Bar Business December 2018

December 2018

THE HOW-TO PUBLICATION

BAR BUS NESS MAGAZINE

THE

GIFT

Tools of the trade to elevate your bar program.

OF

Efficiency

CHARGING OPTIONS barbizmag.com

Do you have the power?

5 SOFTWARE

PRODUCTS

Prep for marketing success

CL E R MON T K . Y.

U. S .

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE ON OUR GIFT LIST. WE’VE GOT BOTH COVERED.

KNOB CREEK® KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY 50% ALC./VOL. ©2018 KNOB CREEK DISTILLERY CLERMONT, KY.

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EVERY BIT EARNED

Contents How Tos

16 20

5 Marketing Software Products New marketing technology to keep your eye on.

December

23

Data Security: Key to Your Business Strategy How bar owners can keep guests’ information safe.

27

Tuning Up: Do You Have the Power?

Charging options to be sure your guests’ phones are always powered up.

Special Section: 1849 Wine

1849 Wine Company ushers in a new age for wine.

Departments

4

From the Editor

6

On Tap

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

10

Behind The Bar

14

Happenings

In-depth analysis of beer, wine & spirits.

Important dates for the month.

40

Bar Tour

44

Inventory

48

Q+A

RISE Brands serves up cocktails with a side of competition.

Featured product releases.

Peter Iglesias – Royal Dutch Distillers

Features

32

Tools of the Trade

36

Dirty Little Secret

Elevate your bar program with new equipment.

How to create an inviting, sanitary bathroom experience.

Cover photo: Shutterstock/ AnjelikaGr, Shutterstock/ David Franklin Contents photo: Shutterstock/ Ryzhkov Photography

barbizmag.com

December 2018

Bar Business Magazine

1

THE HOW-TO PUBLICATION

BAR BUS NESS MAGAZINE

DECEMBER 2018

Vol. 11

No. 12

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 Contributing Writers Maura Keller, Andria Park, Kinesh Patel, Christopher Osburn, Erik Shellenberger

art

Art Director Nicole D’Antona Graphic Designer Aleza Leinwand

production

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

circulation

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 Š SimmonsBoardman Publishing Corporation 2018. 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 (US Only) 1-800-553-8878 (CANADA/INTL) 1-319-364-6167, Fax 1-319-364-4278, e-mail barbusiness@stamats.com or write to: Bar Business Magazine, Simmons-Boardman Publ. Corp, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA. 52406-1407. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Bar Business Magazine, PO Box 1407, Cedar Rapids, IA. 52406-1407. 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

December 2018 barbizmag.com

inventory management

has never

been easier

from the editor

From The Editor

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

- Hal Borland

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he end of the year is a great time to look back while also planning for changes in the new year. I thought I’d use this month’s column as a retrospective on the hospitality trends we’ve observed in 2018, as well as give you a glimpse of what we plan on covering in 2019.

What a year it’s been—new trends, new products, even new categories as we saw the emergence of cannabis in the hospitality industry. An entire section of the Nightclub & Bar Show floor was dedicated to it, new CBD products aimed at use behind the bar were introduced, and we covered the topic in detail in our August issue (“Cannabis & Cocktails Collide”).

I expect 2019 to be an even more pivotal year for this burgeoning category, especially if current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Farm Bill passes when Congress reconvenes in January. The bill includes the legalization of hemp as an agricultural commodity, which would open the doors for the production of more hemp-based products like CBD oils.

Speaking of new categories, genever made new gains in the bar industry this year. I first learned about this spirit back in 2017 when I interviewed Rutte Master Distiller Myriam Hendrickx in a tiny New Orleans bar during Tales of the Cocktail.

The spirit, which could be called a link between gin and whiskey, is in a category all its own and still largely unknown in the U.S. Genever’s reemergence into the U.S. market will start in the on-premise world, so it’s up to you to pass on knowledge and an appreciation for the spirit to your guests. Also helping is a three-year US

marketing campaign titled, “Genever: America’s Lost European Spirit.” Look for more on this spirit in our pages next year.

2018 has also been marked by a shift to healthier choices—both in and out of the hospitality industry. We’ve become more interested in fresh ingredients, where our food is sourced, and enjoying indulgences in moderation. In fact, there’s been increased interest in low-ABV cocktails and non-alcoholic mocktails. These less boozy options have been popping up on cocktail menus everywhere, and we’ll explore this trend in January’s Behind the Bar column.

This wellness trend also encompasses mental health, and as bar staff know better than anyone else, this industry can place stress on you physically and mentally. The industry is finally opening up and talking about mental health topics like depression and anxiety. Tales of the Cocktail did a great job this past July of addressing mental health through seminars and free wellness programs. I look forward to seeing how the new Tales of the Cocktail Foundation continues this work going into 2019, as well as our industry as a whole.

Next year is already shaping up to be a busy one, and Bar Business Magazine will continue to keep you informed and up-todate on everything you need to know!

Ashley bray, Editor

December 2018 barbizmag.com

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herry Heering crowned Odd Strandbakken from HIMKOK bar in Oslo, Norway as the 2018 The Peter F. Heering® Classics winner for his recipe, Pavoni.

The iconic cherry liqueur, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, had 10 finalists and one wild card winner from around the world shaking it up at the final during London Cocktail Week 2018 and The World’s 50 Best Bars. The Peter F. Heering® Classics is an annual global competition that had four rounds from April 2017 through to the Grand Finale in October 2018.

The 10 finalists and wild card received personal coaching from a carefully selected panel of industry judges before the Grand Finale in London and were also filmed by Difford’s Guide for Heering Legends.

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Bar Business Magazine

The finalists then personally presented their take on the 200 Years Celebration Cocktail at the final during London Cocktail Week 2018 and The World’s 50 Best Bars.

Odd Strandbakken’s Pavoni recipe took home top honors.

The Winning Peter F. Heering Classics was selected by an international expert jury led by spirits industry icon

Dale DeGroff aka King Cocktail. Other jurors included Simon Difford, Founder & CEO, Difford’s Guide; Nicolas SaintJean; Alex Kratena; and Laura Schacht, Cherry Heering Global Cocktail Training and Advocacy Manager.

The Top 10 Heering Classics Finalist Bartenders were: 1. Mykhailo Zhuravel, Dubai, UAE, Bar: Mirage Dubai, Royal 2. Alexey Poltavskiy, Phuket, Thailand, Club No. 43, Few Words 3. Liam Doherty-Penzer, Sydney, Australia, Whirly Bird, Naughty Charles 4. Karalee Te Riini, Wellington, New Zealand, Hawthorn Lounge, Lovers and Frans 5. Odd Strandbakken, Oslo, Norway, HIMKOK, Pavoni 6. Oscar Armenta, Oaxaca, Mexico, Sabina Sabe, Royal Centenary 7. Maximiliano Vallé Valletta, Montréal, Canada, Les Enfants Terribles, Better Days 8. Maria Damgaard Andersen, København K, Denmark, Y’s Café & Cocktailbar, Cherry Bomb 9. Philip Abowd, Seoul, South Korea, Southside Parlor, The Cherry Tree 10. Chirag Pal, Delhi, India, Shangrila New Delhi, Viajero *Wildcard: Moses Laboy, NYC, United States, David Burke Kitchen, Ma Cherie “The Peter F. Heering Classics have provided momentum for great new and classic Cherry Heering cocktails to be served around the world more than ever before with so many talented bar men and women showing their talents with the iconic 200-year-old Cherry Heering Liqueur,” said Mark de Witte, CEO, De Kuyper Royal Distillers.

To view the winning recipe, visit barbizmag.com. heering.com

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photo (left): Margaret Pattillo Photography.

Heering Classics Winner Crowned

ON TAP Unique Uniforms Help Craft Z Bar’s Aesthetic

Z

Bar’s staff is dressed to impress thanks to Chicago-based luxury fashion line ricorso.

Five-star luxury hotel The Peninsula Chicago teamed up with ricorso to design exclusive uniforms to coincide with the opening of its highly anticipated upscale rooftop bar, Z Bar. This is the first time ricorso has designed and developed uniforms for the service industry. “We were intrigued by the idea of translating our ready-towear and made-to-order design approaches to the service industry,” says Founder and Lead Designer of ricorso Daryl Sneed. “While the timeline was really compressed and involved us being regularly on point with the management team in understanding their timelines, expectations, and aesthetic goals, it was exciting for us to take on this challenge.

“Utilizing our working relationships in the design community, we were able to also build a local team in the Chicago area, including Stock MFG, Hart Schaffner Marx, and Knot Standard Chicago, to design the Z Bar front and back-of-house wardrobe covering both male and female staff. The Peninsula Chicago’s approach in developing Z Bar was the perfect platform to launch this effort as both of our brands have emphasis on coveted style, distinctive luxury, and conceptualization of customer experience.”

Sneed draws inspiration from archives of heritage and vintage pieces, selectively chosen for their tailoring and design. From there, design

barbizmag.com

concepts go through a thorough creative process where Sneed’s vision and expertise merge with thoughtfully curated textiles, creating ricorso’s signature aesthetic.

For Z Bar, ricorso aimed to concept a wardrobe design that would align with the space while also drawing inspiration from the past. “We immediately thought of another ‘bar’ where customers were transported into another world—Studio 54,” says Sneed.

“We started the design concept with the first people customers would interact with coming into the space— the hostess. For us, they set the tone for the overall experience and should immediately visually voice that Z Bar is truly special.

“We picked three themes from the Studio 54 era—the jumpsuit, the wrap dress, and sequins/shine—as the basis for building the design for the hostess grouping. While Z Bar was not going to be a ‘club’ per se, we wanted to elevate these concepts to the modern luxury standards of the Peninsula brand. From there, the remaining designs for the managers, servers, bartenders, and barbacks were conceived to extend the experience.” ricorso designed three uniform styles for each position at Z Bar. For the first time ever, ricorso also produced menswear to complement its female counterpart designs.

Fabric selection and uniform durability also played a role in the design of the uniforms. “We had several

conversations on fabrication, color, and wearability,” says Sneed. “Fortunately, being in a luxury hotel property with full cleaning services including dry cleaning, we were able to explore fabrications that both had washability/ durability particularly for more high-use roles like the servers as well as fabrications that elevated the brand for select roles/positions.”

Sneed says uniforms are important in crafting any bar’s aesthetic. “The uniform is central to augmenting the guest experience. The aesthetic of the space can either be complemented or diluted based on how the staff are received by guests,” says Sneed. “The approach to designing uniforms should involve the same techniques and considerations in creating traditional ready-to-wear fashion as a person’s style sets first impressions. It is essential when creating an environment for a bar/ club/lounge that the brand design also involve the people who will be delivering your product and interacting with your guests.”

As for ricorso’s future in the service industry, the luxury fashion line is open to the right opportunity. “We really enjoyed creating this full look from front to back,” says Sneed, “and definitely would be open to finding the right opportunities where our aesthetic can be translated into unique environments.” ricorsodesign.com; zbarchicago.com

December 2018

Bar Business Magazine

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From ON TAP The Editor Heineken 2018 NDC Conference Highlights Trends, Honors Distributors, and Lays Future Plans

EINEKEN USA launched its “Ignite the Fight” campaign at its annual National Distributor Conference in Atlanta, Georgia this past October.

The two-day conference hosted over 1000 on- and off-premise distributors and served to highlight new ad campaigns, debut products, and explain HEINEKEN USA’s strategy going into 2019 and beyond. The conference also hosted a portfolio expo of all the HEINEKEN USA brands and new product debuts for attendees to view and sample.

The “Ignite the Fight” campaign is fighting back on three fronts: fixing HEINEKEN USA’s core brands, delivering growth through innovation, and increasing its relevance locally.

Core Brands. HEINEKEN USA’s core brands of Heineken, Dos Equis, and Tecate all received refreshed ad campaigns, are shifting from national to local media, and are making strides toward increasing on-premise distribution. Look for new products heading into 2019 as well.

Localization. The craft beer market continues to grow, and much of its success is due to localization.

HEINEKEN USA is falling in step with this strategy by supporting emerging brands in key local areas and markets.

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The world of craft beer is also no stranger to innovation, and HEINEKEN USA announced a few new changes at the NDC Conference that will help to continue the advances in this category.

Expect announcements with more details in 2019.

Innovation. HEINEKEN USA is promoting greater innovation across its brands, and this includes new forays into the growing world of Mexican imports, like the previously announced Mexican Pale Ale from top Mexican Import Dos Equis. The 5.5% ABV Mexican Pale Ale is a traditional pale ale with a Mexican twist that is fuller bodied and delivers a subtle kick of heat. It’s currently available for draft in a variety of markets including Texas, with an anticipated broader national launch planned for 2019. Bar owners can also expect exciting new things to come from Tecate, The Official Beer of Boxing™, in 2019.

There is plenty of room for innovation in this Mexican imports category, and HEINEKEN USA said the key to adoption at on-premise venues is education and communication about the category to customers.

HEINEKEN USA wasn’t the only innovator at the National Distributor Conference, and it presented its Red

heinekenusa.com

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photos: HEINEKEN USA.

H

Star Award to Admiral Beverage Corp. of New Mexico for the distributor’s efforts to go above and beyond the average market results in both on- and off-premise distribution and displays.

The 1864 Awards were also presented at the conference to two of HEINEKEN USA’s distributors— Crescent Crown in Arizona and Fahr Beverage in Iowa— for their commitment to “Build a Better World” through responsibility and sustainability.

In the larger-volume distributor category, Crescent Crown Distributing offered employee safe rides and support for over 150 community and charitable events last year.

Environmentally, the distributor implemented a creative and collaborative recycling program that encouraged key account participation.

In the smaller-volume category, Fahr Beverage supported designated drivers, offered a “no questions asked” policy for employee safe rides, and helped accounts navigate the complex world of state IDs to reduce underage drinking.

On the environmental side, they installed solar panels, switched to LEDs, and focused on reducing idling to save electricity, fuel, and CO2.

HEINEKEN USA also announced a change to its 1864 Awards for next year.

In recognition of its successful “Brew Good” program that encourages employee volunteerism and funds grants to support responsibility and sustainability programs, the 1864 Awards will be re-launched in 2019 as the Brew Good Awards. Distributors who collaborate with HEINEKEN USA on a Brew Good program will be automatically entered in the Brew Good Awards.

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Behind The Bar: VODKA

Let’s talk

American vodka isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, and simplicity is the name of the game.

BY Andria Park

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Bar Business Magazine

Y

ou may recall that about a decade ago, vodka took a backseat as bartenders began favoring more complex spirits and whiskies for crafty, on-premise cocktails.

Now, with steady consumer demand and shifting cocktail trends, vodka has reclaimed its throne in bars and pubs, and domestic vodka in particular is having a moment.

According to the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS), with volumes up 2.2% and revenues up 3% to 6.2 billion dollars, the vodka category enjoyed a year of solid growth in 2017.

What’s interesting to note, however,

is that the vodka brands currently experiencing the biggest growth aren’t the ones that drove the spirit to its previous status years back. In fact, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which has been paying homage to the same process for over 20 years, has only really taken off in the past five or six years. Today, it is the leading certified gluten-free spirit in the U.S. With health-conscious attitudes only growing stronger among millennials and aging baby boomers, cocktails with only two or three ingredients are now replacing more complex, layered drinks, which is where vodka (the “healthier” spirit) fits into the mix. In its purest

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photo: ShutterstocK/ S_Photo

Vodka

Behind The Bar: vodka form, vodka is made most commonly from fermented grains such as sorghum, corn, rice, rye, or wheat.

“Within the industry, we continue to see a shift away from flavored vodkas and more emphasis on base vodka using fresh ingredients to create cocktails,” explains Frank Polley, Vice President of Trade Marketing at Tito’s.

According to a recent survey by Label Insight, a strategic Nielsen partner that specializes in ingredient and attribute data analysis, 67% of Americans said they would be prioritizing healthy or socially conscious food purchases in 2018.

“Whether it’s cocktails containing less sugar or glutenfree options, consumers are looking for options that reflect who they are,” says Polley.

Other domestic brands have followed suit and capitalized on this shift.

“Tito’s has brought it back to where people said, ‘you know what, I’m proud to drink American vodka,’” notes Chuck Trout, CEO of the Beach Whiskey Company. “Even if you’re not the biggest patriot, you still realize it’s a good product—and that’s what we’re piggybacking on.”

Last January, Beach Whiskey Company acquired the American Harvest Organic Vodka brand, first launched by the Sidney Frank Importing Company in 2011 and shipped from Idaho. Since then, American Harvest has flourished.

“For our sales specifically, this last quarter was double what our first quarter was,” confirms Trout. “For organic products, it’s dominated mostly on the coast, but we’ve seen a big growth in Chicago as well, which tells us maybe not the whole country is interested in organic, sustainable products, but it’s getting there.”

The process American Harvest uses incorporates not just a conscious focus on the consumer’s health but also on

the planet.

“It’s made with the highest quality winter wheat we can find. Then everything we do after that, the energy itself, [one-third] derives from wind power,” says Trout. “In addition, the materials that we use and the part of the stock and the wheat that we don’t use feed cattle. And that’s where it becomes a more sustainable product. It’s kind of a win-win for both sides.”

With a humble team of seven and only about two years under its belt, Trout admits that they’re “the small guys fighting.” Even so, the brand has already piqued some major interest.

In fact, Nobu selected American Harvest as its vodka of choice in their drink special this year.

So what’s their secret? “In our vodka, there’s 1% agave nectar,” reveals Trout.

“Having said that, we win so many taste tests because it’s such a clean finish. Drinking this product just over rocks with a splash of lime—nothing else in there—is a way to really enhance how clean this product is.”

Tito’s echoes the same “less is more” sentiment.

“I’d have to say our fan favorite is the Tito’s All Time Favorite. It’s a classic twist on the vodka soda that’s simple, easy to make, and tastes fresh and clean,” says Polley. “All you do is add Tito’s Handmade Vodka and sparkling mineral water to a rocks glass with ice. Then garnish with a slice of orange and lime.”

In the likes of Tito’s and American Harvest, Lewis & Clark, a midpremium tier vodka under Hood River Distillers, launched December 1 in the on-premise market.

As you’ll remember, the Lewis & Clark expedition was the first to cross the western portion of the U.S. This is Hood River’s backyard, and the new family of brands pays tribute to

In 2017, vodka volumes were up 2.2% and revenues were up 3%.

barbizmag.com

TITO’S IS THE LEADING CERTIFIED GLUTEN-FREE SPIRIT

in

THE U.S. IN AMERICAN HARVEST VODKA THERE’S

ONE PERCENT AGAVE NECTAR

LEWIS & CLARK IS HEAVILY FOCUSING ON

PRICE POINT $$ $ $$ $ $ $$

December 2018

Bar Business Magazine

11

Behind The Bar: VODKA

Toasted Pecan Infusion

Spiced Harvest

Spirited Harvest Punch

Tito’s Handmade Vodka Simply roast pecans in the oven for five minutes, let cool, add to a bottle of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and store for a few weeks before enjoying in a cocktail.

Cranberry Mule Tito’s Handmade Vodka Just add cranberry juice to a traditional American Mule. It’s refreshing and perfect for any holiday gathering!

American Harvest Organic Vodka 1½ oz American Harvest Organic Vodka ¾ oz Velvet Falernum ¾ oz Cranberry juice 2 dashes Orange bitters Stir and strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

Spiced Harvest American Harvest Organic Vodka 1½ oz American Harvest Organic Vodka ½ oz Agave nectar 2 oz Cranberry juice Stir and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with an orange peel and grated cinnamon.

Cinnamon Apple Harvest American Harvest Organic Vodka 2 oz American Harvest Organic Vodka 1½ oz Unfiltered organic apple juice ¾ oz Fresh lemon juice ¾ oz Honey syrup Shake and strain over ice into a rocks glass.

Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

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Bar Business Magazine

this journey.

Founded in 1934 and headquartered in Hood River, Oregon, Hood River Distillers is the Northwest’s largest and oldest importer, distiller, producer, bottler, and marketer of distilled spirits.

Following the sale of Pendleton Whiskey earlier this year, Hood River made a conscious decision to return to its roots and focus on brands that celebrate their heritage in the Pacific Northwest. Enter Lewis & Clark—a new vodka that is heavily focusing on price point.

From a financial standpoint, it will provide bar owners a great pour cost (at $16.95 a liter) and can easily lend itself to create a solid, marginproducing $6 cocktail but also an exquisite-tasting $11 cocktail.

“I think that’s what we see here in the vodka category currently,” notes Casey Armstrong, Senior Brand Manager of Hood River Distillers.

“The price point is what’s driving the majority of the growth—actually almost all of the growth. So we wanted to make sure we were playing in that price point. Rather than just create a product that is a one-off product, we decided to hopefully meet the needs of consumers across the plethora of spirit categories.”

Though when examining all spirit categories through a wider lens,

domestic is the driving factor primarily for vodka alone.

“When you look at the vodka category, imports are declining and domestic is increasing,” says Armstrong. “[So we’re] really focusing on what’s important to us at Hood River Distillers, which is local—using the resources as we’re in this beautiful state of Oregon and really focusing on the domestic abilities too.”

When incorporating any of these vodkas onto your bar’s menu, the simpler the recipes, the better (think tried-and-true classics like vodka sodas or cranberry vodkas). Though if you’d like to kick things up a notch, check out some of the recipes featured on the left for professed favorites just in time for those holiday get-togethers.

Cinnamon Apple Harvest

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photos: American Harvest.

Spirited Harvest Punch

Be the It wasn’t enough for us to provide a Gluten Free, Kosher Certified vodka with no sugar added that satisfies the sophisticated palate. We believe that including premium ingredients, grown in the United States, including the best American Corn and adding pure Oregon water, makes the unique filtering method and 10 times distillation process worth the time and sacrifice for our ultra-premium customer.

When vodka meets luxury—FLOH the Caviar of Vodka

PassionFLOH INGREDIENTS 1½ oz FLŌH Pink Grapefruit Dragonfruit ½Fresh Pressed Lemon ¼ Wedge Fresh Pressed Grapefruit 3 dashes Cranberry Bitters TECHNIQUE Shake with ice and strain into chilled martini glass.

Garnish with lemon twist.

@FLOHVODKA WWW.FLOHVODKA.COM

Happenings January 2019

1

JANUARY 1 New Year’s Day It’s a new year and a new beginning.

Write down your 2019 resolutions for your bar.

January 28 Data Privacy Day Are you keeping credit card information safe?

Check out our how to on page 20 for tips on data security best practices.

31

January 31 National Hot Chocolate Day More guests are turning to low-ABV or N/A drinks, like this chocolately favorite. Look for a feature on this trend in next month’s issue.

Offer a special on this undisputed brunch favorite (move over mimosas), and help your guests recover from last night’s revelries.

January 17 National Hot Buttered Rum Day When the weather gets cold, we all turn to warm drinks. Add a few to your cocktail list.

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December 2018 barbizmag.com

All Photos: Shutterstock.com.

January 1 National Bloody Mary Day

Happenings

Upcoming

January 23 National Pie Day

EVENTS

Serve up slices of apple, blueberry, or even pecan pie to celebrate!

january san antonio cocktail conference January 14-20, 2019 Louisville, KY

sanantoniococktailconference.com

Hotel, Motel & restaurant supply show

January 25 Opposite Day Concoct an interesting cocktail by mixing two ingredients that typically don’t go together.

January 29-31, 2019 Myrtle Beach, SC hmrsss.com

march international restaurant & foodservice show of new york January 29 National Corn Chip Day

29

Put bowls of this favorite salty treat on the bar and keep your guests thirsty!

March 3-5, 2019 New York, NY

internationalrestaurantny.com

new england food show March 3-5, 2019 Boston, MA

nefs.restaurant.org

nightclub & bar show March 25-26, 2019 Las Vegas, NV ncbshow.com

wswa convention & expo January 3 National Drinking Straw Day

March 31-April 3, 2019 Orlando, FL wswaconvention.org

Bars and restaurants across the country have ditched plastic straws in favor of paper, steel, or none at all. Has your bar made the change?

barbizmag.com

December 2018

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15

How To

How To: software

New marketing technology to keep your eye on.

5 Marketing Software Products 16

Bar Business Magazine

By Erik Shellenberger December 2018 barbizmag.com

How To: software

W

Photos: Left, Shutterstock/ Standret, Right, Shutterstock/ panuwat phimpha.

e all cringe when we hear the ol’, “there’s a guy out here who would like to talk to the manager or owner.” Our usual response is, “tell him I’m in a meeting.” We all get bombarded with people trying to sell their snake oil daily, so how do you sort out the gems from the time wasters? Don’t worry, I did it for you.

Here is a list of the best emerging products I’ve seen as a result of taking every meeting that is requested and sitting down with anyone and everyone who asks.

Granted, some of these are not new at all, but they should still be on your radar. Like most overnight success stories, there are often years or decades of starting out slow and struggling before a successful product actually breaks into the mainstream.

Whenever I introduce new marketing tools like this, I have to add the disclaimer that I am not being compensated by these companies for this mention. I just think these are cool products that I personally recommend.

The minute I get compensated for these mentions is the minute I lose credibility.

Here is my honest short list of marketing tools you should keep an eye on.

Surf: Display Your Bar or Restaurant in Uber and Lyft You can now tap into that guy showing up at the airport in an Uber or Lyft and get your brand in front of them before anyone else has the opportunity. Surf places tablets in high-performing Uber and Lyft cars for the entertainment of passengers and to promote local businesses and brands. They select topperforming Uber and Lyft drivers, give them a free tablet, free data, and pay them monthly up to $150 to carry the tablet in the car.

The Surf tablet contains passenger entertainment such as videos, games, and music. It is free for the passenger, and the passenger controls their ride experience. Local businesses and brands can also use Surf to promote their messages to a captive audience sitting in the car for an average of 17 minutes.

Currently, Surf operates in Phoenix, barbizmag.com

LA, and Austin, with over 500,000 monthly passengers using and seeing the tablets. Businesses and brands control how much they spend, where they spend it, and when, allowing the advertiser to also be in full control of the experience they provide to passengers. Stay tuned to ridewithsurf.com to see when they plan on expanding to your town.

Localfluence: Take Advantage of Instagram Influencers We’ve all wondered how to get more Instagram influencers through our doors in the hopes that they write an incredible story about their experience. The problem here is they are either impossible to reach or are way too expensive.

Localfluence (localfluence.com) reaches influencers on a much smaller scale. As much as I hate the name “Localfluence,” I love the concept. They find Instagram “influencers” in your area and send them discounted offers to your bar or restaurant. They do this in exchange for a great, organic-looking Instagram photo along with tagging your business and letting their friends know what a good time they had at your place.

When you hear “influencer,” don’t think of the celebrity with 10 million followers.

Think of them as locals in your area with a modest following of close friends and family. This makes total sense if you think about it. What is more important to your business—reaching a nation of people

who would never walk through your doors because they live three states away, or the friends and family of someone who lives a mile from you?

When you offer these people a deal, say a $15 spend credit, they enthusiastically show up to take advantage and very often end up spending way more than that. In essence, you’ll probably break even with the additional food they usually order.

They then take an organic-looking picture of your food, branding, and/or atmosphere, and share it with their Instagram followers.

You pay Localfluence about 10 bucks or so per person for this service, which is more than fair in my opinion. The bonus is they are asked (not required) to leave a glowing review on Google or Yelp for your establishment if they had an amazing experience. Those who had a less-than-stellar experience are asked to handle it internally so there is never a

Pro Tip Look for software systems that integrate a multitude of different features. It will be cheaper and make your day easier.

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risk of this ending up on a public forum.

Zenreach and Cogobuzz: Wi-Fi Marketing Platforms Wi-Fi marketing still remains very effective with minimal, if any, effort from the staff. There are several Wi-Fi marketing platforms available on the market, and each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. My personal two favorite ones are Zenreach (zenreach.com) and Cogobuzz (cogo.buzz).

These systems come with their own router, which plugs directly into your existing router and is a potentially very simple install. Depending on how your current Wi-Fi is configured, this could be a one-minute install or a total nightmare of endless calls with your IT guy. Be prepared.

When your customers log into the free Wi-Fi on their initial visit, the system will store their MAC address and is able to record every visit. Living in the “Big Brother” world of today, this system actually knows how many times each customer’s phone walks back into your business—regardless of if they log on to the Wi-Fi network every time or not.

Like any marketing tool, it’s only as good as the content pumped through it.

If you push crap content through a social media channel, it will fail. If you push meaningless junk through a Wi-Fi 18

Bar Business Magazine

marketing tool, it will also most definitely fail. Make sure your offer or message is of significant value to the customer. A “thanks for visiting us, be sure to follow us on Facebook,” is an absolutely worthless message. A message that says, “thank you for discovering us, enjoy a drink on the house on your next visit,” is a solid value.

Make sure your offer is of value to the customer.

Zenreach sends out what it calls “smart emails,” which are based on each user’s habits. These smart emails include ones targeted at a “first-time customer” as well as several others targeted at a “repeat customer,” “lost customer,” and the allimportant “birthday” customer. You now have the opportunity to send a single email to a single customer based on their frequency of visits. Here’s the genius part of this—single emails are way less likely

to get caught in a spam filter and actually make it through to the intended recipient. Zenreach is also able to send email blasts out to your entire database of customers without having to export/ import into an email blast service like MailChimp or Constant Contact.

Cogobuzz does all of this but adds a text message option. If email isn’t your thing, sending each customer a text message may be the ticket. They offer what’s called “Welcome” and “Welcome back” messages structured a lot like Zenreach. Here’s the part I like—if you have a sponsored drink of the week or a liquor distributor who wants to do a spend, now is your chance to get that special in front of your customers without having to rely on your staff to remember to mention it.

Your Welcome message when customers sign on to your free Wi-Fi could say something like, “thank you for joining our free Wi-Fi, enjoy any Cuervo marg for $4, this week only!”

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Now the liquor distributor has an incentive to pay for your Wi-Fi marketing service! Win-win.

UPshow: TV Screen Displays UPshow (upshow.tv) is the service that allows you to simply display your graphics on your in-house TV screens.

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photo: Shutterstock/ Monkey Business Images and UPshow.

How To: software

How To: software You can promote to a captive audience of your exact target demographic— they’d better be after all, they’re sitting in your place.

As with anything else, this is only as successful as your content. I highly suggest against the easy road of having your liquor distributor create these graphics. I get it, they’re free and easy, but free and easy almost never equals successful.

You can display and promote your happy hour specials, upcoming football game specials, future UFC fights, etc.

Just have these produced by a professional graphic designer. Spend a few bucks here, and it will be worth it in the end. A one-off flyer should cost you about $100 unless you already have a go-to guy.

These graphics can also be scheduled to appear on certain days, at certain times, and you can set them to expire after a specific event (like the UFC fight) is over. You have total control over your graphics with this system.

UPshow also lets your customers’ own

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social media photos appear on your TV screens, if you choose that option. When they use a specific hashtag and post to Instagram or Facebook, their photo will show up on your screens within a few minutes. It’s a pretty cool option, if you have that type of crowd.

Canvas Hospitality Systems: The Best of Both Worlds This is a relatively new product from some hospitality industry veterans.

Canvas (canvaswifi.com) essentially combines the features of Zenreach and UPshow! The best part—it’s considerably cheaper than buying independently. Now you can have one central dashboard that controls both your TV screen content and your Wi-Fi marketing. The less “things” you have to log into, the better in my opinion.

What’s cool about Canvas is that it is also used as a reputation management tool. After your customer’s initial visit and after signing into your free Wi-Fi, it will send out the first email with something

to the effect of, “this is the owner of (blank), we’d like to know how we did and how your visit was.” This heads off any potentially negative reviews before they end up on Yelp. It will continue to keep in touch with the customer and follow up, without being annoying.

Look for my full, in-depth review of this system in the future. In my opinion, systems like Canvas are the future of digital marketing. When everything works and is integrated, it makes your day a hell of a lot easier—and cheaper.

Erik Shellenberger has been in the restaurant and bar industry since he was 13 years old and worked for his mother in the food and beverage department at a ski resort.

Since then, he has held every position in the industry. With a decade of corporate marketing experience, he now runs Bar Marketing Basics (barmarketingbasics.com).

His book, Restaurant & Bar Marketing: The no bulls#it guide to improving guest counts, is now available on Amazon.

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How To

How To: technology

Data Security: Key to your business strategy How bar owners can keep guests’ information safe.

E

very day bar owners trust their employees with guests’ food and drink orders, but what they may not realize is that they are also trusting them with something much more valuable: guest data.

Historically, cybersecurity has often taken a backseat in the hospitality industry as these companies haven’t been trained to think about security in the same way as banks or

Pro Tip Put strict permissions in place to lock down your most sensitive guest data, limiting access to only those employees who are working with the information regularly.

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e-commerce platforms.

However, with recent hospitality industry data breaches and GDPR regulations, security has been brought to the forefront, forcing bars to look beyond a bouncer at their front door and to prioritize digital security.

Bars aren’t tech companies, but they are now expected to have the same level of expertise when it comes to data privacy. Every day guests’ personal information—from credit card numbers to addresses—are input into systems that are accessible by a number of employees who likely have not had data security training. Each time a guest frequents your bar, they are leaving behind a trail of valuable information, and the onus is on you, and your staff, to keep that information safe.

Train the First Line of Defense: Your Staff Whether it’s a scorned employee or an

innocent mistake, 60% of all cyberattacks are carried out by insiders, making employee training a crucial first step for bars looking to prioritize data security.

The simplest and often most effective guard against data breaches is ensuring that every employee is trained and comfortable with the data they are handling. Having a strong foundation ensures your team understands the responsibilities associated with access to this data, and it can prevent issues from arising long before a breach happens.

While it may seem obvious, start by covering the basics and sharing best practices of data security with your staff.

These include: • Establishing strong passwords (i.e., not using “mybar1” for data you are trying to keep protected).

• Using multi-factor authentication, which ensures employees have to present at least two pieces of evidence to verify their identity before being

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photo: Shutterstock/ Pasko Maksim.

By Kinesh Patel

How To: technology granted access to your systems.

• Not exporting data to insecure systems, including email or your cell phone.

• K eeping antivirus software, like Avast Security, up-to-date on your back office computers for real-time protection, threat-detection, and added network security.

Integrate these lessons into your employee training program early on, and emphasize that data security is just as important to their job as tending to the bar or serving guests.

In addition to covering the basics, train employees on how to detect malware or phishing emails. A business is only as strong as its weakest link, and one wrong click can give hackers access to the entire system.

What Happens in the Bar, Stays in the Bar One of the most common, and easily preventable, sources of data leaks come from employees exporting data found on back office servers. As a general rule of thumb, exporting data from the internal system should largely be prohibited. When information is exported from a secure system and shared either internally or externally, that data is no longer protected.

Whether it’s sharing data through insecure channels like email or an unsanctioned cloud software, or simply leaving private information up on a screen, customer data is constantly at risk of being stolen when it is removed from the system.

barbizmag.com

The good news is there are simple precautions you can take from a managerial perspective.

In addition to making sure every employee is trained on the data they handle, make sure they know which channels are considered secure versus those which they should never transmit information through.

Instead of using the same public Wi-Fi as your guests, set up a secure network for staff. Hackers can easily gain access to public internet traffic, giving them free reign on sensitive

Make sure your guests and their data are safe.

guest information.

There will always be someone out there looking to steal sensitive information about your guests, but step one in stopping data leaks is making sure the information you collect in the bar, stays in the bar.

Adding a Layer of Protection While training your staff is important, you, as an operator, need a high-level understanding of what data you are collecting, who has access to it, and how

it’s being used. Your establishment likely collects a multitude of different data.

This varies from personal data, including a guests’ name, contact information or birthday, to transaction data, which is collected via a POS, reservation system, or payment-enabled service, and includes credit card information, bank numbers, and more.

Start by prioritizing the data cyber criminals are most interested in— transaction data—and assess who is handling that information.

Put strict permissions in place to lock down your most sensitive guest data, limiting access to only those employees who are working with the information regularly.

Creating an access hierarchy that limits full permission to managementlevel employees and adds restrictions to entry-level employees will immediately lower risk and make training easier for everyone. When setting up access permissions, ensure you’re putting extra constraints on who can view versus export data, and enable multi-password authentications on all internal data.

It’s also crucial to revoke permissions for employees that have since left the company and make regular password changes a requirement. Detailed data security training isn’t necessary for every single employee, so find ways to limit that access as your business grows. By putting these safeguards in place, you will assist your staff in keeping guest data safe now and in the future.

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How To: technology Evolve Your Security Process With Your Business As technology evolves and employees come and go, it’s important to review security practices regularly to ensure your protocols keep up with the evolution of data security risks.

Keep the conversation of data security constantly flowing between employees, management, and your vendors to guarantee everyone is comfortable and on the same page.

Advanced technology and data collection have given bars incredible ways to connect with their guests and create customized, unique experiences. But with these positive advancements comes the important responsibility to protect this information, which can be a daunting task.

However, with properly trained staff and the right technologies behind you, you’ll be prepared to create an establishment where both your guests, and their data, are safe.

Kinesh Patel is the Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of SevenRooms (sevenrooms.com), where he leads the engineering teams in the development of software technology. Prior to founding SevenRooms, Patel was Team

Lead, Scientific Computing at ExxonMobil. He received his B.S. in Electrical/Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

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1849 Wine Special

N

owadays, a memorable experience is what draws guests into your establishment, and the stories swapped across your bar are often a key part of that unique experience.

1849 Wine Company offers bar owners and operators not only a compelling story to share, but also a unique and exciting experience in the world of wine.

1849 Wine’s story starts and ends in California, where our company is 24

Bar Business Magazine

based. We were founded four years ago, but you could say our story goes all the way back to the years of the Gold Rush—1849 to be exact—when people flocked to California looking to strike it rich.

Many people did find gold, but even more did not, and those people had to find alternative ways to earn a living.

Some saw opportunity in the land itself, which was mineral rich and perfect for growing grapes, and they are the reason why Napa Valley came to be defined as the wine country it is known

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photos: 1849 Wine Company.

1849 Wine Company Ushers in a New Age for Wine

1849 Wine Special

as today.

We use grapes and juice from Napa Valley as well as Monterey County and Sonoma County to make our five wine varietals: Iris, Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir; Au Jus, Monterey County Chardonnay; Triumph, Sonoma County Red Blend; Anonymous, Napa Valley Red Blend; and Declaration, Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Today, the gold rush continues as our wines have achieved nearly 50 awards in the last year alone—many of them gold and double gold medals. All five of our wine varietals have also achieved 90+ point ratings.

Before people even taste a sip of our wine, however, they’re drawn in by the luxuriousness of our wine bottles.

The stars of the bottles are our textured labels, which are inspired by the contemporary art movement of the 21st century. California-based contemporary art pioneer & artist, Saber, created the artwork featured on our labels. Using the wine tasting note descriptions for each varietal, Saber painted labels that perfectly reflect the wine inside of each individual bottle.

As we see it, artists and their work have the power to disrupt norms, transcend taboos, and change perspectives. Our goal is to do all three with every handcrafted bottle of our wine.

The label artwork offers refreshing pops of color in an endless sea of white and eggshell labels on store shelves. As a result, 1849 Wines creative branding appeals to wine drinkers across every demographic.

In fact, we find many of our barbizmag.com

on-premise accounts are putting the bottles where patrons can easily see them—right on the back bar—where they serve as a conversation starter between staff and patrons. Curiosity and interest is instantaneous. As a result, that conversation not only leads to wine sales, but also repeat customers.

Of course, that conversation can’t happen unless your staff is educated about the brand, where it started, and what it stands for.

1849 Wine offers brand education to its on-premise accounts. Brand ambassadors will come in, work with staff members, host a tasting, and educate your employees on the story of our company and wines. Staff members walk away with an increased level of confidence and the answers to any questions guests may ask—all of which helps to create that unique and enjoyable experience your guests are ultimately seeking.

Aside from staff education about our wines, 1849 Wines has come up with fun and interesting ways to increase wine sales. Daily or weekly specials are a great way to garner attention and highlight unique special offerings.

More and more people are drinking wine—build a wine tasting program, and they will come.

Techniques we’ve found to be successful with our on-premise

accounts include specials of the day on a featured wine or two. Be sure to rotate the selections weekly.

Half-price bottles of wine on certain nights of the week—like Wine Wednesdays or Thursday wine nights— have also proven to be popular. The events can be run once a month or even weekly depending on what your customers are in to, and they are also a great way to drive in traffic on typically slower nights.

Events that feature deals on glasses of wine should also be considered, which 1849 Wine lends itself to nicely since all of our wines can be poured immediately.

In addition, 1849 Wine also offers a number of programs for our on-premise accounts, including staff sales incentive programs and six-bottle combos on higher-end bottles (like Triumph and Declaration) so that you don’t have to bring in a large amount of inventory in order to carry our portfolio. These are just some of the ways we go the extra mile to deliver quality in everything we do.

We’re so confident in the quality of our wines that we’ll come in and do a head-to-head tasting against whatever like wine is your number-one seller in a particular varietal or price category.

We know you’ll like what you taste.

We offer artistic wine making, bottles and labels and a unique experience.

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SAVOR RESPONSIBLY @1849WINE 1849wine.com/we

Tuning Up

How To: chargers

HOW TO

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Monika Wisniewska

Do You Have the Power?

Charging options to be sure your guests’ phones are always powered up.

O

ne of the greatest annoyances of the bartending world is the customer who saunters up to the bar exclaiming that he or she has a phone that has 1% battery life left and wants to plug it in behind the bar. Instead of doing your job (you know, the one where you mix up barbizmag.com

By Christopher Osburn cocktails for money and tips), you are now a glorified gadget plugger. And now their oversized smart phone is going to be completely in the way as you prepare for the evening, or it’s blocking an outlet that a blender or other important bar tool should be plugged into.

It seems like the rise of Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat means that

everyone is walking around with a battery on the verge of dying. Luckily, the days of wasting your valuable time plugging in potentially non-paying customers’ phones is about to be behind you. That’s because there are a whole slew of products designed to alleviate these stresses while allowing customers to keep a full charge.

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How To: chargers

chargetab

2wire technologies

safecharge

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ChargeTab The dreaded question, “Can you charge my phone?” is hated by bartenders and servers everywhere. Not to mention, it poses a risk to customers’ phones.

“Phones are being forgotten, accidentally dropped, getting soaked in beer, it’s a terrible scenario,” says Mark Lieblein, President of ChargeTab. “Not to mention, I’ve heard many cases of customers actually suing the establishment due to broken devices— not surprising since many new phones cost many hundreds, if not over a thousand dollars.”

Bartenders are being taken away from pouring drinks and generating revenue for themselves and their establishments in order to constantly plug/unplug devices.

To solve this problem, many bars offer rechargeable power banks. “[But] they must invest in the hardware with a limited lifespan and always remember to have them constantly pre-charged,” says Lieblein.

Anyone with a dead phone wants to find a charge, and if they cannot find a solution where they are, they will leave.

“Not to mention, someone who has perhaps enjoyed themselves a bit too much is more likely to get behind the wheel if they cannot call an Uber/Lyft,” says Lieblein.

That’s where ChargeTab comes in.

ChargeTab is an ideal solution for restaurants and bars. “They are pre-charged, single-use, lightweight with a low suggested retail price of $5.99,” says Lieblein. “With an on/off switch and cable attached, a patented product, it is perfect for every establishment to offer their customers. We like to say, ‘Instant Power at Any Hour.’”

To use it: simply open the package, turn it on, plug in your phone, and charge. Each ChargeTab is individually packaged with a two-year shelf life.

In addition, ChargeTab’s solution enables patrons to unplug and be mobile while charging their phones— eliminating the need for a seat at the bar or a table.

“Whether the establishment sells them and creates a new source of revenue while providing a charging solution, freeing up their staff and

avoiding lawsuits, or simply gives them away to keep their patrons happy and staying longer, it doesn’t take many food/drink sales to warrant the cost,” says Lieblein.

SafeCharge Another charging option is SafeCharge.

“Our product is a secure cell phone charging station that allows guests to safely charge their phone in a locker while they continue to enjoy themselves on location,” says David M. Adams, Co-Founder of SafeCharge.

Like many great inventions, the idea for the product came together at a bar.

“Co-Founder Doug Charron had the idea on the back of a napkin after all our phones were close to dead or dying at a bar, and we just took it from there,” says Adams.

There are many benefits for bars investing in products like this.

“Alleviate staff from dealing with $1,000 phones and the liability and increase dwell time (average charge time of 45 minutes)—a customer will order at least two more drinks in this time frame,” says Adams.

Overall, it’s a better experience for the customer when they don’t have to worry about being disconnected by a dead cell phone.

SafeCharge is currently installed in over 100 locations in the Chicago area and continuing to expand. Adams believes his secure station will become the industry standard.

Part of the appeal of his product is that customers don’t have to worry about someone walking away with their expensive cell phone. “Our partners like to leave the pain of charging guest’s phones to us,” says Adams.

2Wire When it comes to the option of installing more outlets, bar owners really only have two choices.

The first is hiring a licensed electrician for a considerable sum of money to add 120-VAC outlets for charging, likely under the bar. Or, they can invest in a low-voltage solution like 2Wire Technologies that they can install themselves. What sounds easier and less time consuming to you?

December 2018 barbizmag.com

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“A low-voltage powered solution is no different to install than adding a data type cable for other technologies such as Wi-Fi,” says Lee Snedeker from 2Wire Technologies.

The bar owner is really making an investment in customer satisfaction by adding charging outlets to their bar.

“Customer retention, which leads to increased food/beverage sales, would be the number one benefit,” explains Snedeker.

Eliminating the liability of bartenders handling customer phones behind the bar is another benefit. “Bar owners don’t need a phone to get damaged or stolen and be on the hook for a replacement,” says Snedeker.

Snedeker feels that a growing number of existing bars are starting to see the benefits of adding a lowvoltage solution to their bars with great results.

“More noticeable is that upwards of 75% of new construction bars and restaurants are adding additional electrical outlets for customer charging,” he says.

At the front of house, besides customer satisfaction, retention, and

additional sales, a low-voltage solution can save a bar owner up to 50% on cost versus a traditional 120-VAC installation. “Low-voltage cabling, such as speaker wire, can be up to 65% cheaper than high-voltage commercial cable,” says Snedeker.

In addition, most low-voltage solutions can be installed by the bar owner saving a considerable amount of money on labor charges.

2Wire recently did an install for a new restaurant in Austin, Texas called Pieous. “The owner requested USB outlets throughout the kitchen, offices, and associated service areas,” explains Snedeker.

The outlets provide power for the restaurant’s tablet-based POS ordering system as well as employee phonecharging locations. “By providing dedicated USB outlets, this keeps the employees from unplugging restaurant equipment to plug in their charging cables,” says Snedeker.

Typically, a low-voltage solution such as 2Wire has some type of power supply mounted behind the bar.

“This power supply will plug into a single 120-VAC outlet,” explains Snedeker. “The power supply then pushes low-voltage power such as 12 or 2 VDC over a low-voltage cable(s), which will allow up to 18 dual USB outlets to be powered.”

2Wire’s systems can also include a battery backup option, which can allow the system to charge phones for many hours up to several days in the event of power failure due to inclement weather.

In addition to the previous benefits mentioned, there is also a green aspect to a low-voltage charging solution. “In new construction, there is an increase in 120-VAC outlets being installed simply for low-voltage mobile device charging,” says Snedeker. “A low-voltage solution contains up to 75% less copper and plastic than commercial 120-VAC rated cables.”

Additionally, in most areas of the country, low-voltage cabling is not required to be installed in metallic conduit, which is another large cost factor as well as an environmentally friendly benefit.

December 2018 barbizmag.com 12/11/18 3:45 PM

Photo: 2Wire Technologies.

How To: chargers

Bar Tools

Tools of the

TRADE

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December 2018 barbizmag.com

Bar Tools

Elevate your bar program with new equipment.

By Ashley Bray

A

Photos: (left to right): Shutterstock/ 5PH; PolyScience.

bartender’s toolkit includes the basics—a shaker, jigger, stirrers, strainers, and the perfect glassware. But what about those extras that make the job easier, lead to faster service, and allow for more innovation? We took a look at some of the tools and equipment bars can bring in-house to make the art of serving up cocktails a little easier.

Gin and Juice Consumers demand more fresh ingredients in their cocktails, and this has affected juices most of all. “There has been a huge uprise for fresh cocktails these last three years,” says Lynn Setlich, Global Sales & Marketing Manager, Sunkist.

“Everyone wants fresh from the garnishes to the fresh juice in their cocktails.”

As a result, many bars are now spending a lot of time juicing citrus and other fruits and vegetables. But what if the whole process was made a little easier? Investing in a juicer can be a serious time-saver for bartenders.

One option is Sunkist’s Pro Series Juicer, which features robust capabilities in a small footprint as it is able to extract up to 10 gallons of juice per hour using pre-cut fruit. “This juicer is great for bars because you can have it on all day, but it does not activate until you press the fruit onto the extraction bulb,” says Setlich.

Sunkist says bars most commonly juice citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits. The Pro Series Juicer offers the option of juicing a large batch ahead of a shift, but the juice shouldn’t be stored for longer than a day in the refrigerator. Bartenders can also opt to juice on demand as needed for each cocktail. “One of the things the bartenders are really liking about the new Pro Series Juicer is how easy it is to juice a piece of fruit really fast for the cocktail, but many of our customers juice ahead as well,” says Setlich.

Breville also offers a way for

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slicing, coring, or halving fruits and vegetables into uniform pieces. “We find that many of our customers do seasonal cocktails,” says Setlich. “With the sectionizer, the garnishes in and out of the drinks are commonly oranges, lemons, limes, strawberries, tomatoes, apples, pears, peppers, kiwi, and seasonally mangoes and melons.”

Aside from being a safer way to produce fruit garnishes, the uniformity also ensures the perfect cocktail presentation every time, which is important in our Instagram-obsessed culture. The Pro Series Sectionizer also creates garnishes that are ready to be put onto glasses. “One of the biggest advantages to the Pro Series sectionizer is the ability to flip your fruit over and have a natural spread to garnish the cocktail glass,” says Setlich. “This eliminates the need to take a knife and cut a slit into the fruit.”

bartenders to save on all that juicing labor with its Juice Fountain Cold XL machine, which can juice all kinds of fruits and vegetables so fresh juice is always available for cocktails. The machine has an extra-wide shoot for whole fruits and vegetables, a “quiet” mode, and it can juice up to 70 fluid ouces of juice into its jug, which keeps fresh for three days.

The Breville Citrus Press is another great option for bars that juice a lot of citrus fruits. The press extracts juice from the smallest lime to the largest grapefruit with the patented QuadraFin™ acid-resistant cone. The press’ Quadra-Fin juicing cone and fruit dome provide grip and pressure to maximize juice extraction. The machine can even be operated with one hand thanks to its active-arm press with a power-assisted lever—making the juicing process even easier. The Breville Citrus Press allows bartenders to juice on demand as required or to batch larger amounts ahead of time.

Fresh juice isn’t the only thing in demand behind the bar—perfectly fresh garnishes also play a big role.

Sunkist offers its Pro Series Sectionizer, which takes the knife out of bartenders’ hands and makes quick work of wedging,

Up in Smoke There’s a saying that presentation is everything, and if a bar is looking to up its theatrics—not to mention incorporate new flavors and aromas into its cocktails—they should consider investing in a smoker.

The Smoking Gun® Pro from

PolyScience’s The Smoking Gun® Pro can add smoky flavors and aromas to any kind of food or liquid.

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Bar Tools

Breville’s PolyScience division produces cold smoke, which allows it to add smoky flavors and aromas to any kind of food or liquid. The Smoking Gun Pro works with a variety of combustibles, including various wood chips, teas, herbs, spices, hay, and even dried flowers. “You can use dried citrus peels, chopped up vanilla beans, anything that will burn,” explains David Pietranczyk, Culinary Support Manager PolyScience Culinary, Breville. “It’s a very creative tool.”

In addition, the return on investment on the Smoking Gun Pro is fast. “The cost to add this to a drink that’s already on your menu is nominal,” says Pietranczyk. “You can also pad two, three, four extra dollars into the cost of that food item or beverage because of the theater that it provides and also the flavor and aroma it adds.”

Since the Smoking Gun Pro is a mobile, handheld device, it allows bartenders to smoke cocktails tableside, behind the bar, or wherever they see fit.

Pietranczyk says there are three main techniques for smoking cocktails.

To smoke shaken drinks, bartenders can blow smoke directly into the shaker.

“You fill the cocktail shaker with smoke, shake it up, pour it out, and you’re done,” says Pietranczyk. “The shaking, the aeration, really incorporates smoke quickly. What we’ve found is that the smoke flavor will actually bloom as the cocktail sits.”

For stirred cocktails, bartenders can make use of a decanter. Bartenders build the cocktail, pour it into a decanter, fill it with smoke, then present 34

Bar Business Magazine

Immersed in the Experience For those bars looking for a truly unique tool, consider a sous vide immersion circulator. Sous vide cooking refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a plastic pouch or glass jar and cooking it in a temperature-controlled water bath.

Breville’s PolyScience division offers a few different options, but each one equips bartenders with the power to infuse everything from spirits to syrups to even garnishes—all incredibly fast.

“Using sous vide—because you’re vacuum-sealing the alcohol—the food product, all of the alcohol content, all of the aromas and bottled flavors don’t evaporate off over time. So you get no loss of volatile alcohol content,” explains Pietranczyk, who says depending on what is being infused, the process can be as fast as 30 minutes or as long as 24 hours if you’re looking to achieve a result like a barrel-aged cocktail.

As a general rule when infusing spirits, infusing at a lower temperature will result in a brighter flavor, and infusing at a higher temperature results in a more intense, flavor-forward spirit.

Thinking Outside the Bar There are the everyday tools aimed at increasing efficiency and saving time

and money, and then there are the tools aimed at providing an unforgettable experience for both guests and bartenders. Many of these tools require a hefty up-front investment (think thousands), and they are used by some of the bars pushing the limits of cocktail culture, such as The Aviary in Chicago.

The Anti Griddle® from Breville’s PolyScience division, which allows for flash freezing, is one such tool. “The anti-griddle is a very cold freeze plate that freezes so fast that it happens unidirectionally,” says Pietranczyk.

The Anti Griddle can be used to create very unique garnishes in different shapes. It can also be used to create garnishes that can be frozen on just the bottom and liquid on top, or frozen on either side and liquid in the middle.

Other tools from Breville’s PolyScience division include the Sonicprep™ ultrasonic homogenizer, a soundproof box that emits ultrasonic sound waves to extract, infuse, homogenize, emulsify, suspend, de-gas, or even rapidly create barrel-aged flavor. The Rotary Vacuum Evaporation System allows bartenders to evaporate, distill, separate, and purify liquids to capture bright, nuanced flavors.

Whether a bar is looking to bring in a workhorse that will save time and money like a commercial-grade juicer, or something more distinctive to help set the bar’s program apart like a sous vide immersion circulator, owners shouldn’t be afraid to invest in new equipment. It may be just the thing that will help them to elevate the cocktails and the experience they provide.

Sunkist’s Pro Series Juicer can extract up to 10 gallons of juice per hour using pre-cut fruit.

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photos (top to bottom): PolyScience; Sunkist.

Smoking a cocktail glass can lead to an exciting presentation that wows your guests.

it in front of the customer in the decanter before pouring the cocktail into a glass. This technique lends itself especially to tableside presentations.

The third technique can be used for either shaken or stirred cocktails, and it involves smoking the glass. Bartenders fill a glass with smoke, invert it on top of a coaster, walk the glass to the customer, and then flip over the glass so that the smoke is released before pouring in the cocktail. “It looks cool, but the smoke has actually coated the interior of the glass,” says Pietranczyk. “When the alcohol hits it, it does strip a lot of that smoke from the glass, so it’s subtler than the other two methods, but it is effective.”

In addition to cocktails, the device can also be used to smoke syrups, spirits, and even food items like the small bites bars often serve. For example, Pietranczyk gave the example of a bar that transforms its deviled eggs by smoking the yolk mixture.

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Bathroom

Secret DIRTY little

A

s part of the foodservice industry, you know how critical cleanliness is to the health of your business. Unswept floors, soiled tables, and employees with poor hygiene can affect your bottom line. The same can be said for the cleanliness of your bathrooms. While cleaning your bathroom is a far-from-glamorous job, it’s critical to the success of every bar business.

Is Your Restroom Really Clean?

Jamie Poff, Owner of Enviro-Master of 36

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Connecticut, part of the franchised system of Enviro-Master International, says that it is important to differentiate between cleaning and sanitizing/ disinfecting. Enviro-Master is a North American commercial health and safety company specializing in preventing the spread of disease and controlling odors predominantly in public restroom spaces.

Not surprising, restrooms are breeding grounds for bacteria, viruses, molds, and mildew, all of which can cause not only unpleasant odors, but also can present health and safety concerns in every public restroom.

“While generally most owners and managers do a pretty good job of ‘cleaning’ their restrooms from what they can see, they are still infested with many potential hazards that can cause negative impacts on patrons and employees,” says Poff. Crosscontamination is a real problem that can lead to illnesses and potentially create problems for the overall brand.

As Poff explains, if people knew about the build-up hidden in toilets and urinals, they’d probably never visit those venues again. That’s why having a comprehensive disease prevention and odor control

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photo: Shutterstock/ George Rudy.

How to create an inviting, sanitary bathroom experience.

Bathroom

Photo: CCUP Holder.

Maura Keller

program that includes not only cleaning, but also sanitizing and disinfecting restroom surfaces, can help eliminate these concerns and keep customers and employees happy and healthy.

“Once you understand the importance of killing all of these germs and bacteria, the biggest headache for bar owners is that few, if any, have the proper tools to effectively do these things,” says Poff. “While all bar owners can set mouse traps, most prefer to hire professionals to eliminate these problems in their facilities.”

The same could be said for the restroom, where every time a toilet or urinal is flushed, it emits thousands of barbizmag.com

dirty water particles that literally cover a public restroom in bacteria and other contaminants. A program of systematic cleanliness, sanitizing, and disinfecting will not only help keep people happy and safe, it will also reduce the overall maintenance costs in a bar restroom as “cleaning” protocols can be altered to be shorter in between professional sanitizing visits—saving money.

“Also, by removing contaminant buildup and uric scale, the incidents of plumbing repairs of toilets and urinals should decrease the incidents of plumber visits resulting from poor water flow issues and odor problems that can come from not having the proper programs in place to eliminate these things before they become issues,” says Poff.

Another major area of concern is the bar restroom floor. As Poff explains, what happens when urine and feces are ground into the floor? Besides an unsightly restroom and customer complaints over odor, the tile or grout can be eaten away by the urine and feces, causing a large capital expenditure.

“In addition, whatever is on your restroom floor will be carried on the shoes of your employees and customers throughout the bar,” says Poff. “Nobody wants to think about a woman’s purse that walks to the restroom, ends up on the floor because there’s no hook to put it on, and ultimately ends up on the bar or table. It’s gross for sure, but it happens.”

Having a regularly scheduled floor scrub program in place can help alleviate many of these concerns.

Poff recommends either monthly or quarterly depending on foot traffic.

While cleaning tools and chemicals are constantly evolving, what can be a challenge is having the proper “manpower” available in keeping a bar restroom clean. Also key is correctly sanitizing and disinfecting the surfaces so no cross-contamination occurs within the bar and kitchen areas.

“Bar owners need to kill the restroom germs that could kill their business,” says Poff. “This requires a mix of powerful products with a s pecific delivery system for the long-term residual germ kill effect.”

For example, there are powerful EPAapproved, hospital-grade disinfectants that

can be delivered in a sprayer system to combat the spread of germs. As mentioned earlier, a flushed toilet emits thousands of dirty water particles each time it’s flushed.

“This can happen more times in one hour of a busy bar than it would in the typical home of a family of four for over a three- or four-month period, which is just mind blowing when you think about it,” says Poff. “For a short-term impact, there are over-the-counter retail products available that will suffice to kill germs for a very short period, such as Quat or Lysol.”

The other trend is the movement away from bleach for a bar’s cleaning needs. Here’s why: most owners expose themselves to potential liability issues by not providing proper training and/ or proper personal protective equipment needed to use with products such as bleach. There are many alternatives that offer the same level of cleanliness, sanitization, and disinfecting properties without the potentially harmful side effects to both employees and the environment.

With varying levels of patron traffic and use each week, how can bar owners ensure their bathrooms are truly clean and sanitary? First, be sure the company you hire is doing a thorough job. “If the bar owner decides to go with a contractor, insist the contractor demonstrate their process for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting the restrooms on a weekly basis,” says Poff, who explains that most processes will only last seven to nine days.

Poff also says delivering a disinfectant in a sprayer system is very effective, and

CCUP Holder provides a place for guests to store drinks, phones, purses, and jackets while using the restroom.

December 2018

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Bathroom

a strong air care system should be part of any program. Air care, different than a typical air freshener that simply masks agents, not only emits fragrance into the air, but also will eliminate the odor causing malodors through proprietary chemical processes.

“Your employees and customers care about using a restroom that is clean, safe, and smells good,” says Poff. “Let’s avoid the mistake of having an outbreak in your bar of germs and odors that can shut you down and drive customers away. Get started on a health and safety program. Professionals are available in most markets.”

Innovative Products While most bar bathrooms offer hooks on which patrons can hang purses, many bars don’t offer any sort of mechanism where bar patrons can place their drink. And with the increased awareness of patrons’ drinks being susceptible to date-rape drugs being added when drinks are left unattended, more patrons want to take their drinks with them to the restroom.

To meet this need, Cherie Henderson, Inventor and President of the CCUP Holder, is making an impact by providing patrons with a multi-use amenity that provides a place for guests to store their drinks, phones, purses, and jackets while utilizing the restroom facilities. The CCUP Holder keeps patrons’ belongings secure in a sanitary unit away from the floor, toilet paper 38

Bar Business Magazine

holder, and back of the toilet.

“We do offer units with an antimicrobial additive as well that can reduce bacterial odors, eliminate odors, and inhibit bacterial growth in the product,” says Henderson. “The CCUP Holder is [also] fitted with an advertising sleeve that can be used by the venue to promote events internally, or sold to vendors or other businesses creating residual income for the venue.”

The CCUP Holder is a polycarbonate plastic material that can be cleaned by simply wiping it with a sanitary cloth.

The bottom of the CCUP Holder is outfitted with holes under both the cup and phone holder sides allowing for automatic drainage of any liquid.

“The CCUP Holder is an easy install, requires simple maintenance, and secures belongings all while providing a marketing tool for residual income,” says Henderson.

How have bar owners and patrons responded to CCUP Holders in bar bathrooms? “We have had follow-up conversations with venues that have installed our units in their venues, and they love them,” says Henderson. “We have even seen posts from patrons on some of the clubs’ websites praising the CCUP Holder they used in the venues’ facilities.”

Bathroom Interactivity While cleanliness is vital to ensure a healthy bathroom environment, more and more bar and restaurant washrooms are going smarter, greener, and more

A regularly scheduled floor scrub program can keep floors clean, eliminate odors, and keep tile and grout in good condition.

December 2018 barbizmag.com

Photos (top to bottom): VODXS; Enviro-Master of Connecticut.

The VODXS platform creates a new, interactive experience in the restroom.

interactive. Enter Visual On Demand Experience (VODXS), which was started

by Scott Brown.

In the U.S., there are more than 80 million faucets distributed across nearly 10 million public bathrooms. People wash their hands, on average, six to 10 times per day, amounting to billions of hand-washing sessions annually. This creates an intriguing opportunity to monetize the practice.

The VODXS rich media faucets connect users and advertisers by providing a secure and verifiable advertising ecosystem via the VODXS platform. Advertising partners can interact with consumers via optimized and personalized characteristics of the user, ensuring a high-value interaction.

“VODXS has created an experience in the washroom that has never been witnessed before,” says Scott Brown, Chairman & CEO at VODXS. “When someone walks into a washroom area, they are entering an experience zone, with a VODXS medium that enhances any washroom area with a digital, audio, and scent experience like no other that is just right for the location.”

In addition, VODXS offers a RFID solution to keep track of employee handwashing habits to assure that employees are washing their hands regularly to prevent people from getting sick.

“Time will tell as to what the future holds for innovative media in the bathroom,” says Brown. “But the interaction in a washroom will be much more of an experience in the future.”

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Bar Tour

Bar Tour

16-Bit Bar+Arcade

By Ashley Bray

Rise Brands 16-Bit Bar+Arcade Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dublin, OH — Nashville, TN — Charlotte, NC — Indianapolis, IN

Pins Mechanical Company Cincinnati ,Columbus, and Dublin, OH

Serving up cocktails with a side of competition.

40

Bar Business Magazine

restaurant or bar owner, it’s really about creating brand awareness,” explains Allen, who says his employees serve as brand ambassadors for his bars as well. “It’s not just building a brand but getting your employees to start to live the brand to a point where they fully get and understand what it means to them financially.”

16-Bit Bar+Arcade The first concept RISE Brands launched was 16-Bit Bar+Arcade, which opened in Columbus, Ohio five years ago. 16-Bit is now also in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dublin, Ohio and new locations are currently under construction in Nashville, Charlotte, and Indianapolis.

The bar’s name is coined from the computer architecture that several of the 40-plus vintage arcade games in each location were built on. 16-Bit appeals to patrons looking to relive the nostalgia and playful vibe of their childhood through familiar video games, movies, music, and even cocktails.

“From the music we play to the movies that are on our TVs to the overall aesthetic and graphics, we wanted the bar to have

December 2018 barbizmag.com

All Photos: RISE Brands.

T

he gaming industry is currently booming, but Troy Allen saw the writing on the wall five years ago and launched RISE Brands along with two bar concepts centered around games. “Obviously, the market has blown up. At the time, we wanted to be first to market in central Ohio and then expand out in Ohio and to surrounding states pretty quickly,” he says. “I started to really look at the numbers on it, create the model, and build the brand, and I realized it was a very viable business.”

Allen never set out to become a bar owner, and he comes to this business with a unique perspective after spending years in sales and marketing as the owner of a brand strategy firm.

“We had a different approach than I think a lot of bars and restaurants or people who come through from the hospitality industry,” he says.

That approach focuses in on brand awareness and advocacy. “In this day and age, people want to be the ones who discover something new, share it with their friends, and lead others to it. For any

Bar Tour many visual cues that take people back to when they were a child,” says Allen, who explains the bar also has no traces of any other brands. “We really want to control the experience and let people truly enjoy those childhood memories without all this other clutter.”

All of 16-Bit’s video games are free to play, and Allen chose this strategy for a number of reasons. “We’re providing an alternate form of entertainment. With 16-Bit, our average guest stays two to three hours. We do not serve food, so we’re occupying their time through free video games, which gets them to stay longer, gets them to drink more, which is where the margins are,” he explains.

A free play model also makes the upkeep of the games easier. “These games are anywhere from 20-40 years old, and one of the first things to always break on them is the coin mechanism,” says Allen. “It just took one of the variables out of it to keep our machines up and running and maintained a little better.”

That hasn’t stopped people from putting quarters in the machines to fully relive the experience of playing the arcade games, and when staff cleans out the machines, they find a good amount of money. “So we’ve started what we call Quarters for a Cause, and every month, any money that’s put into the machines will be donated back to a local organization within the community.”

Allen himself has to play a game resembling Tetris when he first sets up a 16-Bit location to find space for the bar

and the games as well as tables and places to gather. He sets up the bar in a central location and then builds out from there.

“We wanted to be a big, welcoming environment, so our bar is always front and center,” he says. “Typically, we create clusters of games that surround that bar.

We also have large community tables to allow people to hang out.”

There are also small drink stands and purse and coat hooks next to the games for the convenience of guests.

That attention to detail translates into the cocktail menu, which plays on popular figures from the past with new drink creations and riffs on old favorites. The menu is broken up into New Wave Cocktails (10 cocktails named after women) and Old School Cocktails (10 drinks named after male figures). Each menu features year-round staples, and every season 16-Bit will roll out three to four new cocktails. They will sometimes also create a new cocktail based on current events. When Prince passed away, the bar created a purple cocktail named after him.

New Wave Cocktails include options like the Cyndi Lauper, a mix of grape vodka, sour mix, Sprite, and grenadine for a colorful drink that delivers a big pop of flavor—reflective of Cyndi herself.

On the Old School menu, 16-Bit offers its take on an Old Fashioned with the Burt Reynolds, which features Bulleit Bourbon, sugar, orange, cherry, and Angostura Bitters. The menu also features one of 16-Bit’s most popular drinks, the Hulk Hogan, a mix of lemonade, blueberry

vodka, and cherry vodka with a red, white, and blue bomb pop in the drink. “It gives them something to eat and drink,” says Allen. “We want to create those drinks that once one goes out from behind the bar, people see it and then they want it.”

16-Bit also offers a variety of craft beers on tap and in cans.

16-Bit doesn’t serve food, but it allows patrons to bring in outside food, which has been a boon to local restaurants. It will also bring in food trucks. “On average, for the majority of other businesses around us, their sales typically increase about 40%.”

Pins Mechanical Company Pins Mechanical Company features a variety of small-ball games including foosball, pinball, ping pong, patio pong, and duckpin bowling. The bar concept has three locations across Ohio in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dublin.

New locations are under construction in Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Nashville.

RISE has been strategic in the locations it chooses for both its Pins and 16-Bit venues. “We always said we want to be either a part of the revitalization of a neighborhood or part of an up-andcoming neighborhood,” says Allen. “We really think that we’re a destination, and it’s worked for us to the point that now with Pins, the developers and other people coming after us know that we can come in, be an anchor, and drive volume.”

RISE has also taken what its learned over the last few years and built larger venues— especially for Pins. “With 16-Bit, one of

RISE Brands locates its bars in up-and-coming neighborhoods.

Each 16-Bit includes 40-plus vintage arcade games.

barbizmag.com

December 2018

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Bar Tour

Each Pins features 30-40 pinball machines.

the things that we never took into account was the amount of corporate events that we would start doing,” says Allen. “As we kept opening more locations, our locations got more refined and bigger. We designed them to handle more high volume.

“We developed Pins to be a much larger venue to cater to the bigger groups, do larger corporate events, but still give people those private, intimate areas in a very large venue.”

16-Bit locations are anywhere from 3,000 square feet to the largest at 8,000 square feet. In comparison, the smallest Pins is about 18,000 square feet and the largest is about 38,000 square feet.

Pins’ aesthetic is an industrial, modern vibe, and the first location was actually built in an old mechanic’s tire center. Staff members wear shop mechanic’s shirts with their names on them, and the mechanisms that make the games run, such as the pinsetters, are in plain view. “You’ll have the concrete, subway tile, reclaimed wood, but then we’ll have giant, comfortable leather Chesterfield couches and these more intimate areas where people can sink in and hang out for a very extended period of time,” says Allen.

The games at Pins are pay to play with duckpin bowling costing $5 and the 30-40 42

Bar Business Magazine

pinball machines at each location going for 50 cents a game. “Pinball machines are a lot more expensive, and they’re a lot harder to maintain,” says Allen. “And frankly, if people start a game, we want them to finish the game. An arcade game will reset after some time if someone walks away from it.

But with pinball, it’s not as easy to do that.”

The cocktail menu at Pins focuses on signature craft cocktails with fresh, housemade ingredients. Since Pins caters to large

groups, a variety of punches that rotate seasonally are also available. Each Pins location has 36 local craft beers on tap.

Pins hosts food trucks on its outdoor patios. “It becomes part of this indoor/ outdoor experience that we really wanted to create with Pins,” says Allen.

For more information on RISE Brands and its upcoming projects, visit barbizmag.com. risebrands.com

Troy Allen

Owner of RISE Brands

T

roy Allen is a marketing veteran in brand strategy who saw the need for an innovative new bar concept in Columbus. He launched RISE Brands in 2013, which develops immersive consumer engagements and brings them to life through unique brand experiences, such as 16-Bit Bar+Arcade and Pins Mechanical Company. Over the last five years, Allen has continued to grow RISE at a successful rate. “As we continue to grow, we’ve built the infrastructure to support our growth, obviously, but our whole goal is to develop these brands, prove the brands, show the revenue, show the scalability, and then pass the brands off to a larger hospitality company that wants to take a Pins from 10 locations to 40 locations,” says Allen.

December 2018 barbizmag.com

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Inventory

The Spiced Winter Warmer of the Season

This Book is a Game-changer

Anchor Brewing Company Christmas Ale

Restaurant & Bar Marketing: The No Bulls#it Guide to Improving Guest Counts

Anchor Brewing Company announces the release of its 2018 Christmas Ale, a subtly spiced and sumptuously smooth winter warmer. The 44th annual release of this Anchor holiday tradition has varying specialty malts, lending rich flavors of bruléed sugars, holiday spices, and freshly baked banana bread with a velvety finish. The aromatics are quintessential for the holiday season: nutty candied yams and resinous pine. The packaging for the a 6.9% ABV beer was created by long-time Anchor Illustrator Jim Stitt, who has been creating Anchor’s Christmas Ale labels since 1975. For the 2018 release, Stitt created a brimming Korean Pine Tree for the label. Native to both North and South Korea, the Korean Pine Tree is a symbol of peace and a reminder of the spirit of the season. It flourishes in the picturesque botanical gardens just north of San Francisco, Anchor’s home base.

Erik Shellenberger offers a real, raw, and relevant look at the reality of marketing your bar or restaurant in today’s noisy online world. Learn why social media marketing has lost its effectiveness over the years and how content marketing can give you a simple, much-needed edge.

Master the Fishbowl vs. the Ocean concept and start increasing guest counts where the new customers are— Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp, not social media. Don’t listen to the “one size fits all” social media people who put their own best interests ahead of your restaurant’s success. Learn from Erik’s decade of corporate restaurant and bar marketing experience and his knowledge gained by simply asking the public how they decide where to eat and drink instead of guessing. Living a lifetime in the trenches from dishwasher to corporate marketing director and everything in between, Erik has learned a few things about human nature and why we have to adapt and pivot instead of refusing to evolve. This is how to improve guest counts and run a successful bar or restaurant. The book is available on Kindle and in paperback.

anchorbrewing.com

amazon.com/dp/B07JZ6PVBX

CUSTOM SHOT-SKIS Bestshotoftheday.com We have been serving the ski and bar industry since 1985! Our latest shot-ski design is ideal for any bar. Choose from one of our stock designs or add your bar/logo to the Shot-Ski. It measures 67 inches long-by-3.5 inches wide. Our solo cup shots fit perfectly in each hole for a snug fit and easy replacement. Each Shot-Ski includes an antique bottle opener and 12 solo cup shots! Order today! 877-241-6134 Call for wholesale pricing. bestshotoftheday.com

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December 2018 barbizmag.com

Inventory

Guinness Launches First Barrel-Aged Beer

Guinness Stout Aged in Bulleit Bourbon Barrels Guinness’ latest experimental beer to come out of its new American home features its Dublin-brewed Antwerpen Stout aged for eight months in Bulleit Bourbon barrels at the Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House in Baltimore. For the better part of 200 years, all Guinness was stored and shipped in barrels. The new brewery intends to recapture the tradition of Guinness brewers maturing beer in wood barrels through its ongoing release of barrel-aged beers. Guinness chose to partner with fellow Diageo brand Bulleit on the first Guinness barrel-aged beer out of Baltimore. The toffee and caramel notes from the barrels were sought out to help balance the bittersweet profile of the Antwerpen Stout. With powerful and full-bodied notes of bittersweet chocolate and aged fruits, the 10% ABV stout spent eight months aging in Bulleit Bourbon barrels, adding a layer of oaky richness and complexity to the beer.

Knob Creek®’s Most Unique Rye Expression Yet Knob Creek® Twice Barreled Rye

Knob Creek® launches Knob Creek® Twice Barreled Rye. A first for the brand, the new rye presents the brand’s signature straight rye whiskey, secondarily finished in new, charred American oak barrels to deliver a harmoniously smooth and robust rye. Patiently aged to taste and bottled at 100 proof, Knob Creek Twice Barreled Rye presents the rich and savory notes signature of the brand’s classic rye whiskey, amplified by robust oak and warm spice notes with a touch of sweetness from the secondary barreling process. It features an oaky aroma with subtle notes of brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and rye spice. knobcreek.com

Featured

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guinness.com

Egan’s Shows “Fortitude” with Fourth Premium Irish Whiskey Release Egan’s Fortitude

Egan’s Irish Whiskey pays tribute to Co-Founder Henry J. Egan with the introduction of Fortitude, a rare single malt Irish whiskey matured exclusively in Pedro Ximénez casks. The only Irish whiskey to be aged in this way, Fortitude demonstrates the ambition of the Egan family to challenge the status quo. “[Henry’s] stalwart character and fierce resolve made him a passionate Irishman and formidable businessman, leading the Egan name to become one of the most recognized whiskey brands in Ireland,” said Jonathan Egan, part of the sixth generation of the Egan family. Fortitude exhibits sherry, honey, and raisin notes with a hint of marzipan on the nose. The mouth is full of complexity, brimming with bold influences of chocolate and mixed, dried fruits. The single malt exhibits a satisfyingly long finish, with complex flavors that linger gracefully on the palate. eganswhiskey.com

barbizmag.com

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Ad Index

Company

Contact

Inventory COMPANIES

26 1849 wine company

1849wine.com

anchor brewing company anchorbrewing.com

19 2wire technologies

2wiretech.com

best shot of the day bestshotoftheday.com

19 BARRITT’S GINGER BEER

bermudasgingerbeer.com

13 floh vodka

flohvodka.com

EGAn’s irish whiskey eganswhiskey.com

30 Frescolive

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C3 Harbortouch/shift4

harbortouch.com/taffer

C2 knob creek 9 NIGHTCLUB & BAR 35 northwest food 3 paradise pos

knobcreek.com ncbshow.com nwfoodshow.com paradisepos.com

43 perlick corporation

perlick.com

C4 RUMCHATA

rumchata.com

31 sunkist foodservice

sunkistequipment.com

39 tiki tonga sangria

TikiSangria.com

22 ultimate bars

ultimatebars.com

29 urban expo

internationalrestaurantny.com

5 vinexpo new york

barbizmag.com

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December 2018 Bar Business Magazine

47

Q&A

with Peter Iglesias

Chief Operating Officer of Royal Dutch Distillers

P

eter Iglesias has been in the wine and spirits industry for 17 years working for major companies like Disaronno International and Illva Saronno, Angostura Spirits, and Flor de Cana Rum. In 2016, Iglesias joined Royal Dutch Distillers (RDD) where he leads a team of dynamic, highperforming individuals and inspires them to execute at the highest level. RDD’s portfolio of premium, high-quality brands includes, Cherry Heering; Tromba Tequila; Bébo 100% Cuban coffee liqueur; Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto liqueur; Rutte vodka, genevers, and gins; and more.

The wine and spirits industry has given Iglesias the opportunity to fulfill his passion for building winning brands, teams, and organizations. “I knew if you want to leave your mark in this industry you’re going to have to take some risks, a leap of faith, and believe in something,” he says.

“This is my passion.”

48

Bar Business Magazine

1

What sets Royal Dutch Distillers (RDD) apart?

RDD is a 100% subsidiary to DeKuyper Royal Distillers. DeKuyper is a global, family-owned company, and they wanted to make their mark here in the US with their premium spirits portfolio.

I think it’s the spirits and the people that we have within this organization that set us apart. We’re very meticulous in how we go to market.

We’re hyper focused in markets like Miami, New York City, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Austin. I have a team of about 14 people across the country, and I’m fortunate that I got to build this team. When you’ve been doing something as long as I have, I’ve come across some pretty phenomenal people in this industry, and I sold them the vision that I had and the opportunity to do something special here. This company is only as good as the people around me because they’re really the ones doing the hard work out there. It’s been a beautiful thing to watch this bloom as we go, and it’s probably been the best culture that I’ve been around in this industry.

2

What’s led to the growth of genever?

Over the past five years or so, gin, and also genever more recently, have become the ultimate craft spirits for bartenders to play with. I say that because gins and genevers are distilled from a variety of botanicals— the flavor profiles are endless, and bartenders really have an appreciation for that. What’s interesting about genever is it’s like if gin and whiskey had a baby, it would be called genever. I can’t wait for the average consumer to recognize and understand that. Part of our job is to get that out to the consumer and the bartenders. We need people to start asking about it and tasting it. Let’s really build this category into something special.

3

Tell readers about your liqueurs.

A lot of low-ABV cocktails are trending. Italian liqueurs and amaros seem to be at the forefront here, and we have a beautiful product called Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto liqueur. It’s bergamot, which is a

cross between a lemon and an orange. Mixologists are embracing it and making spritzes, they’re doing white Negronis with it, they’re even mixing it with beer cocktails. We also just launched Bébo, which is a Cuban coffee liqueur. The response to it has been phenomenal. What’s unique about Bebo is it’s extremely coffee forward. Some of the core coffee liqueurs are very sweet and syrupy and then you get a hint of coffee.

This is the opposite—when you drink it, it’s like drinking espresso.

4

How does RDD choose brands to develop/add to its portfolio?

Whether it’s a new brand that we create or a partnership brand, we really look at something that fits the portfolio. The global vision for DeKuyper is “own the cocktail,” and that’s really what we’re trying to do.

We’ve got some amazing brands here and some really unique taste profiles. More than anything, we want to provide the consumers and bartenders with fantastic products to make fantastic cocktails with. We’re looking for unique brands, something that’s different, of high quality, and something that’s going to resonate with the consumers and bartenders.

5

Anything new coming from RDD?

We have a number of other things in the pipelines in Holland.

We’re looking to add two other genever SKUs to our portfolio in the near future. One’s a younger genever, and one’s an older aged genever.

6

Any advice for bar owners?

If there’s any overall advice I can give it’s that I think bartenders need to have strong conviction and passion for the drinks they’re making, mixing, and serving. That’s what we’re all about too. When we go in and we meet bar owners and bartenders, you can tell who really is passionate about their craft. If I was a bar owner, that’s exactly what I would look for in a bartender, mixologist, or any employee— somebody who has passion and wants to create really unique and special great-tasting cocktails.

December 2018 barbizmag.com

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