Cocktail Bar Consultancy – Everything You Need To Know

Cocktail bar consultancy is a very specific and skilled expertise that exists to help inexperienced or extremely busy hospitality organisations launch their venues.

For many, particularly outside the industry, bar design, menu development, training and bar systems look simple enough but this could not be further from the truth.

A DIY or under resourced approach to developing a cocktail bar has the potential to not only risk extremely costly mistakes, but also effect the success of the venue in the future.

We ave been in the drinks industry for over 20 years – we’ve run venues, owned venues and worked with many clients in this time and we recommend not underestimating the skills needed to develop successful cocktail bars.

Successful cocktail bars rely on so many moving parts including market understanding, trends, supplier and brand sourcing, robust training and many other elements..

If you read no further, we highly recommend working in some capacity with a cocktail bar consultancy unless you are very experienced..

The Role Of Cocktail Bar Consultants

Typically, cocktail bar consultants will oversee the project end to end. They will usually be brought in at the very early stages (pre build or renovation) to start offering expertise that will need to be factored into designs and concept.

However, many cocktail bar consultants offer a range of services that clients can access on a case by case basis.

For example, you may require specific support such as cocktail menu design, training for an existing team, a beverage program refresh for an existing cocktail bar or a bar redesign. Whatever the challenge your venue may face, cocktail bar consultants can support navigating this.

What Your Money Will Get You?

We have already alluded to the potential for costly mistakes that a lack of understanding and experience can bring.

This can be significant.

To give an example, bar and workstation design is an expensive aspect of cocktail bars. Best practice is stainless steel work stations with ice wells, speed rails and an ergonomic design that minimises bartender movement (to ensure maximum capacity when busy). Bars can have 2, 3 or more stations which means the sunk cost into infrastructure is significant.

We have lost count of the times we have had to go in and redesign bars so they are operationally functional and will stand the test of time.

Spending money on cocktail bar consultancy mitigates this particular risk and ensures you pay once, use forever.

Cocktail bar consultants will also bring an understanding of current drinks trends, what your local market will expect in drinks and pricing, a vast black book of suppliers and brands and skill in training and engaging teams in the new concept.

They also critically offer a commercial understanding of drinks margins, wastage, RRPs and driving profitability day to day.

Add into this the power that third party experience brings into organisations and it is truly money well spent.

How It Can Transform A Business

Bar consultancy has the power to transform the direction of a hospitality business and its profitability.

Cocktail culture is a huge global phenomenon and a fantastic way of engaging consumers and enhancing revenue and profit.

An example of this in real life is our work for boutique Cotswolds hotel, The Feathers. Our team was brought in by the new owners to refresh the bar concept, redesigns the bars and drinks programme and breath new life into an ailing profit centre of the hotel.

Through clever design, a drinks programme that understands trends and the local market and an engaging training programme for the hotel bar teams, this cocktail bar consultancy project has increased revenue and profitability of the bar.

Often, it takes being out of the whirlwind and an experienced, objective perspective to come in and lead a bar transformation.

Challenges With Running Cocktail Bars

A particular challenge with cocktail bars and your customers is the fast moving pace of culture and trends.

What is popular one day might not be the next. This represents a particular challenge when positioning a cocktail bar concept and its drinks. This is exacerbated if you are an operator that is not dialled into industry and consumer trends.

The other challenge with cocktail bars (in fact any bar) is maintaining consistent profitability. The overhead with running venues is significant and relentless.

This means that maintaining a tight economy with drinks margins, staff costs, wastage and many other elements is imperative. Without good systems and robust management it can truly erode your profit margins.

What To Look For When Hiring A Cocktail Bar Consultancy

The key first step is to look at the experience and portfolio of the bar consultancy you are engaging with. As with most industries, there is a very low barrier to entry in becoming a consultant. As a venue operator you need to ensure that the consultancy has the tool kit and portfolio of work to back up their credentials.

Things that will be important to understand are if the  consultancy can develop the manuals and systems to keep the bar on track, whether they have strong commercial acumen, doe they have the resource and capacity to succeed with the project and do they have the expertise to ensure the training and development is effective.

On top of this what does their network and black book to ensure the best tradespeople, suppliers and brands are feeding into the project.

Finally, the most important aspect of all. Can you see yourself working with the consultants on a demanding bar project?

Ask lots of questions, ask to see credentials and meet with the consultancy to see if you gel.

Conclusion

As we have briefly outlined, hiring a cocktail bar consultancy is a vital step in the success of your hospitality venture as the knowledge and expertise will save money and generate increased profits.

But tread carefully and ensure you make considered decisions when it comes to who you appoint.

Bars can be incredibly rewarding and profitable ventures but the flipside is they can become a burden and a cash sink. Do your research, stay in your lane and surround yourselves with experts to give yourselves the best opportunity of future success.