Cocktail restaurants in Russia are a new trend that came to us from the West. Once the owner of a restaurant in New Orleans, his name was lost in history, wanted to earn more. He noticed that on average people eat forty minutes to an hour, because of this, queues form in the restaurant, but few people want to wait until the tables are free, and people simply go to other establishments. In order to keep the guests, he set up a bar counter at the entrance to his restaurant and began to offer aperitifs to those who were waiting for their table. The counter also took orders for hot dishes. Moreover, many guests began to linger after dinner in order to skip a cocktail. Thus, a smart restaurateur was able to combine the advantages of two establishments in one!
The main difference between a cocktail restaurant and an ordinary one with a standard cocktail menu, which is sure to include Mojito, Caipirinha and Sex on the Beach, is the presence of a professional bar manager, who guarantees a high level of preparation of classic cocktails and the availability of author’s.
The main advantage of a cocktail restaurant is the ability to captivate the guest. As soon as restaurants acquire professional bar managers and move to a new cocktail level, they have the opportunity to attract an adult, wealthy audience to their bars. Besides, a great cocktail can always save the day. Even if the guest did not like the food, the restaurant always has a chance to leave a good impression.
In Russia, the fashion for cocktail restaurants is only gaining momentum, so not everyone has yet felt the disadvantages of the format. Here are just a few of the challenges successful restaurateurs face. First and foremost is the search for a bar manager. Unfortunately, an unsuccessful stage can be the biggest disappointment for the owner of a cocktail restaurant.
One way or another, you can create a unique menu, but it can perish in the hands of the staff, or vice versa. The most important thing in the work of a cocktail restaurant is the training of waiters, because they are the main “sellers”. But if you look at it from their point of view, then cocktails are not very profitable for the waiters themselves: they are prepared for a long time, the guest may not like it, and if the bartender makes some mistake, then you can be left without a tip. Here is the difficulty – you have to teach those who do not want to at all. You need to have a special approach to the “cocktail education” of the waiters.
You should conduct tastings more often, talk about the history of cocktails and raise motivation. When a waiter inspired by knowledge tells the guest at least part of what he learned at the “training”, the guest will be more willing to order a cocktail than if he simply chooses even from the best cocktail menu. Therefore, if you decide to open an institution of this particular format, drive your waiters to our resource – they study the path =).
Another difficulty of this format lies in the competition between the sommelier and the bar manager. You need to clearly define what you want to earn money on and what you will offer your guests – wine or cocktails. Otherwise, the guest may get tired of the attention of both and choose the water.
The unique feature of the cocktail restaurant is that it is the only format that can do without a contact bar. True, such a solution has both pluses and minuses. Of the pluses – this, of course, is the ability to do without a radical repair in the existing institution, and not such a strict selection of bartenders according to external data (and why do you think girls fall in love with them at first sight?).
This is what a good bar manager with 10 years of experience looks like =)
Still, by putting a bar counter, you can earn more money on alcohol sponsors – a bar showcase will appear at the establishment, and the bar counter can instill in guests a “cocktail ethic” like in the West: in Europe, people are interested in looking at the art of bartenders, chatting with them and with each other . Now lovers of the bar counter have already begun to appear here, and with us, the professional level of bartenders is growing and guests are already starting to go to them.
To sum up:
Pros: guests spend more time in the restaurant, as a result, the average bill increases; cocktails become “bait” for visitors; a special intelligent secular atmosphere is created.
Cons: very difficult to find a good bar manager; it is necessary to invest in the training of waiters.
Features: you can do without the construction of a contact bar counter.