Focus all you want on the on-premise consumer occasion, but don’t forget those who make the drinks – Comment

Our industry has a habit of speaking in what is, to be frank, a weird code of sector-specific terminology and of looking at the world of drinks in a way that consumers don’t. This is no more evident than when it comes to categories and decision-making.

We, those immersed in the detail of drinks, have assumed that consumers walk into bars and see categories rather than drinks. As such, we’ve built ‘category visions’, developing distinct stories about gin, whisk(e)y, vodka and rum without really considering that consumers don’t see the world in that way.

Thankfully, the discourse is slowly changing, and drinks brands are increasingly talking serves and moments.

This has, in part, been thanks to the roaring success of spritz serves and the aperitivo occasion, and the ensuing wave of brands trying to grab at the coattails of an Aperol-shaped juggernaut.

However, the best drinks brands globally have long been building strategy to develop serves that meet consumer needs by occasion. Take the highball in Asia; a perfect example of a category-agnostic serve that hits the needs of refreshment, sessionability and flavour before type of spirit (despite whisk(e)y being a heartland).

Aside from an overdue focus on consumers, there has also been greater emphasis on how serves can work for on-premise operators. Incorporating much-needed margin through serve innovation, the ultimate best-in-class serve is now widely recognised as one that delights consumers and customers alike.

As the shift from category to serve evolves, increasing effort is rightly being invested into developing serves that meet the particular needs of particular consumers in particular moments.

With focus shifting, competition is intensifying too. Take the pioneering spritz concept, which is no longer the preserve of a select few brands that had been built specifically around the serve. Barely a week passes without a brand announcing a new spritz serve. (Similarly, spirits giants are moving into the seemingly booming RTD space in search of easy incremental growth, often with little apparent regard for the long-term impact on their brands – but that’s a tale for another time.)

With serve strategy now both critical and highly competitive, how can brands stand out? The strongest serve strategies align consumer need, venue economics and operational simplicity. Yet one crucial group is still too often overlooked: bartenders. Given that they’re the people actually making these drinks, leaving them out of the equation feels like a significant missing component.

The rapid expansion of RTDs suggests we’ve become an industry that’s betting big on removing bartenders from the equation altogether. It feels almost too basic to say it, but I’m just going to put it out there: the people making drinks are probably the people who should be considered when deciding what the drinks they make will be.

In the absence of any prior data on this, we asked 50 leading bartenders what serves they like to make. Immediately there were some clear patterns, all with implications on how serves should be developed.

In total, eight distinct bartender profiles emerged. Their motivations ranged from the performative drive of ‘the showman’, to the erudition of ‘the connoisseur’, to the generosity of ‘the pleaser’. As with guests, there are clear need-states at play for those who are making and serving the drinks, as well as those who are consuming them.

A further dimension around the art of making drinks also surfaced – the craft itself. Bartenders described the innate joy of crafting a sensually pleasing drink: the sound, smell and feel of shaking, pouring and filtering something aesthetically perfect.

This highlights how a serve does not only need to taste good, it needs to feel right (‘the texture chaser’). As Rebecca Swan from bar Swift put it: “Call me basic, but anything with a foam gives me great joy.”

I am, definitively, guilty of the same basic joy.

Other profiles included ‘the guide’, ‘the maverick’ and ‘the purist’, while ‘the pragmatist’ valued serves that kept a busy shift moving and a long stir that allowed space to connect with guests.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that when asked about go-to recommendations, the same themes came up. Yes, bartenders recommend drinks that they like to make. Who knew?

It would seem, then, that as industry discussions shift from category to moments, the brands to emerge victorious will not only consider the needs of the guest, but the needs of the bartender too.

Maybe that’s the new frontier of successful serves.