We are privileged to have many of our industry’s top mixology minds here at Breakthru Beverage Group, and Nick Nistico – Breakthru Florida’s Beverage Program Specialist and award-winning mixologist – is one of them.
Nistico’s passion lies in helping others, and in this case, others being bars, restaurants, hotels… any place that’s looking to developing their own unique drink lineup. From major on-premise players to mom and pop shops, Nistico’s versatility in hospitality not only benefits the bar program, but the culinary part of the operation as well, because as Nick surmised earlier this year, the alcohol industry is following in the footsteps of the gastronomy boom.
Nick Nistico’s 3 Best Practices that Great Bars and Restaurants Do Every Day
Seasonal Dishes, Seasonal Cocktails
Every cocktail menu has 30 percent of regular top sellers, and 30 percent bottom sellers. That middle 40 percent is the area that needs to always be evolving with the seasonal cuisine. You’ve got to turn over those seasonal cocktails. This is where you introduce fall flavors, such as pumpkin, into your drink menu.
The lead bartender should be connecting every day with the food staff to communicate seasonal items in the bar that need to be moved, and educate the service staff on speaking to those drinks right off the bat when seating or addressing your guests.
Be Nice to the Ice
You might have heard that utilizing high-quality ice is essential to crafting a truly great cocktail. Well, it’s true, and taking care of your ice machine and ice storage is very important to being able to serve a cocktail with superior ice.
You should be handling your ice as carefully as you handle food. You seal up your food safely during storage as to keep it fresh from unwanted flavor influence. The same goes for ice. Don’t mix ice with food in the freezer as the ice takes on the flavor of the food.
Also, make sure you regularly change out your filters on your ice machine.
Giving Back to the Community
A charity partner is key. There isn’t a great bar or restaurant in the country right now that isn’t doing this – being involved in some type of community outreach program, nonprofit, social movement or relief fund. Being involved in a responsibility program is crucial to building the charitable branch of your brand, and it’s a quality that consumers respect in the businesses they choose to give their business to. In our industry, many bars participate in Negroni Week, a yearly initiative that raises money for a variety of charities.