The old proverb “necessity is the mother of invention” has perhaps never rung truer in the bar industry than it does during these pandemic times. With bars and restaurants swiftly and temporarily shuttered around the globe as COVID-19 touched every continent but Antarctica, suddenly each one needed to reimagine their operating model and develop a “plan b” if they wanted their business to survive.
Survival planning mode began without any clarity on when it would end, or what reopening would look like when it did, and so, just shortly after closure regulations fell into place across the country, municipal governments and state liquor authorities generously relaxed liquor laws that, had they remained in place, would have spelled certain death for a high number of bars nationwide.
Relaxing these laws, or at least not enforcing them, gave bars freedom to break out of the three-tier model. It also meant that in many cities where, since Prohibition, drinking happened only inside the four walls of a bar or restaurant, bars were suddenly allowed to provide to-go and/or delivery cocktails for their customers.
Swiftly embraced as an opportunity to keep doors open and keep at least a skeleton crew of staff employed, these new relaxed measures provided a safety net for bar owners who could not expect financial relief from their landlords or the government. It also provided minimal job security for a handful of the 700,000 American bartenders who found themselves out of work.
Guests were pleased too. This new cottage industry of to-go cocktails meant that drinking by themselves at home was guaranteed to be as delicious as at the watering hole that had come to them. Being allowed to pivot like this will, for many bars, be the difference between keeping doors open and getting back on their feet after all is said and done, versus shutting entirely like the 21-year old West Village neighborhood bar Daddy-O just did.
And now, even more than ever as people do not stray far from home, knowing your neighborhood is crucial. Bars like The Snug in Sacramento have dug in deep to satisfy every customer desire. Owner Trevor Easter shared that the bar invested in four different sizes of bottles in order to package up drinks as everything from single serve cocktails to larger format bottles providing both good value and a longer time to savor a new or beloved beverage. Drink size selection is also an option at Gardiner Liquid Merchants in Gardiner, New York where their signature brandy bottles are being repurposed for 350 ml and 750ml cocktail sizes, offering their take-away (and delivery) customers a 4-8 drink option.
Downstate in NYC at the highly regarded bakery and bar Butter & Scotch owner Alison Kave has her to-go counter open while offering online ordering and delivery of the newly sourced 187 ml glass bottles for 2+serving cocktails. State rules mandate food purchase must accompany liquor sales and she finds delivery slightly more profitable as she explains, “Generally when people order through the site they’re order larger volumes than someone who just stops by the to go window and grabs a cocktail and a slice of cake.”
“Grabbing a cocktail at Maydan in Washington, DC is about keeping business afloat while supporting the neighbors too,” Jessi Weinstein, Director of Bar Concepts, shares, “We are serving our cocktails in empty glass 750ml bottles we are purchasing from a local distiller.”
Considering the planet in the process of offering drinks in singles and 10-cocktail kits, is at the heart of how Karen Hoskin of Montanya Rum runs her distillery and tasting room in good times, and the pandemic couldn’t shake her commitment to the planet. Their limited takeout food and cocktail menu, available in Crested Butte, Colorado offers cocktails in mason jars and glass bottles. Hoskin notes, “We are also accepting returns of the mason jars. We run them through our high heat commercial dishwasher and reuse.” In New York City Sother Teague of Amor Y Amargo, Honeybees, and Mother of Pearl notes that patrons enjoying the bars’ cocktails recycle their cocktail vessels by returning them too.
Jacob Halls, co-founder of Craft Beverage Consultants, hopes that once all movement and business operations restrictions are lifted these lenient policies will remain in place. He says, “I feel like if we come out of this and there’s no proof anyone sending out 24 Rumrunners is spreading anything and nobody gets hurt by us delivering alcohol – we don’t need to change back to the old ways. Think about it, you could also interchange the word alcohol with pizza – it is the same thing. Alcohol is just being regulated more strictly. Delivering pizza is normal, delivering alcohol isn’t.”
He continues, “The adaption based on necessity has really shown the legal regulators (aka state alcohol control boards) and the government, as well as consumers, that these restrictions weren’t productive. It was a rule to control something that didn’t need to be controlled. If you can pick up a 6-pack at the grocery store and bring it home, why can’t they deliver it?”
Delivery adds a meaningful way for bars to keep in touch with guests, build loyalty and create new experiences outside the bar. In the case of Jason Corey, owner of The Immigrant wine bar in New York’s East Village, the pandemic offered him an opportunity to expand his business and renovate a ten-year old space. He explains, “I always wanted to do delivery here, but we were so busy it was impossible. Now we can. I didn’t start right away because I have been working on enhancing my marketing collateral. That was important to do as I see this as a great time to diversify product offerings, and improve websites, offerings, packaging, etc. The Immigrant is a big date spot and I want someone to go online and get at home what they’d get at The Immigrant. I even brought the prices down a little bit to encourage sales.”
Non-alcoholic beverage sales provide a nice assist at Southern Belle which, since it opened in November in Atlanta, has never offered take-out at all. The pandemic changed all that. Partnering with their shopping center’s anchor theatre, which has been around since the 1930s and is now doing drive in movies in their parking lot, is one way Southern Belle serves and supports the community while maintaining their business and a safe workplace. AGM, Kevin Bragg, explains, “We’re still not fully open. We are allowed to open, but a lot of the restaurants in town agreed we are going to wait until the scientists say it is clear. Our chef owner decided he wanted to try something to generate some revenue in a responsible way and it has really been like opening an entire new concept in a few weeks. We were committed to packaging everything in a nice way so that guests could still experience our attention to detail when they take a drink with them to the movies.”
The drink labels reflect the same intrinsically southern expression, “Bless Your Heart” which hangs in neon over the bar of the restaurant. The hope is that guests will both be reminded of their welcome at Southern Belle and repost on social media.
That connection and reinforcement through a smartly executed to-go program may be the difference between remaining open or finding a new career when people can move freely once again. Rick Laxague, a partner at Craft Beverage Consultants concludes, “Success depends on the management team. Are they just putting a drink in a Styrofoam cup, or investing to do it right? What does the to-go drink say about the bar? You do not want to be struggling to execute an awesome opportunity. If you are going to do it, do it right. Spend time marketing it and recreating the bar experience so people can enjoy it at home. This could be a lasting and on-going introduction to people.”
