Restaurants Rebound with Rebranded Booze

 

Suggestive up-selling has always been a part of the Restaurant sector marketers, marketing toolkit.  In 2021, up-selling branded alcoholic beverages the ilk of TGI Fridays Orange Dream, Mudslide, or Long Island Iced Tea will drive branded relevance while giving the consumer just what they are asking for according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

According to a recent data analysis by Ibotta, the leading cash-back app helping people save money with their everyday purchases, there seems to be a lot of truth to this! If you have not checked Ibotta out I suggest you do.

Ibotta found, spirits and hard liquor are up the most with a 33% increase during the first part of the pandemic when compared with 2019 sales, followed by wine at a 12% increase. Surprisingly, beer sales overall are down, with a few exceptions! Here is what we know about pandemic alcohol sales based on data from Ibotta:

Beer: - Down 2% overall, with the following data for each subcategory

·         Flavored Malt Beverage: +37.4%

·         Non-Alcoholic Beer: +15.9%

·         Craft Import Beer: -17%

Spirits and Hard Liquor: Up 33% overall, with the following data for each subcategory

·         Liqueur: +75%

·         Brandy: +43%

·         Tequila: +40%

·         Whiskey: +39%

·         Vodka: +26%

·         Gin: +14%

·         Rum: +14%

Wine: Overall a 12% increase for all types combined, with the following subcategories

·         Flavored: +73%

·         Fortified: +51%

·         Red: +12%

·         Rice Wine: +37%

·         Rose: +24%

·         Sparkling: +5%

·         White: +9%

Suggestive selling is not offensive when you are simply reminding consumers what they want, or what they have missed by not being able go out to their favorite restaurant.  Local restaurants have local drinks, flavors, and brands consumers will welcome, while rewarding you with top line sales and bottom-line profits. So, mix a drink, invent a drink, brand a local drink with Brandy, Tequila, Whiskey, Vodka, Gin or Rum and toast the new year.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter