Chain restaurant beverage managers often are caught in a vise of conflicting demands between consumers’ endless quest for the novel and corporate reluctance to embrace broad-based innovation and new products.
But as independent restaurants continue to emphasize sophisticated beverages of all sorts, balancing the two competing needs is increasingly important.
It’s a challenge welcomed by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, where introducing new beverages and tweaking the established program is key to keeping the beverage mix lively.
Last summer’s rollout of a handful of new drinks and a freshened wine list are prime examples.
Included in the mix were two new house-made nonalcoholic cocktails — Strawberry Cucumber Limeade and Coconut Cooler — that have “taken off like crazy,” director of beverage Mary Melton said.
Building on the chain’s commitment to expanding fresh and house-made ingredients at the bar, both drinks are made daily at each location.
“For a chain with 205 restaurants, it’s actually quite aggressive to have all our mixes fresh now,” Melton said. “We decided a couple of years ago to elevate what we offer at our bars to match our food. The trick is consistency. But we worked it out so our ingredients ... are simple and fresh.”
While the inconsistent quality of citrus supply and worries about execution are enough to deter many chains from in-house mixes, Melton said overall freshness won out in the end.
P.F. Chang’s also develops new drinks that are coherent with the concept’s pan-Asian cuisine — like the Coconut Lemon Sour and Yuzu Ginger Mojito — and Melton makes sure to place new products into more than one beverage whenever possible.
Some traditional Asian ingredients, like tea and sake, fit better into P.F. Chang’s menu than they would at many other concepts — and they’re also somewhat trendy.
Sake sales are up nationally, thanks to promotion from national brands as well as the fact that the beverage is gluten free.
Melton said she is considering ways to appeal to the modern American tea-drinking crowd, which is used to the vast selection of flavor combinations available in the premade market.
Certain cocktail ingredients might work better in some markets than in others. The Yuzu Ginger Mojito, for example, that succeeds in California might not do so well in Ohio. And like sparkling wine used in cocktails, yuzu juice needs care to avoid excess waste. But making a mark with unusual ingredients carries an inherent risk.
Meanwhile, the flexibility of P.F. Chang’s wine program is well-known. A few years ago the concept added half glasses and half carafes to existing glass, bottle and flight options. The 16-ounce half carafe is especially popular. At 2 ounces more than two full glasses, it’s an easy upsell.
Recently, the core wine list was updated with new items, including a Spanish Moscato. But the core list only makes up half the drinks on the menu. Units are encouraged to play into local tastes — so lists in the Northeast are likely to feature more Italian wines, while Florida shops may skew Spanish.
How different do the wine lists get? Two locations about five miles apart in Scottsdale provide a good example. At the unit with an older clientele, the list is peppered with California Chardonnays, Cabernets and Merlots, while down the road, a younger demographic more likely to venture beyond everyday varietals can find more Garnachas, Albariños and Grüner Veltliners.
Similarly, along with some Asian brews, each unit composes its own beer list, and operating partners are encouraged to bring in local craft brews.
“We’re really trying hard to make sure our beverage program fits the town that each unit is in,” Melton said.
However, being open to change doesn’t mean the company embraces fads like “skinny” cocktails and confectionery vodkas that aren’t congruent with the restaurant and bar philosophy. Soon, though, for the first time, P.F. Chang’s will try limited-time beverages for the holidays, giving Melton another venue for experimentation.
“This is going to push me to constantly create and come up with new ideas,” she said. “That’ll be fun for me.”
It also will give her another ball to juggle, along with the ones already in the air: local and international, fresh and consistent, flexible and profitable. If nothing else, the willingness to experiment at P.F. Chang’s shows there are plenty of current beverage trends customers are ready to embrace, if only a chain will take the educated risk.
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