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With the increasing mountains of rubbish found at our landfills, individuals, businesses and regulators are turning more attention to reducing, reusing and recycling. The towers of waste for which the hospitality industry is responsible are set to topple, but we have foundations designed to resolve some of the waste problems we are creating.... which may also help your profit margin too!

Last week we crunched the numbers and looked at your cocktail menu, staffing, service efficiency and potential wastage, all in a bid to answer that tricky question... How long should a guest wait for their drink? In Part Two, we come out from behind the bar and consider bar set-up, demographics and competition.

Like many people getting back down to business this January, you're probably looking at the how, what, why, when of the year.

But there's one simple question, that may help you answer a lot of those other questions....

How long should a guest wait for their drink?

There are many things that influence how much a customer will enjoy a cocktail, before it even reaches their lips. The process, and sequence of small events that occur before the cocktail is presented to them is so important. So what factors make up a winning point of pour paradigm? Here's what we think...

A cocktail requires consistency through carefully measured ingredients and should be delivered, to the customer, with no variation in volume, taste, or appearance. All without wastage!

'Easier said than done,' we hear you cry!

Ah the bar manager’s dream! Sticky surfaces, broken speed-pourers in the ice buckets and unaccounted for stock. But before you go blaming your bar staff, you might want to investigate the other reasons for that missing drink.

If you want to be part of 2018’s biggest trend then you need to turn eco-warrior.
One in three consumers now prefer eco-friendly options. And the hospitality industry is no stranger to this demand, with many bars becoming more eco-friendly. Here are our top sustainability tips for bars.

Recently I went to a diner and ordered a hamburger for lunch. The traditional square napkin holder was on the table, dispensing single square folded napkins.

By the end of the meal l'd unintentionally used 4 napkins, and felt a little embarrassed.

Did I just make far too much mess?

After the initial guilt trip, some semblance of logic kicked in: on one hand I thought, who cares how many napkins I've used, they’re cheap! On the other I thought isn’t there a financial cost and environmental impact of what I had just done?

The average person isn’t going to be consumed by these thoughts, however on further reflection - who's really to blame? The customer or the manager?

Understand l ordered a messy burger, and was going to make a mess, however the provided napkins were very small when opened, brittle and not well absorbing.

Would l have used as much as l did if the napkins happened to be thicker and higher quality?

Bingo...the answer in one: management presumably wanted to save money buying napkins. Napkins are consumable, rarely thought of, yet still part of a customer experience.

Buyers mandate are built around saving money/reducing costs and do not usually consider end results and consequences.

By opting for the cheapest napkin, the diners still need to get the job done, but at what extra cost in terms of purchase quantity, extra labor and disposal costs?

On face value who'd argue with the righteousness of saving a buck? Yet in practical terms using 2, 3 or 4 times the necessary amount of paper will probably end up costing far more than having purchased a higher grade quality of napkin to start with!

 

The point: failure to properly invest ends up costing more when the cheapest option tends not to be the best, requiring more time, effort and usage to get the job done.
 
So isn't this a case of too little costing far too much?

What do you think!?

Each incoming new year overloads us with information on the latest cocktail trends - what's fading, popular and what will be popular.

Whenever these reports surface, there’s lots of chatter and interest amongst bartenders and bar owners hoping to gobble up and then commercialise the latest trends:

However, the resulting consequence is less exciting than one hoped to imagine - with bars around the world following the exact same trend and offering similar concoctions with little to no differentiation.

Here’s some things to consider the next time you’re reading (and hoping to implement) about the latest cocktail trend.

Trends are the talk of the town. Whilst it’s great to know what’s happening away from your bar, do you really want to follow a trend that too many others close by will soon follow?
Some trends are irrelevant. Trends tend not to account for nuances such as culture, demographics and geographic differences and can prove to be irrelevant to your customers.

Trends should be symbolic only. Trends should be seen more as an indicator, rather than something that’s definitive, to represent the theme and taste relevant of your bar and its guests.

Who is reporting the trend? Can the information reported be trusted? Is the trend promoted by a liquor company or its reps with a vested interest?

When it comes down to reality, the bar world is competitive with everyone looking to gain an edge...and following a cocktail trend seems like a good idea!

Therefore, while a bar can start crunching profits early on by adopting a trend, the question of a trend's longevity must be taken into consideration. Is investing in the trend worthwhile? Will it provide sustainability for the business? Rather than answering these questions, we can focus our energy on creating a craft bar experience - who are better served being beacons of creativity while offering inspiration, art and experiences rather than slavishly following cocktail trends of dubious or possibly irrelevant provenance.

Imagine that really bad hire, the one refusing to pick up their game, is consistently late, sloppy, unhygienic and worst of all doesn’t care about waste or your business!

For most managers the decision is an easy one…fire the “ass” out of that guy!

Ok, we mostly agree that that’s the solution for a human being, so should it be different with bar tools guilty of the same transgressions as a really bad hire?

Many believe so, as anything that can potentially reduce quality, efficiency, consistency, speed, accuracy and profitability cannot be good for business!

One industry stalwart routinely re-buying generic speed pourers says: “I wouldn’t keep a bartender that fails regularly…so why wouldn’t l get rid of speed pourers for doing the same thing!”

A trade tool that occasionally fails, is bad luck, however when bad luck happens weekly and monthly then its time for management to step in!

Any failure to perform is bad for business potentially impacting, morale, quality and ultimately the guest experience.

If you’re continuously replacing your speed pourers maybe it’s time to fire the ASS out of them! 

 

A competitive marketplace gives rise to the feeling one needs to discount to generate to maintain or increase sales. If you’re a TJ Maxx, Aldi, Walmart, Kmart, McDonald’s, Starbucks - that’s possibly fair enough. But when you’re a destination retail or hospitality business, then there's smarter ways to go before going down discount alley. It's surprising how many speciality businesses are programed to automatically slice a price rather than consider more persuasive sales techniques to leverage from.  Business 101 teaches when price is by default a sales and marketing strategy then thats not no strategy at all; acting potentially as a detriment to a brand, its profitability and long term viability. Before reaching for the razer, maybe ask the question, why do l need to discount, what’s the end game and why can’t we think of something better? As we all know brands and businesses are built over time.  Customer loyalty, street cred and trust are earned not bought. Value can be expressed in many non-monetary ways, some proven tools from this tool box are: value adding; examples are upgrades, bundling of products, offering a complimentary side dish on the next visit/purchase, an extended warranty, a free drink, an invite to a special experience. The list of options is limitless, the main point, it’s better to value add or leverage something that costs little, yet in the hands of the receiver, the customer or guest, the delivered value to them is far greater and therefore of higher perceived value.  When next tempted to knock something off the bill or price, just try adding something of value particularly if the offer  generates a repeat visit or next opportunity.

Alex Kretena recently was attributed to this quote:

 
“Bartenders are fed up with the rapid purchase cycle: buy, use, discard, repeat, the new generation wants products with sustainability and purpose."
 
We call this the Product Paradox.
 
Since modern means of manufacturing evolved, deliberate obsolescence/product failure was inbuilt into all design to encourage on-going product consumption..meaning breakage, wastage, fatigue.
 
The result of hidden product design failure: customers having to buy more.
 
Over the last 75 years it’s been generally accepted that product failure was just a normal part of life, greeted with an accepting shrug of the shoulders.
 
Aided and abetted by oblivious customers, lining up to rebuy what they’d just  bought.

So why then would any right thinking manufacturer design or produce anything better  when customers agreed to pay less for progressively worse products?

Überbartools founders by Michael Silvers and Sam Tam, in the early part of this century conceived the guiding principles of the Company, built around 21st century design innovation with quality and sustainability a key to unlock the ground hog day of the Product Paradox.
 
Ironically bar tool technology seemed to be forever locked into a vortex of failed prohibition inspired design, creating the space for the: buy, use, discard and replace paradigm to exist.
 
Today’s Millennials think of resources in terms of being limited and therefore requiring careful thought based on the sound principles of sustainability, ergonomics, comfort, speed and efficiency.
 
The rise of premiumisation has ushered in a new age of design re-thinking where, quality, sustainability and the elevation of craftsmanship are heralded, eschewing the ethics associated with the Product Paradox.