My wife LOVED the Olivetta at the award-winning cocktail bar, Marvel Bar. It has (as I remember it) olive-washed Gordon’s gin (you read that right, Gordon’s), lemon juice, Liquor 43, and egg white. A very standard sour build with minor tweaks: it’s a brilliant cocktail. We would go there specifically for the cocktail. Conversely, on a different evening, she ordered a Daiquiri at another popular Minneapolis cocktail bar, took one sip, and let it sit there for the rest of the night. The cocktail was off-balanced. The atmosphere was busy and she was unable to address the situation. She ordered wine for the rest of the night - and every other time we’ve been back. One bad cocktail surely changes guest dynamics.

As bar managers, restaurant consultants, or even head bartenders there are two fundamental issues with that story that every restaurant needs to address. 1) How do we produce amazing cocktails every single time? 2) When something does go wrong, are we able to notice it’s happening? For a while, we thought we had figured out by batching spirits, sugars, and modifiers but problems arose in execution.

Cocktails made from scratch (à la minute) are wonderful when measurements are accurate and the cocktail is balanced - the proper ratio of spirit, sweet, bitter, and water. A bartender can either free-pour or use a jigger, but neither matters if the cocktail hits the table unbalanced: it’s too sweet or too bitter. For the past few years, we’ve solved that problem by batching cocktails. Put the spirit, sugar, and modifier into one bottle - already measured out - and keep fresh citrus in a different bottle. When a guest orders the cocktail, the bartender pours out, say, 3 ounces of “batch,” and 3/4 ounce citrus juice, she shakes it over ice, strains, and serves. This method is problematic because different batches have different measurements, different accompanying citrus, different bitters, garnishes, glassware, ice cubes…and you can see how mistakes start entering the equation. As well, if cocktails are too laborious to make, the restaurant needs to schedule more bartenders per shift, and the tip share for each bartender drops. The restaurant and cocktail bar industry is then left with a bunch of well-educated bartenders making mediocre money for producing award-winning cocktails. This is not sustainable.

In May, I went on a warehouse tour in Northeast Minneapolis of a new project by local cocktail experts Nick Kosevich, Jesse Held, and Jeff Erkkila. Their company is mimicking lemon, lime, and orange juice using a mixture of different acids and creating what’s called a “citrate.” As well they are producing customizable flavor varieties such as watermelon essence in your tonic water, cocktail perfumes, and scented hand sanitizer. Essentially everything they produce is shelf-stable. Using their citrates and flavors, one is able to create “shelf-stable” pre-made cocktails. You know all those canned cocktails you purchase at the store? Yep, same basic idea. These ingredients can be scaled up and put into kegs. Cocktails on tap, pour and serve cocktails, short execution time. Bar programs are returning to the 10-15 second per cocktail model of the 1990s and early 2000s, only now there is less sugar and more unique flavor. Goodbye “Tom Collins” with Orange Rind-infused gin, house-made simple syrup, fresh lemon juice, shake, strain, Perrier soda, star-shaped lemon rind in a highball with a clear cylinder cube. Hello, “Tom Collins” on tap with gin, lemon citrate, carbonated water, and cherry-bark-vanilla essence: pull tap handle, fill the glass, garnish, and serve.

The techniques of acids, batches, and tapped cocktails will enable bartenders to, once again, be focused on building relationships with guests rather than leaving their “head in the well” and spending too much time making cocktails and cleaning tools. The number of restaurants and cocktail bars where you see your bartender making a cocktail à la minute will shrink to nearly zero - as it should. Bartenders shouldn’t have to spend more than 20 seconds per cocktail for their menu items. This way, restaurants can schedule so that each bartender is ringing at least $1,000 in sales. Over-staffing leads to lower tips and higher labor costs - a perfect storm for failure.

This future is environmentally friendly as well. Purchasing and using limes from Mexico or lemons from Argentina or even Oranges from Florida produce negative upstream pollution such as herbicides, pesticides, carbon dioxide, methane, and supports low-wage farm labor.

2020 was not the death of the over-worked and under-paid restaurant worker, or the end of the daily abuse, sexism, and racism workers in bars and restaurants endure. It was, however, the death of the à la minute cocktail at a restaurant. Look for unique flavors in your cocktails, amazing garnishes, fun straws and glassware, and very little wait time. Get in your Delorean, we’re almost to 88 miles per hour.

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]]>Cocktails Of the Future: Great Scott!BartendersCocktailsRestaurantsJonathan RobinsonThu, 27 May 2021 18:35:54 +0000https://www.sunshineconsultingmn.com/craftcocktailblog/the-new-bartender5f7b363e2f0fdc21339335a0:6024104c9c157a2c4a0c69b1:60afe68a4c0416123a9bcd07The beginning of the end seems to be upon us in the United States. Well, the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Bars and restaurants are increasing their capacities, relaxing mask restrictions, and adding more business hours. With an increase of time, space, and guests comes an increase in staff. More bartenders, servers, wait assistants, managers, cooks, prep-cooks, dishwashers, cleaning crews, delivery drivers, beverage ambassadors, sales representatives, and a host of other positions - oh yes, I forgot hosts - that I’m sure I’m missing, are needed.

Bartenders and servers, however, have changed, will change, and might not be coming back.

Now, before I go on, I’ll remind you, dear reader, that if you are reading this, you are most likely NOT who I am talking about. If you’ve attended one of my cocktails classes or ordered a drink from me at the bar, chances are, we are friends, you are an amazing customer, and I cherish you. Thank you.

So let my rant begin…

Upon leaving abusive relationships, the abused person becomes aware of the abuse that was occurring. Bartenders and servers have been, and are regularly, abused at their work by the customers who are essentially paying their wages. We are called names (“Hey, slow-poke”), receive personal insults (“Dude, you are weak”), receive indirect insults (“When are you going to get a real job?”), receive a pay cut if we abide by the rules (“Sorry, I can’t serve you past 2 a.m.” “Then you’re not getting a tip. Let me sign out my tab.”)women are routinely told to “just smile for once.” Black people make less, on average than white people for doing the exact same work, and most of us receive no stable or affordable healthcare. If we do call in sick, we take a pay loss and sometimes a loss of another shift (I remember friends working at an establishment where if you missed a Friday or Saturday shift, you would lose another weekend shift), and we are regularly expected to work for free (I know cooks who would cut onions unpaid the night before a shift to ensure they made it through their prep lists).

We are treated illegally. For example, if a guest walks out on their tab, we are expected to pay it out of our pockets (which is illegal), if we ring in the wrong food order in many instances we are expected to pay for the mistake order (also illegal).

Put all of this on to a backdrop of a system that rewards theft. Guests tip more and visit your establishment more often if you give them things for free. A free cocktail, amuse-bouche, free dessert (I can’t count how many people have yelled at me because I worked in an establishment that didn’t give free stuff to a guest because it was her birthday?), half-price this, “I don’t like my wine, so I’m not paying for it,” or “There’s no alcohol in here, I want a new one,” “This is too sweet,” and “This isn’t sweet enough.” I think you get my drift.

Bartenders and servers have realized the mediocre pay we receive for dealing with a large amount of abuse. Aside from the abuse, we learned that if a pandemic happens, we won’t get paid to stay at home and work remotely - no yoga-pant-uniforms for us. We realized that the politicians we depend on, from both sides of the aisle, are more interested in social media clicks, shares, and engagement than boot-strap-sleeve-rolling government work. Compromise? No, someone might see that. As we listened to our non-service sector friends complain about having too many Zoom calls and gaining their Covid 15, we were wondering if our runny nose was a bad enough symptom to warrant us staying and home and foregoing pay (and all that wonderful abuse). Yes, you heard me right, a runny nose might cost us 1/5 of our weekly pay (if you were even lucky enough to get five shifts), try losing 20-80% of your pay for a week, month, or year and tell me how excited you would be to return to work.

Some of us, like me, were lucky. We have savings, spouses, and seasonal luck (winter) that we were able to start companies and create unique avenues of income.

Most of us, now, need to return to work at the restaurant. We return only to find out that all of the talk at the beginning of the pandemic regarding necessary restaurant structural change is gone. Owners simply need to open the doors. Everyone needs to generate income. Those higher prices, healthcare options, guaranteed sick days, 401k plans, and shift stability options are a thing of the past. Yes, the restaurants that used to offer their employees those options still are. But no, every restaurant is not offering them.

So we bartenders and servers are going back to work with a new perspective. We know that many of our guests will whine, complain, and verbally abuse us if we ever need to ask them to help protect our health and follow policies beyond our control. We know that public officials will limit our access to finances when they ask us to close for the health of the community (can you believe someone from a different political party has a different perspective?). We know guests will thank us for being open, but still only leave us 20% -and if we enforce a 20% gratuity, we have to word it correctly so we don’t get sued. We are having to post signs regarding the harassment of our hosts. Can you believe this? WE HAVE TO POST SIGNS SO OUR EMPLOYEES DON’T GET VERBALLY ABUSED.

This is the new perspective bartenders will come from and have to adapt to. Bartenders must change knowing what potentially awaits us from our guests. As a bartender for over 25 years, I routinely enforced the rules at my bar of: NO RELIGION, NO POLITICS. 99% of the time, guests were totally cool with it. One percent of the time I had to talk to the guest an extra five minutes and he would be fine. The fine art of bartending in knowing how to steer guests in the right direction must return. Bartending and servers will need to develop a whole new skill set. We need to remember to bite our tongues and pay attention to the flow of the bar. We need to keep our environment a safe place where guests can meet new and different people. Names are important. Questions are important. Listening is important. Be interesting and interested. This skill set holds monetary value. We pay managers and chefs outstanding salaries for their outstanding skillsets. It’s time to pay outstanding bartenders and servers, outstanding salaries as well. Good food costs more money. Good service should too.

What do you think bars of the future will look like?

At Sunshine Consulting, and in every bar program I’ve set up as a bar manager, I believe that a bar program rests on three pillars of success. As long as you consider each of these pillars when developing a cocktail, buying wine, and beer, or, when figuring out where to put an ice well or Point Of Service station, your bar program will be guaranteed in succeeding. “Hey, you can’t tease us with the three pillars comment and then not tell us what they are!” Okay, fine. The goal of my bar programs is: To provide memorable libations which are 1) Fun and consistent from the guests’ perspective, 2) Efficient and safe to execute from the staff’s perspective and, 3) Profitable from the management’s perspective.

When setting up a program, I’ve found that by keeping those three pillars in mind when making every decision, bar programs run so much smoother. For the first pillar, I can’t stress enough how important it is for a cocktail to come out the same every time. Yes, some guests will swear up and down that bartender X makes it better than bartender Y, but I’ve found this is usually because bartender X is exceptional at the ‘fun’ aspect of Pillar 1. When we go out, we go out to have fun! It’s not working, it is play. The restaurant is the adult playground. We meet people, we converse, we try things, we quench our thirst, we eat. Cocktails with rubber ducky garnishes, parakeet toothpicks, or even bamboo straws should be the norm instead of the exception.

As far as the second pillar is concerned, having cocktails on your menu that are too labor-intensive can alienate a staff. If your head bartender loves coming in early and making 3 infusions, he loads the menu with egg-white cocktails, and garnishes that take over 60 seconds to prepare, he is setting his staff up for failure when it gets busy. As well, blowtorches and flamed orange peels should be kept to a minimum. Yes, certain bars have cool cocktails with fire, however, if your employee is worried she’ll burn herself on a Friaday night, you are not putting employee safety high enough on your priority list.

The management and the owners need to make money. A cocktail whose production value triples when you add glassware and garnish will not keep your place in business. A 20% liquor cost is ideal and achievable with the correct training and sourcing of different products.

On the server-side of the game, Maite Kuhns of Maite Kuhns Consulting has wonderful ideas as well and I look forward to visiting restaurants she’s helped set up in the future.

Cheers,

Dr. Sunshine

Sometimes it’s as simple as adjusting lighting or sound. Believe it or not, my 14-year-old daughter is teaching me about slide shows and presentations. Becuase of her, I’m able to include cool pictures, colors, and videos of craft cocktails when I give my classes. Not only do I lean on her for slide show advice, she is my Instagram and just general social media expert. Whether or not you should use filters, what kind of filters, and the writing on your pictures of craft cocktails has a big impact on the engagement of your followers. Who knew my knowledge of the perfect martini recipe wasn’t all I needed in perfecting my classes.

During many of my classes, people would just come out and say, “that’s a cool set up you have in your basement.” To me, when I am giving professional level private mixology classes, the set needs to look professional as well.

I went to Menards, again, for some ideas. There were different types of siding for walls and I decided on a brick look. I modeled my back bar after a craft cocktail bar in Japan called Jeremiah. I love the way it turned out and can’t wait for more guests to see it.

It was quite an experience taking all of my bottles of alcohol down, then the shelving, and cleaning the brick wall. After that there is a certain type of adhesive one needs to use as well as nails designed to go into brick. For all of you who are intending on nailing things to bricks in the future, here are some sage words of advice. Make sure to find where the mortar is between the bricks and mark it clearly. The brick nails will easily go into the mortar buy will not go into the bricks. You will get very frustrated attaching whatever it is you are using - not like I know from personal experience or anything.

These are the stories and experiences that make this endeavor fun. I have over 25 year of experience designing cocktail menus, training bartenders, and making perfect drinks. I have even helped in designing blueprints for cocktail bars, developed training manuals, and taken acting lessons. However, working power tools, understanding cement nails, levels of sound and lighting, adhesives, glosses, screen sharing, social media engagement…these are hugely important in the continuous updating of my cocktail company. As tough as it it, however, it is very addicting to not have a boss. I love that my boss is the consumer. I need to make sure my product is worth the money, worth it for the experience. The cocktail bar HAS to look good. The cocktails HAVE to taste good. The directions HAVE to be easy to follow. And I HAVE to keep improving.

See you in class!

Dr. Sunshine

Some days I think that a certain class will sell over and over and I don’t book a single one of those classes for a month. I wonder, “was this class worth their money?” Are my prices worth it? There is a fine line between an amazing virtual mixology experience, and a virtual mixology class that is too expensive. I suppose that is why McDonald’s and Manny’s Steakhouse both exist in the Twin Cities and flourish.

I wonder if I should just call my classes “Virtual Cocktail Class” and change the content instead of changing the title. I want the classes to be fun, approachable, interactive, and most of all organic. When I design a class, I’m wondering if the participants to the mixology class will have fun doing it. There are many forms of happiness one can get. Happiness from learning something is one, but happiness from being around other people is another. I want my guests to be able to control the class a bit, to ask questions and steer the class into a direction they didn’t think it would go. There’s another form of happiness: enjoyment from the unexpected. What a challenge it is to communicate to potential buyers that there will be something in the class, which is unexpected, that will bring them joy. Should I include photos or videos? Do I need to give the potential buyers free-content to entice them into buying a class? This leads me into the free class category. I wonder if there exists an option out there where I give free classes to people and ask them to “tip” me at the end. Would this be a better option to entice people to log on and see what it’s all about? More free classes maybe? Some people think that makes my class/brand lose value, so I’m staying away from it for the moment.

As more books on cocktails come to market and Instagram gets full of pretty-looking cocktails, do people want to be able to do it from their homes or do they want to enjoy the random times where it gets made for them at a bar. Is the social part of my virtual cocktail classes the best part or is it the cool cocktails? I’ll find out eventually. Stay posted.

Starting a company where you need to do everything in front of a camera takes more investment than I thought. I suppose every business owner goes through the same thing, right? “All I need to do is open the door and I’ll start making money!” Wrong! While content is key for the cocktail classes I will be giving, the quality of production is important as well. I ended up buying 3 nice lights that function as the main lighting for the classes. A few weeks later, I realized that I would probably need a back-up light in case something went wrong right before a class. My second trip to National Camera Exchange involved me getting a more expensive light where the brightness is digitally controlled so I can find the exact number that gives the perfect light (I found it to be 34).

The good news about the lighting scenario is that when other people come to film me for guest spots or when photographers shoot photos for the website, the lighting is no problem. Just another day in the setting up of Virtual Mixology Classes. At least I’ll be mildly well-versed in set production once Hollywood finds me and offers me the next bartender appearance in James Bond!

The next thing I did was to call up Simeon and Jason. Both of them have successful virtual mixology businesses. Simeon gave me some great tips, but what really made me jump was him saying, “Well the first thing I would do is just start building a bar.” So I was off to Menards for my first of many, no, a ton of visits.

For three and a half months I focused on writing the book I have been working on for two years. As I started sending out queries, we were notified that in-person dining would resume. I would start making and creating craft cocktails for guests. Where our bar program used to rely heavily on classic cocktails, we decided that the cocktails would transition to fun and easily executed beverages. I looked more into seasonal flavors, tiki cocktails, and current events for inspiration.

We opened with two cocktails on tap and seven batched cocktails for our cocktail menu. We had our amazing Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, as well as a Mezcal Paloma and Margarita on tap. The other five cocktails rotated as seasonal flavors and local produce changed.

The biggest change, however, was the insecurity of the staff and issues with guest behavior. We never imagined that asking guests to wear masks or telling people they could only have groups of six people or fewer would be an issue. Guests didn’t want to follow the rules, we were in masks for ten hours a day, and because of the limited capacity, we had a smaller staff so we were taking more steps. I remember thinking that a day with 18,000 steps during a shift was easy - I usually averaged around 24,000.

As August came about, cases were on the rise again and I had injuries that were affecting me. My wrist was hurting a bit when I was shaking cocktails.

Earlier in 2020, I was on a Zoom call with a bunch of local bartenders from local craft cocktail bars. One of them said he was having great success doing virtual events: so much so that he was turning people away. For the past five years I gave in-personal cocktail classes. The idea to become a virtual mixologist seeded in that call and was beginning to sprout.

I have an unfinished basement, the knowledge of designing a cocktail making course online, so I moved my daughter’s art area to the other side of the basement and started to build.