How to elevate your drinks offerings for 2023

Looking for fresh ways to enhance your customer’s experience this year? Here Guy Cooper, Managing Director at Mitchell & Cooper, shares his top tips for elevating your business’ drinks menu.

If you’re looking for fresh new ideas for revitalising your hospitality business for 2023, a great way to do so is by re-evaluating your current drinks offerings. Whether you run a boutique hotel or a holiday let, the food and drink on offer in your establishment can have an impact on your guest’s overall experience. By finding ways to make your drink selection in line with what consumers are looking for in 2023, you can both help your customer’s get the most out of their visit and keep your business in line with current trends.

But with so many different drinks options on the market, how can you find the right ones for your establishment? Here, we’ll cover some of the best ways you can improve your beverage offerings and create a drinks menu with the 2023 consumer in mind.

Enhancing your mocktail menu

While your mind may go straight to your alcoholic offerings when finding ways to elevate your drinks selection, one of the best ways to improve your menu in 2023 is by providing a variety of non-alcoholic alternatives. Pinterest Predicts 2023 has discovered that searches for “fancy non-alcoholic drink” are up by 220% on the platform, plus Mintel’s Alcoholic Drinks Review found that 27% of Brits drunk more low- and non-alcoholic drinks in 2022 than they did over the previous years. And with the current cost of living crisis, alcohol-free drinks provide lower cost options to help guests looking to find ways to save money here and there.

So rather than just offering a few fizzy soft drinks as non-alcoholic options, take the time to enhance your offerings to give sober guests more choice. If you have a bar area in your establishment, you can design a separate mocktail menu for guests to make it easier to pick out the alcohol-free drinks. As well as making virgin varieties of the classics, such as mojitos, martinis, and piña coladas, craft some completely new and unique mocktails to set the menu apart. You can also stock a selection of non-alcoholic wines and beers for those looking for something a little less sweet. And if you don’t have a food and drink area in your hospitality business, you can still help guests enjoy an alcohol-free stay by stocking up the mini bar with mocktails in a can, as well as low or no-alcohol wine and beers, or even providing a fresh mocktail room service.

Those who own holiday lets can even help customers craft their own mocktails by investing in cocktail equipment! Leave a couple of tasty mocktail recipes next to the cocktail making essentials and stock the fridge and cupboard with the mini alcohol-free spirits, mixers, and add-ons required for the number of guests staying and let them help themselves. Not only is this a unique way to enhance your drinks offering, but it provides guests with a great activity to enjoy during their stay.

Taking different diets into account

Any business owner understands the importance of catering to as many of their guests as possible. However, while many establishments offer extensive food options for a variety of different dietary restrictions, a lot are still lacking when it comes to drinks offerings. This is in part because some businesses simply aren’t aware of how diets impact our drinks choices. Here are a few of the different diets you may want to cater for, and how to do so:

·        Veganism: Pretty much all alcoholic spirits are vegan friendly, however some cocktail additions (such as honey, egg whites, creamy liquors, and whipped cream) aren’t, so you should provide alternative options. You should also check that you stock vegan-friendly ciders and wines, as these can contain isinglass, a gelatine derived from fish.

·        Gluten-free: There are plenty of drinks which are gluten-free in their natural form, such as cider, wine, and spirits. However, some manufacturers use ingredients containing gluten to enhance the flavours, so make sure to check this for guests with coeliac disease. You may also want to have gluten-free beer in stock for gluten-intolerant guests who don’t have a sweet tooth.

·        Diabetic: It’s a good idea to have some drinks low in sugar on the menu for diabetic guests, as well as those who are simply looking to cut down on their sugar intake this year. Martinis and vodka sodas are great low sugar options, and mojitos can be easily adapted by simply cutting out the sugar.

·        Halal: A halal diet prohibits the consumption of alcohol, so it’s important to provide these customers with plenty of soft drinks, as well as a generous mocktail selection.

Prioritising sustainability

Over the past few years, consumers have increasingly been looking for ways to make more sustainable choices with their wallets. And this goes not just for money spent on products, but on experiences too. Booking.com’s 2022 Sustainable Travel Report found that 71% of travellers want to make more effort to travel more sustainably in 2023, while 38% of respondents reported actively look for information about the sustainability efforts of a hospitality business before making their booking. Plus, by finding ways to make your drinks offering more sustainable not only may you attract new eco-conscious customers, but you can reduce your own negative environmental impact too.

The good news is that there are plenty of small ways to be more eco-friendly while still elevating your drinks menu. One way to do this is by creating seasonal menus using local produce to reduce the distance your ingredients have to travel. Even in the winter months there are tasty fruits in season that are ideal for including in your cocktails, such as apples and rhubarb. You can also find ways to make the most of every ingredient to reduce food waste. For example, the peel leftover from limes and lemons which have been juiced can be used to infuse spirits, make syrups, and even as garnish for your drinks. And of course, guests enjoying pre-mixed tinned cocktails or beers from the mini bar in the comfort of their rooms should be provided with recycling bins to help them do their bit.

By using the tips above to update your drinks offerings and cater to more customers than ever, you can enhance the experience of your guests even further. For more advice and inspiration for giving your guests the best customer experience in 2023, make sure to check out the other articles at Luxury BnB Magazine.