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Fresh Flavor Meets Convenience as Daily’s Evolves
As much talk — all of it dead-on correct — as there is about the
importance of freshness to today’s cocktail consumer, that concept and
the use of quality mixes are not necessarily mutually exclusive. And
since convenience continues to be a desire of the patron and bartender
alike, mixes have their place.
Those mixers that will flourish
likely must achieve an artful balance of freshness, practicality and
convenience. So who will answer that call?
Daily’s thinks it does and first cites the heritage of the company
more than half a century ago, when it began as daily door-to-door
deliverer of fresh juices.
“We’ve evolved to meet the needs of different operators in what
they wanted, which at times was to move away from fresh juices,” says
Tim Barr, director of marketing for Daily’s. “They wanted something
that was shelf-stable and products that had the same consistent taste
all year ‘round that you can’t get with fresh juices.” The offerings
today include a full line of mixers, including flavors for frozen
drinks, Bloody Mary flavors and other bar essentials, as well as newer
additions such as pomegranate, mango, Mojito and Cosmo flavored
products. As a testament to the brand’s hard work, Nightclub & Bar
readers voted Daily’s the most moneymaking mixer in the 2007 Market
Maker Awards.
“Beyond just making flavors, we’ve always felt that we have an
organization behind us and that we’re experts in the industry,” Barr
says.
Fresh Efficiency
“Convenience has been around, is going to be around and is in
everything that’s out there,” Barr says. “It’s more convenient to have
our products readily available, and there’s no sacrifice in taste. Ours
has real fruit puree in it, and we supplement it with natural flavors,
so you get the same natural taste, day after day, year after year.
“There’s so many things people don’t know, and they tend to give
all pre-made mixers and bad rap that they don’t deserve. Our two
leading R&D guys between them have a combined over 50 years of
experience,” Barr says.
“They know how to make mixers. It’s not as easy as a lot of people
seem to think. It’s the subtleties, it’s the complexities and it’s the
expertise in blending that we have that make our products different.
True mixologists can differentiate what makes our products better.
“It’s not just our in-house expertise,” Barr says. “We work with
some of the best mixologists in the country. We work with David Commer
and Robert Plotkin — people who evaluate our products. We work with the
mixologists at Southern Wine & Spirits and let them taste and
critique our products.
Bartender-Friendly
“Bartenders want to provide their customers with the best-tasting
drink, but on a busy, busy night, to make things solely from scratch is
very difficult and very time-consuming. The longer you’re taking, the
fewer cocktails you’re serving, and the fewer customers you’re making
happy.”
As so many personnel behind the bar develop in skill and become
mixologists and bar chefs, Daily’s mixers can play a variety of roles.
“Most bartenders are learning that our mixers can be the foundation
for their own creativity, by blending them and putting a personal touch
to them,” Barr says.
“We’ve had research from bartenders, and they’ve said, ‘One of the
things we don’t like about Daily’s is that it’s in a traditional
screw-cap top. You really should be in a spout bottle.’”
At “The Show” in Las Vegas this year, Daily’s debuted its new patented pour-spout cap, to be released this summer.
Also in the interest of pleasing bartenders and operators alike,
Daily’s offers a line of RTDs that can help put cocktails in some
surprising settings.
“There are around 80,000 different locations out there in the United
States that don’t have spirit licenses; they’re beer and wine only,”
Barr says. Daily’s line of ready-made cocktails, he says, are legally
acceptable in these venues to offer patrons a plethora of drinks. |
