Cocktail Prestige
The Accomplished Drinks Acumen of The Gerber Group

The cocktail program across all our Whiskey bar locations and other concepts in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Mexico City and Madrid — really has become part of the experience we are offering. 
    We have great design, good ambience and great service, and our customers are coming here to enjoy a relaxing evening, socializing over cocktails. The signature cocktail list gives them something new to consider, and the menu offers them alternatives — something they haven’t tried before, maybe an indulgence.
    The drink menu gives guests the chance to interact with their server or bartender, once again, adding to their experience. It also gives the staff a chance to use their training to educate a customer and introduce them to a new drink and, ultimately, to upsell.

Drink Development  
    We have strong partnerships with many of the top liquor companies, who often will come to us to launch their new products or brands. It is important to us, when looking at such an opportunity, that we make certain the cocktail or brand suits our customer and that the quality, taste and appearance are compatible with our overall offering.
    Since alcohol is the main ingredient, we want to make sure we think the product will stand on its own, and our customers will buy it. We have our top bartenders “play” with the liquor and develop recipes that the managers and staff taste.
    Once it passes muster with this team, we submit the recipes to our corporate staff. With that approval, a drink then is featured on our signature drink menu.

Training
    We rely on our staff members, as they are the key to the great service our customers have come to expect. The liquor companies will visit our bars and introduce new brands to our staff. We keep these sessions informal and brief. We have so many new items, we don’t want information overload. We have the staff select a few memorable taste and sight sensations that they can easily recall.
    For instance, with Hendrick’s Gin, cucumber comes to mind. With Cazadores Tequila, its black pepper. In some cases with a brand, it is the bottle that stands out.
    Repetition and practice is the key in getting the drinks right and making sure they are consistent. Since we have bars all around the world, one challenge we face is that not all ingredients or mixers or juice brands are always available in all of our markets. Each city must make the drink using the original recipe and then tweak it until the right flavor profile we are looking for emerges.
    Customer feedback is vital too. We do monthly incentives with the staff to track the type and amount of drink sold. In addition to cash incentives, staff winners have also had the chance to visit distilleries in Kentucky, Nashville, Puerto Rico, Napa Valley and Scotland. They have a great time and gain tremendous knowledge from such trips.

Menu Design
    We don’t like to be too gimmicky or kitschy. We prefer a more straightforward and classic approach to our in-house “advertising.”
    The menu book itself is simple, clean and classic in look and layout. We don’t do pictures or logo branding on the menus. Our menu not only lists specialty cocktails, it also lists our extensive tequila, single malt scotch, small batch bourbons and our Cognac and Armagnac selections.
    We chose these liquors to showcase because, for the most part, consumers aren’t as exposed through advertising to these as much as they are to vodka, gin and rum.
    Since we do all the printing in-house, we have the ability to change a drink monthly and to place the drink in a different order on the menu.  The guest doesn’t get tired of looking at the same drinks month after month, since we are constantly updating it.

Program in Action
    The menu has worked out great. We have been able to increase the average check total, introduce new brands and enhance our customers experience at our bars. The signature cocktails are now asked for by name all over the world at our venues.
    The program has gained such a great reputation, in fact, that Delta Air Lines has asked us to create their on-board signature cocktail program. Imagine 45,000 people a day having the opportunity to choose either our Dirty Martini or Mojito!
    We monitor the signature program very closely, and the numbers don’t lie. If something isn’t selling, we find out from the staff what they are hearing and observing. Recently, in Chicago, our customers found some of our new cocktails too frou-frou, so we are re-working the selection there. In Cancun, we have had to develop a larger frozen drink selection. In Mexico City, we work with local distribution to get our own queen-sized olives and lemons — items that are not so readily available.
    The single most interesting thing we have learned is that our company — presently the After Midnight and Midnight Oil companies, soon to be known as the Gerber Group — is considered the first “national prestige account” by the liquor industry. While we are not a national chain like T.G.I. Fridays or a large hotel group like Marriott, our customer base is considered “highly desirable” — the young upwardly mobile who enjoy going out and entertaining. Thus, with our size and breadth, we have created a whole new category.