Case Studies

Quality & Serve

Article taken from The Publican Newspaper, 23 June 2003

Putting the right line-up behind your bar and presenting it well is an essential skill for the profit-focused publican.

The perfect serve:

1. Ask the customer if they would like to drink from the bottle or from a glass
2. Take a clean, cool, branded glass
3. Add quality ice
4. Add fresh fruit
5. Pour the soft drink over the ice
6. Present to the customer

Presentation is everything if you want to boost your soft drink sales. Today's consumers have high expectations and if you are going to succeed then you need to have the best possible serving standards for all types of soft drinks.

Packaged

Ask yourself a question - how far would you get if you sold warm lager? In consumer tests 80 per cent of consumers said they preferred their soft drinks pre-chilled and served over ice (Culture 2003). In which case with soft drinks having the ability to contribute to over 11% of your profitability (Retail Pub Estate Confidential 2002) - why is it that they are not always found in the fridge.

The ideal serving temperature for packaged soft drinks is 4°C - so chilling in a fridge is an important part of the offering.

Draught

Draught soft drinks offer a great opportunity for you to increase your profits by trading up. In response to the growing demands of the consumer and the evolving needs of licensed trade customers Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) have launched the new 16oz Georgia Green “Genuine Coca-Cola Glass”.

The “Genuine Coca-Cola Glass” mirrors the unique shape of the world famous “Coca-Cola” bottle and helps to replicate the perfect serve experience with dispensed “Coca-Cola”. In addition the glass is “nucleated” which enhances and extends carbonation ensuring your customers can drink great quality “Coca-Cola”.

Kenny & Marie McKay at the Oak Tree, Desborough, Northants, have recently introduced the “Genuine Coca-Cola Glass”. Kenny explained “customers like it, they want see Coca-Cola, Carling and Kronenbourg in the right branded glasses”. Before the refurbishment at the Oak Tree the choice was small (10oz glass) or large (pint glass) and 95% of sales we re in the small glass.

Marie added “staff have now been trained in the perfect serve and to ask the customers if they want a small, medium or large Coca-Cola - the medium being the “Genuine Coca-Cola Glass” - 65% of our sales are now in the new glass size”. Overall sales in Kelly Taverns eight outlets have risen by 31% in the two months since the “Genuine Coca-Cola Glass” has been introduced, showing the value of a quality offer and involving your team.

Spirit and Mixer

To serve the perfect spirit and mixer:

• Take a clean, cool, straight glass and fill with quality ice
• Add a shot of quality spirit
• Select your branded mixer and fill to the top
• Rim the glass with the fruit, squeeze the juice into the glass and then drop into the drink

It's also worth noting

It's also worth noting:

• Using more ice in the glass will not dilute the drink but actually keep it chilled for longer
• Squeezing the lime into the spirit releases the natural oils and this enhances the flavour of the drink

Research shows that nine out of ten spirit drinkers prefer larger measures and outlets can experience profit uplifts of between 10% and 20% by upsizing from 25ml to 35ml spirit servings (The Publican Newspaper, February 25 2002). A larger spirit means a larger drink and this falls in line with CCE's launch of the 200ml long mixing pack - ultimately creating the perfect spirit mixer serve. Improving serve ensures that your customers will enjoy their drinks more, drink them more often and return to the outlet more often.