Why You Should Be Offering Nonalcoholic Options
Your business is your business and as the owner you should be able to make whatever choices are best for your business to thrive. If you’re a restaurant or cafe, or even a wine-tasting room or brewery, or any establishment that serves alcohol, there’s a lot of reasons you should be offering nonalcoholic options.
In the last few years, news about the nonalcoholic industry has taken off in droves. Everyone is talking about it! There’s a reason that serious alcohol brands like Corona have just recently entered the non-alc space. They can see the writing on the wall for America’s future, and the trends currently show in coming years that we’re all going to be drinking less alcohol than we were a few years ago.
With more and more craft options available every month, there’s a long list of reasons why you should be offering nonalcoholic options.
Consider these:
Bigger Receipts
Let’s face one simple fact: You’re in business to make money. If you’re a bar owner and people are buying drinks, you’re probably doing well on the profit of bar drinks. But at some point in the evening, a responsible person is going to slow down or stop drinking altogether. If they’ve decided they’re only having two drinks because that’s their safe limit, that’s all you’re getting out them.
Consider though that they might start with two alcoholic drinks, and then grab a third or even fourth that are nonalcoholic. They’re not ready to go home, they just feel that drinking more isn’t a good idea. Now they have a safe option to hang around and continue spending money with you.
Customers Are Avoiding You
This sounds harsh, but it’s a solid reality. There’s a lot of reasons why someone might not drink alcohol. If that person is in a group that’s going out, that group might consider going to a place that has options for their non-drinking friend. The fact that your menu doesn’t include a few good non-alc options means that whole group went somewhere else.
Social Responsibility
Did you roll eyes reading that title? That’s fair! Not everyone can sign on to recognizing the importance of being cognizant about the health of their patrons. Consider though that younger people are choosing to spend their money at businesses that share their values. While there’s no need to go overboard with any messaging, just simply putting a zeroproof section on your menu shows your customers that you take those options seriously and they’re not just an afterthought.
It’s So Easy Now
Ten years ago, there were better excuses for not having a good non-alcoholic option. We had to suffer through the same drab brands of NA beer and craft soda. But that’s all different now. There are good dealcoholized wines. There are good zeroproof spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails. There are tons of near beers now that are good and it’s all so accessible.
It might be reasonable that your bar staff can’t be managing a mocktail menu, but if you have a cooler, you can keep a whole bunch of great options that just simply require the twist of a cap. For example, Lyre’s makes these great ready-to-drink zeroproof cocktails in a can. It’s sssooo easy now!
Want Help?
If you’re looking for ideas, send me a note. I’m happy to send over options!
