Summer has arrived – An opportunity to increase sales

Stocktake UK's How To guide

Summer Cocktails

Well, it looks like the weather may finally be turning a corner and after the excitement of Euro24, we can look forward to some summer sun. What better way to enjoy this, than by sipping a refreshing cocktail!

As ever we at Stocktake UK recommend discussing your cocktail offering with an expert stocktaking consultant. There are many things to consider when planning a menu, and experience tells us that an excited bars manager, fresh from their mixology course may not make the most profitable decisions – even if their cocktails are to die for!

So, if cocktails appeal, and you want to make some decent money out of serving them, what would we recommend you think about?

1. Selecting Ingredients – Your Stocktaker can help you identify spirits and liqueurs that you don't sell frequently, and this is a great opportunity to move some of that stock that has been sitting on the Bar shelf for a while! Our first port of call would be to try and move these through your cocktail offering.

After this it's about choosing a limited range of ingredients, so that's both your core spirits and the extras that provide the flavour profiles you'll want to offer.   For core spirits are you going to choose premium brands or budget alternatives? And with your additions, it's about creating variety, yet minimising the range of extra products you need to purchase and we have to be honest here – once the sun's gone, minimise the risk of having shelves bulging with ½ full tropical bitters etc, that you're not going to need for another 12 months.

You may consider ordering (expensive?) premixes, and although the convenience might appeal, will they stop excessive waste…. and are they going to give you the quality of product you're aiming for?

2. Cost of Ingredients – Consider the price of the core spirits you're putting into your cocktails. What do you or your customers gain by pouring an expensive gin into a Bramble or Collins cocktail? This is where the Stocktakers expertise comes into play, they can advise on costs, margins and popular selling products, back by a wealth of experience from the hospitality sector.

Consider the range of garnish you serve, very often this will be expensive fresh fruit and herbs and not always factored into your final cocktail cost, fruit wastage is an important factor too.

3. Ordering – do not over order. If you run out of an ingredient you can usually substitute or upsell something else, what you will really struggle to do is move on lots of unseasonal products once the sun has gone in and the nights are drawing in. Don't be tempted by special bulk buying offers from suppliers, the savings can easily be outweighed by leaving you with dead stock.
4. Know who you are selling to – Understanding your target audience is key. You can have all the wonderful recipes and offerings you like, but if your clients prefer a chilled glass of Rose Wine, a Spritz or a pint of lager, you could be wasting your time. Have you considered Mocktails? How many non-alcoholic alternatives are you going to offer? And can you make sure there is significant cross-over of ordering with your alcoholic cocktails.
5. Special Events and Promotions – If you're running special events consider your offering so that they fit with your theme, and be careful when pricing promotions, it's very easy to start losing profit by running a promotion at the wrong time or at the wrong price. A regular stock report will monitor the success of special promotions at an early stage, before losing profit margins!
6. Wastage – Really it cannot be stressed enough, how controlling waste, is your path to making your cocktails profitable. Control your ingredients list, control your ordering, control the way you sell your drinks, and if you do all this, you will control your profit.
7. Start simple and only expand on your offering when success can be quantified, if it doesn't work with a limited range of cocktails, it's not likely to improve with more choice.
8. A great start would be to introduce a recognised cocktail range such as a Mojito, without stretching the budget too much our super summer cocktail recipe below is a sure fire winner on which to build an interesting addition to your bar business.

You'll need:

Lime Juice…around ¾ Fluid Ounce, probably 1 large or 2 small Limes

Fine Castor Sugar – a Tablespoon is about right to offset the sharpness of the Limes.

A few tablespoons of Mint leaves as fresh as possible (keep in a fridge to preserve their freshness) as well as some spare leaves for final garnish.

The main ingredient for all Mojitos is of course a Cuban Rum, use a 50ml measure for a standard cocktail, but the choice of Rum will be yours, based on available stock and cost price.

Lots of well crushed ice

Recipe for success:

Add Sugar to the Lime juice in your cocktail glass, add the whole mint leaves to the mixture and let them settle at will.

Top up the glass with crushed ice and stir, trying to keep the mint leaves whole if possible.

Pour over your choice of Rum, here is where you can set your selling price to reflect the Rum you're using, eg a standard or premium Rum Mojito.

Adding a sprig of Mint to the glass, finishes off the cocktail… A simple yet refreshing and easy-to-make cocktail,  ideal for your staff members that may not have created cocktails previously.