Beverage Blog India

Mumbai, India
The Bar World of Tomorrow is a training course developed for the post Covid scenario by Pernod Ricard, Trash Tiki and the Sustainable Restaurant association on the platform edapp.  Our founder Ajit Balgi completed the course and thought that it is very much relevant to India in most aspects . The whole objective about the module to make your bar more sustainable and includes topics from reducing carbon foot print to waste management to associate work life balance. 
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are the mantras that are reiterated in this module and it helps a bartender navigate through the various aspects they may have ignored till today.  With difficult times, Saving is as good as making more money and this cannot be at the cost of consumer dissatisfaction, the course brings all that up. Taking care of yourself is as important as thinking about your consumers, work-life balance is highlighted here. The Trash Tiki comes in with knowledgeable inputs on sustainability in the bar with regards to ingredients and its reuse or getting the maximum yield out of ingredients in your bar rather; thus saving costs. Oleo Saccharum, cordials, stocks etc add to the jazz that the bartender often seeks.  It will take you a couple of hours to navigate through this and if you are a progressive bartender, then you better give it a shot. You can sign up through the link below, it is  free. 
https://www.edapp.com/course/the-bar-world-of-tomorrow

Mumbai, India
With  Covid-19 pretty much putting the entire hospitality industry into a precarious position, do or die is the way ahead.  With necessity being the mother of all inventions, the restaurants and bars industry will have to keep pulling rabbits out of their hats till the situation normalizes. The liquor industry which is also dependent on bars and restaurant;not completely though can also innovate to mitigate losses or at least the loss in the revenue.  Both the bars and the liquor industry will have to be ready for the post COVID consumer.  Here are a few trends/suggestions/solutions we envisage going forward:
Home delivery of Cocktail premixes:
If the consumers aren't coming to you then be ready to take your experience to the consumer.  With alcohol delivery not possible in the Indian context, the beverage revenues could be still given a boost with premixes of signature  cocktails that could be home delivered. These premixes need to be just poured over ice along with the spirit and the cocktail is ready. Pricing cannot be prohibitive for most restaurants but the luxury hotels can price it their way with fancy packaging, DIY kits etc. 

The rise of RTDs ( Ready to drink ) beverages:
The sales of retail will surely go up as people will prefer to drink at home and stay safe and also save money. This throws open an opportunity to create ready-to-drink SKUs mimicking favourite cocktail recipes like the LIIT, Cosmopolitan, Sours, Sangrias etc. These will be convenient for the house party culture  that will become the norm. 'Crack it open and pour it on ice' will address a big pain point. 

House party catering  will rise:
House parties will rise and can you as a restaurant/bar cater to beverages too? Can you create compact per person packages that can get your restaurant experience at people's home?  Hygiene, Safety checks will be paramount and then comes the number of cocktails, drinks that can be offered in the package. Of course there are bartending services out there but can they match up to your standards and hygiene levels! So think on these lines and there is a huge opportunity here. 

Rise of the home bartender:
A lot of people would want to learn the art of cocktail making etc to be a better party host and manage the show themselves. Can you as a restaurant /Bar  create educational experiences for your consumers in your bars ? These  home bartenders trained by you could be the ones who could be the customers for your cocktail premixes in the future. We at The Happy High are already offering some courses online 

Bundled Pricing:
Bundling up food and beverage at an attractive price to get the consumers visiting you will have to be done till the situation eases. These fixed priced options will ensure a certain business to the restaurant whilst the insecure consumer will have the option to choose a fixed budget for that evening.  All said, every place will have to sincerely adhere to safety and hygiene norms and also let the consumers know about it. 

We can only put our best foot forward with a hope that 2020  will not be that bad a vintage as it seems now!