely good from the business standpoint because we never had to close; we were making money the whole time we were open.”

Because the bar was termed a “popup,” patrons weren’t bothered by the half-finished state of the bar and actually looked forward to seeing what would change from week to week. “It was a really cool experience for the staff that was here but also for the regulars,” says Diedrich. “There was something completely different all the time, and it was almost like they were a part of it.”

P.C.H’s new look is a combination of contemporary and industrial elements that create a more open feel. Diedrich kept the exposed brick that he found behind some of the walls, and it adds to the industrial feel. A neon sign spelling out “P.C.H” even adorns one brick wall.

Diedrich and his team also installed new oak shelving, oak bar tops, and wallpaper to warm the space.

Ultimately, Diedrich wanted a design that would enhance, not compete, with the hospitality and cocktails his team creates daily.

Hospitality is one of the primary goals of P.C.H, and Diedrich says he learned the importance of welcoming guests during his time at hospitalitydriven settings like the Ritz-Carlton.

In fact, he employs a technique he learned from the Ritz-Carlton called warm welcome, fond farewell in his own bar.

“It’s that constant, repetitive notion that when people walk in the door, it’s saying, ‘hi,’ to them and putting menus down. When people get up and leave, it’s stopping what we’re doing and waving them goodbye and saying thank you,” he says. “It’s been a very important thing for us and for the bar culture to be hospitality first and cocktails and all that fun stuff second.”

The staff even keeps bar logs to help remember people’s names. “If we see a certain person over and over, we make sure that the staff knows who they are,” says Diedrich. “It’s that engagement.

It’s taking a personal stake in people.”

The welcoming approach has made P.C.H a cocktail bar that is accessible to anyone. “We’re a huge industry bar, but we’re also a huge neighborhood bar,” he says. “It’s a bar that you want to go to after work, but it’s also a bar

that you want to bring your friends to on the weekend.”

The bar’s focus on customer service permeates through the entire establishment, right down to the bar’s logo—a pineapple. “The pineapple historically is the international sign of hospitality,” says Diedrich. “The other tie-in is the space that we’re in was the first-ever Williams-Sonoma, and their logo is also a pineapple.

“History’s a very important part of cocktails and what we do, so I definitely wanted to give a hat nod to what the space was but also subtly hint at what the bar is about.”

Diedrich aims to keep that cocktail history alive by incorporating a variety of classics into his menu, which he uses as a teachable moment for both bartenders and guests. He wants to make patrons aware of cocktails they may not know about and can then go and order anywhere.

For bartenders, it’s about improving their craft. “I want to make you better when you come work here,” he says. “If I’m not making you a better bartender, and you leave here and you haven’t learned anything, then I’ve failed as a boss and as a mentor.”

Diedrich’s menu also includes unique concoctions and twists on the classics.

His Miso Old Fashioned—a mix of miso butter, Bacardi 8 rum, Pommeau, and

Renovations revealed exposed brick.

barbizmag.com

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

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Bar Tour

Kevin Diedrich

General Manager/Partner

K

evin Diedrich brings over fifteen years of experience in the bar business to Pacific Cocktail Haven (P.C.H). His career spans coast to coast, where he’s worked at establishments in Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco.

He opened P.C.H in the summer of 2016 with the goal of being an accessible-to-all, “friendly, neighborhood cocktail bar.” “It’s having that casual atmosphere and being able to approach people and talk to them about the cocktails, the neighborhood, and just generally engage with them,” he says.

The bar is also big on details, and everything down to the glassware has been carefully planned out. Take the Kansai Flip cocktail. The drink is made with unexpected ingredients like red bean paste and matcha ginger that come together to form a delicious cocktail—but not as appetizing a presentation.

Diedrich searched for a more appealing way to present the drink, and he found it in small brown mugs with wooden tops.

“It’s almost like this surprise and delight for somebody to get this mug that you can’t see through and that has a top on it,” he says.

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bitters—represents his play on old bar favorites. While selections like the gin cocktail OH Snap! may elicit such an exclamation thanks to unexpected ingredients like sugar snap peas.

Diedrich’s travels to Hawaii, Tokyo, and Asia inspired many of his flavor and ingredient choices, but he always aims to keep the cocktails approachable. “I definitely don’t want to use ingredients that are so far out there it doesn’t make it palatable,” he says. “Because the goal is to sell the cocktails.

“I call it the waterfall—you have the one drink and later in the week you come back with friends, and they want that drink that you just had.”

Diedrich also offers a variety of punches on his menu, which are great for large parties. “It helps us out if they get a punch so we’re not making eight different cocktails off the menu, which can be daunting on a busy night,” he says.

The punches are also something that garner a lot of attention as the bar presents them in eye-catching ways.

“We have cool presentations and displays for them,” says Diedrich. “Initially everyone drinks with their eyes, so being aesthetically pleasing is a big thing on the menu. You want that visual wow.

The glassware to the garnish to how everything’s put together is very thoughtful—there’s a reason behind what we do.”

In fact, each cocktail has its own glassware, and the menu features handdrawn sketches of the glass and

presentation of each drink. “There should be specific reasons for why you’re going to put it into something— in terms of presentation, in terms of how it’s going to taste, what type of ice you’re putting in there,” says Diedrich.

“So we try and figure out what type of glassware is going to look better with the presentation.”

Diedrich’s attention to detail is also reflected—quite literally—in his ice.

Each month, using an assortment of saws and tools, more than 300 pounds of ice are carved into four custom shapes, which are perfectly translucent and customized for each cocktail glass.

“The ice makes a difference in terms of flavor for the drink not watering down,” Diedrich explains. “The clarity of ice is huge too.

“You need to have that clarity for the presentation. We call it the ninja ice cube where you can see it at the top but as soon as you look into the drink it just disappears.”

P.C.H even brands its ice cubes with its logo. “It’s another extra little detail,” says Diedrich. “Instead of having a clear top to the ice cube, you just look down and see our logo.”

Patrons at P.C.H are rewarded for paying attention and noticing the subtle details, like the ice. “That’s the epiphany I want for people,” he says. “You have to sit there and take it all in to really find the little, subtle details.” pacificcocktailsf.com

Drinking a Kansai Flip is like a reveal—it’s served in a mug that hides the drink, while the top doubles as a coaster.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

J U LY 9 - 1 0 2 0 1 7 KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON CONVENTION CENTER DALL AS, TEXAS

Solutions & Connections, Texas-Sized 600+ exhibiting companies showcasing their latest products and services, including the Craft Beverage Garden! All alongside interactive and informative sessions led by industry experts. From delivery to menu labeling, we've got what you need to know now.

SPECIAL

JULY 8TH

J U LY 9TH

Produced By

EVENTS

REGISTER OR EXHIBIT

TRAMARKETPLACE.COM

Inventory Here for the (Double) Taking DoubleTake Shot Glass

Invite Your Guests to Sit by the Fire HearthCabinet™ Ventless Fireplaces

A welcoming hearth is the ultimate gathering place.

People want to sit beside them at dinner and buy another round to linger longer. HearthCabinet™ Ventless Fireplaces, the leading name in chimney-free, luxury fireplaces, are beautiful and safe amenities that create a home away from home. Both standard models and custom units to fit your surroundings are available.

They use alcohol gel cartridges to produce a clean burning, robust, and crackling flame. The units are freestanding, as they do not require a flue, chimney, or connections of any kind. No construction or costly maintenance is needed, so they can be placed virtually anywhere.

From the sandy beaches and bright lights of South Florida, DoubleTake Containers is revolutionizing the drinking experience with the innovative DoubleTake shot glass. Whether the burn from a shot needs a soothing chaser or a single shot just isn’t enough, the DoubleTake has you covered. Composed of a shatter-resistant, polycarbonate material, the DoubleTake enables a partygoer to consume a shot and chaser or double shot in one simple motion. The DoubleTake is dualchambered and allows the user to control the flow of the chaser or secondary shot by simply covering the vent hole on the backside of the container. With this concept in mind, the DoubleTake is testing the skills of bartenders nationwide to reinvent the old and develop new drink combinations. “Through engineering design, the DoubleTake is bringing the excitement back to bars, restaurants, and nightclubs with endless drink blends and mixtures,” says the DoubleTake team. With the DoubleTake’s versatility, quality, and durability, you can say goodbye to the conventional shot glass.

DoubleTakeContainers.com

HearthCabinet.com

Revolutionary Barware Makes Every Guest Interaction Unforgettable TIN PLAY Barware

TIN PLAY is the latest in revolutionary barware. We designed our tools to help bars, owners, bartenders, and suppliers be more successful, make more money, and be more efficient. Every tool that you need behind the bar is condensed into three sleek designs: 32 oz. Shaker Tin, 16 oz. Cheater Tin, Strainer, Muddler, Jigger from .25oz. to 2oz., Bottle Opener, Can Opener. The average establishment loses 20 to 30% per week of its liquor and mixer inventory due to overpour, cross contamination, and drinking on the job. Bartenders will work more efficiently and pour consistent drinks every time using TIN PLAY’s System of Bartending. Our innovative tools will draw a lot of attention to your guests as they watch their cocktails being crafted with flair and precision. What better way to showcase your brand than on these aesthetically pleasing multi-functional tools? Every time you muddle, pour, or open a beer, your brand will be in the view of the patron. Every interaction with every guest is important; Tin Play will make it unforgettable. tinplay.com

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Bar Business Magazine

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Inventory

Add a Unique Craft Component to Your Cocktails

The Unknown Brewing Company’s Craft Ginger Ale The Unknown Brewing Company, a craft brewery based just south of the city skyline of Charlotte, North Carolina, has released a craft Ginger Ale—their first nonalcoholic craft soda. This beverage packs a delicious, natural lime flavor and brings a unique craft component to your cocktails. Instead of artificial sweeteners or colors, The Unknown Brewing Company’s Craft Ginger Ale is composed of fresh, hand-peeled Costa Rican ginger, lime, natural cane sugar, vitamin C, and water.

Drink it straight, on the rocks, or mix it with a light rum, bourbon, or vodka. Garnish it with a lime peel or a citrus fruit of your choice for a refreshing, southern take on Ginger Ale! For inquiries of how to carry this craft Ginger Ale in your bar, please contact kevin@ unknownbrewing.com. The Unknown Brewing Company currently distributes their Over The Edge IPA, Ginger Wheat, Hospitali-TEA Amber, Brown Ryed Girl and other great beers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

A New Way to Socialize and Drink Anytime, Anywhere drinXOnme App

drinXOnme is an app where you can send and receive drinks to anyone in the world using your smartphone and Facebook. When you download the app and you post on Facebook, drinXOnme will tell all of your friends to buy you a drink. You can use the drinks instantly with the virtual card via APPLE PAY or GOOGLE PAY. You will also receive a drinXOnme VISA physical card that you can use to pay as you would a normal debit card.

Facebook:@drinXOnme; Instagram: #drinXOnme #drinXOnmeApp

Featured

PRODUCT

unknownbrewing.com

No Change? No Problem! Bill Acceptance and Mobile Pay Pool Tables Global Billiard Mfg.

Increase earnings and player satisfaction with the Challenger Matrix pool table. The seasoned Matrix bill acceptor unit features proven and easily programmable electronics that allow for pricing options such as single game, multi-game, and time play. With its on-board real time clock, standard pricing can transition between three Happy Hour and three Free Play periods. Secure mobile payments are possible by pairing an optional PayRange BlueKey with the Matrix. Now your customers can pay with their phone! Players appreciate the Challenger’s CNC machined rails, league cut pocket openings, and heavy poplar cushion blocks, which result in superior banking and rebound accuracy. The simple, sturdy, and durable cabinet is available in either a mahogany or black laminate finish and seven-foot and eight-foot sizes. Standard cloth color is tournament green, but a full range of other colors is available. globalbilliard.com

barbizmag.com

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

53

Sports programming available separately.

The season never ends with DIRECTV.

Make your place the Sports Headquarters with the ultimate TV experience.

Lock in COMMERCIAL XTRA™ PACK for 2 years, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2 and more for $85.99/mo.!

For 24 mos. w/ 24-mo. agreement. Must take NFL SUNDAY TICKET in 2017 and 2018. Plus taxes. Auto Bill Pay req’d.

ALL DIRECTV OFFERS REQUIRE 24-MO. TV AGREEMENT. EARLY CANCELLATION FEE OF $40/MO. FOR EACH MONTH REMAINING ON AGMT. ADD’L FEES APPLY. New approved commercial customers only. Credit card req’d (except MA & PA). Pricing based on Estimated Viewing Occupancy (EVO) for select packages. Regional Sports fee applies in certain markets.

Whatever your sport, DIRECTV has you covered with add-on options like:

Call us now at 1.855.714.7210 to order!

NFL SUNDAY TICKET/COMMERCIAL XTRA PACK OFFER: To receive COMMERCIAL XTRA PACK at the $85.99/mo. promo rate for 24 mos., new commercial customers must subscribe to two consecutive seasons (2017 & 2018) of NFL SUNDAY TICKET programming (pricing based on FCO) with 24-mo. agmt. After 24 mos., then-prevailing-monthly rates apply (currently $151.49/mo. for COMMERCIAL XTRA PACK) unless canceled or changed by customer prior to end of 24 mos. Base package prevailing rate will apply if NFL SUNDAY TICKET subscription is canceled. LIMIT ONE NFL SUNDAY TICKET OFFER PER SUBCRIPTION AND NOT STACKABLE WITH OTHER OFFERS. Regional Sports Network fee of up to $24.99/mo. applies in certain markets. Regional Sports Network fees are updated biannually based on the presence of Regional Sports Networks and/or Collegiate-in-Market programming in applicable ZIP codes. ABP enrollment is optional. ABP OFFER: New customers who subscribe to BUSINESS SELECT PACK or above with 24-mo. agmt and enroll in Auto Bill Pay will receive $5/mo. bill credit for 24 mos. starting in the 2nd mo. Aft er 24 mos., the credit will end and services will automatically continue at the then-prevailing rate. NFL SUNDAY TICKET subscription will automatically continue in 2018 and each season thereaft er unless customer calls 1-866-945-9940 to cancel prior to start of season. Subscription cannot be canceled (in part or in whole) aft er the start of the season and subscription fee cannot be refunded. Commercial locations require an appropriate licensee agreement. SONICTAP MUSIC CHANNELS OFFER: Aft er 3 mos., then-prevailing rate for SonicTap Music Channels (currently $37.99/mo.) applies unless canceled or changed by customer prior to end of the promotional period. HARDWARE OFFER: Programming agreement, as defi ned by customer’s commercial programming rate card, required. Off er available to new commercial customers in commercial structures no more than three stories high. No single-family residences allowed. Up to four HD Receivers included per commercial location. Make and model of system at DIRECTV’s sole discretion. Off er void where prohibited or restricted. DIRECTV SERVICE TERMS: Subject to terms of DIRECTV Commercial Customer Agreement. Must maintain a minimum base TV package and Auto Bill Pay at point of sale. Additional Fees and Terms: Regional Sports Network fee of up to $24.99/mo. applies in certain markets for COMMERCIAL CHOICE PLUS and COMMERCIAL XTRA PACK. Regional Sports Network fees are updated biannually based on the presence of Regional Sports Networks and/or Collegiate in-Market programming in applicable ZIP codes. Receiver fees of $15/mo. apply for each receiver for BUSINESS SELECT PACK, COMMERCIAL ENTERTAINMENT PACK and COMMERCIAL XTRA PACK. $19.95 Handling and Delivery fee may apply. Taxes not included. Programming, pricing, terms and conditions subject to change at any time. INSTALLATION: Standard commercial installation included for BUSINESS SELECT PACK and above customers. Complex/custom installation extra. Applicable use tax adjustment may apply on retail value of installation. Visit directv.com/legal or call for details. To access HD programming, HD equipment required. Number of HD channels based on package selection. All DIRECTV Receivers must be continuously connected to the same land-based phone line or the Internet. MLB: Getty Image. NFL: AP Images. NFL, the NFL Shield design and the NFL SUNDAY TICKET name and logo are registered trademarks of the NFL and its affi liates. NFL team names and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated. ©2017 AT&T Intellectual Property. All Rights Reserved. AT&T, Globe logo, DIRECTV, and all other DIRECTV marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affi liated companies. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Ad Index

Company

Contact

Inventory COMPANIES

31 2touchpos xenios

2touchpos.com

37 Audio Everywhere

audioeverywhere.com

Doubletake containers doubletakecontainers.com

29 Chargique

chargique.com

25 Davo technologies

davotechnologies.com

47 drinique

drinique.com

45 floh vodka

flohvodka.com

9 harbortouch corp

harbortouch.com

13 Jevo

jevohome.com

32 taffer virtual Training

taffervt.com

33 taffer’s rescue Tour

jontaffer.com/rescue-tour

30 Liquid ice

liquidiceenergy.com

7 newell (rubbermaid)

partender.com

19 PERLICK

perlick.com

C4 rumchata

rumchata.com

C3 sound stage

soundstagesystems.com

staffedup.com

C2 steadyserv tech

steadyserv.com

23 terraslate menus

terraslate.com

46 texas bar & nightclub

tbnaconvention.com

touchtunes.com

51 tra marketplace

tramarketplace.com

41 turbotap usa

turbotapusa.com

27 ultimate bars

ultimatebars.com

barbizmag.com

HearthCabinet hearthcabinet.com TIN PLAY Barware tinplay.com Unknown Brewing Company unknownbrewing.com

sparktacular.com

24 STAFFED UP

3 touchtunes

Global billiard mfg. globalbilliard.com

newellrubbermaid.com

21 PARTENDER

5 sparktacular

drinXOnme facebook.com/drinXOnme

Visit

@BarBizMag

To Advertise in Bar Business Magazine, contact Art Sutley 212-620-7247 Asutley@sbpub.com

June 2017

Bar Business Magazine

55

with BEN SILVER

What led to your interest in wine?

When I had the chance to taste a really exceptional bottle of wine, it got me excited. I was working with a sommelier at the time in Sedona, Arizona, and the bottle of wine I tasted was the Cain Five 2007. Initially, I wanted to just get my Sommelier 1, which is the first level sommelier, for job security to get better restaurant jobs. After I got the one, I was really intrigued with wine. I moved to Santa Barbara to study wine, and I met Fred Dame, who’s the President of the Court of Master Sommeliers. I performed for him, and he ended up sponsoring me for the Level 2. He recommended a sommelier for me to study under—Brian McClintic. He was in the documentary SOMM, and he had a wine shop in Santa Barbara that was close to where I lived at the time. So I would go and perform a little bit over there, and he would give me some wines to taste.

2 Magician and Sommelier (San Diego, California)

B

en Silver is the only person in the world who can lay claim to the dual titles of magician and certified sommelier.

He’s spent 18 years in the hospitality industry working in a number of roles at resorts and high-end restaurants and is now a Level 2 Certified Sommelier.

He’s practiced magic since he was a kid, but he decided to take it from hobby to career when he saw a magician perform close-up magic at one of his own art shows.

He couples his knowledge of wine with his talents in magic and travels across the country for performances of close-up magic, wine and magic dinners, and interactive magic and winethemed stage shows. He’s even performed at unique events like the 25-year NBC Universal anniversary party.

Silver currently serves as the Wine Director and Sommelier at Meze Greek Restaurant in downtown San Diego.

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Bar Business Magazine

Why do you perform close-up magic versus other types?

I was never really fascinated by stage magic because it’s far away, and it’s a lot of the same type of stuff—sawing someone in half or linking rings. But to see close-up magic inches from your face and not have an idea of how they’re doing it was very fascinating.

It inspired me enough to pick up some books and start really learning how to do it. I’m always practicing, always studying, evolving, and working with other magicians to try and enhance the art of magic. It’s something I’m still pursuing all the time.

3

What’s your favorite magic trick?

Being a sommelier, I always wanted to have somebody literally just think of a bottle of wine and then be able to produce that bottle of wine, and now I can do that. I try to find someone in the audience who has a birthday that day, and I bring them up onstage and have them sign a playing card as their birthday card. We take that card, rubber band it, and put it underneath a wine glass. Later on, after I produce that bottle of wine that someone merely thought of, I take the playing card from under that glass and throw it inside the sealed wine bottle.

4

What made you decide to combine magic and wine?

They work really well because I’m combining entertainment with a luxury service. Wine, especially good wine, is something that’s enjoyed by people who know how to enjoy life.

So when you can combine those, you have the chance to provide a luxury service at another level— especially when you have the chance to surprise guests. I’ll start by doing a wine tasting and being a sommelier, and then I start doing magic, and they really do a double take and ask, “how did you do that?”

For me, it’s taking my two passions and then combining them into a great entertainment service.

5

Do you have any advice for those who want to become sommeliers or entertainers in this industry?

Mentors and books are what you want for both. If you’re going to be a magician or a sommelier, find someone who’s doing it very well, who’s warm, and befriend them and study under them. Then start picking up and reading books while at the same time practicing as much as possible. With wine, before my Level 2 test, I was tasting five days a week.

I would go into bars and have them blind taste me with wines. With magic, I’m fortunate that I’ve been working at restaurants so I have a chance to practice new magic while I’m working as a sommelier. You need that real world experience—you can only practice in front of your mirror doing magic for so long. You have to get out there and do it, and start learning the patterns, and start making it your own.

June 2017 barbizmag.com

Photos: (left) Gary Payne; (bottom) Jesse Sutton.

Q&A

1

e l b u Do r You ey n o M TURN A $ 5 Cup of Coffee into $ 10

BY OFFERING IT WITH RUMCHATA. BEAUTIFUL RUMCHATA BRANDED CERAMIC CREAMER CUPS ARE AVAILABLE NOW! ASK YOUR DISTRIBUTOR!

REMEMBER TO KEEP A BOTTLE OF RUMCHATA ON YOUR BACK BAR AS WELL AS IN THE COOLER — IF PEOPLE SEE RUMCHATA, THEY WILL BUY IT. RumChata®, Caribbean Rum with Real Dairy Cream, Natural and Artificial Flavors, 13.75% alc./vol. Produced and Bottled by Agave Loco Brands, Pewaukee, WI 53072. Please Enjoy Responsibly. RUMCHATA and CHATA are Registered Trademarks of Agave Loco, LLC.