An eye and palate for quality. An ability to marry a handful of ingredients to create a fabulous result. The courage to put these skills to the ultimate test.

T-REX Takes the Dining Experience To Another Place in Time

In the trend-chasing entertainment industry, following the crowd can be a safe bet. But, what does it take to step out on a limb and create a concept that is unique and profitable?

Menu Mutiny?
Interesting Findings on the Role Of Cocktail Marketing On-Premise 

The role of the drink menu on-premise is at an all-time high with the widespread proliferation of complex, quality cocktails and consumer knowledge — and lust for knowledge.

Slam Dunk Sales With Smart Basketball Promos
 

Don’t foul up and let customers ride the sidelines this basketball season. With an energetic atmosphere, a strong promotional charge and beverage and menu specials that are all conducive to big earnings, your venue can keep the ball rolling until NBA playoffs and March Madness are underway –– that critical moment when fans start to appear out of the woodwork, dressed to win in their team colors.  

Las Fieras Represent Women In a Male-Dominated Realm 

In the rough reality of Reggaeton music, male artists — such as Daddy Yankee and Tego Calderon — have controlled the gender of the music with unquestionable authority. A message of male dominance oozes from Reggaeton lyrics that are often sexually explicit and degrading to women. Yet, in this sexually charged, male-dominated realm, a new voice is rising above the men that is sending a different message to the fans.

Operators Converge on ‘The Show’ in AC

For the second time, “The Show” set up its East Coast base, with smashing results.

Innovative Hotel Bar Concepts Revolve Around Spirits

Jean-Pierre Etcheberrigaray, vice president, food and beverage, for The Americas InterContinental Hotel Group, and his team have embarked on a creative sprint to create new and innovative bar concepts for their flagship brand InterContinental Hotels. In the spring of 2005 they introduced the XO Bar at the new InterContinental Hotel in Atlanta. The bar specializes in ultra-premium cognacs and has been a resounding success.

Cocktail Quality, Brand Awareness and Variety Continue to Be Important

Ever-increasing openness to an unprecedented variety of spirits and cocktail creations looks to continue in 2007 as more consumers than ever join the rising cocktail culture.

Promotions on the Loose
2006 Was a Wild Ride and a Good Cause

Some call them a God-send. Some view them as only slightly more appealing than mosquitos. However you see them, the promoters have tough skin and even tougher numbers on the 2006 calendar –– in both the realms of bodies in clubs and numeral on the bank statements. This year saw it all in the way of promotions, from enormous White Parties, Red Parties, Black Parties and Pink Parties to Trailer Trash bashes to upscale tastings to supreme DJ talent. Here is a look back at some of the hottest trends of 2006 and a few predictions on 2007.

Incoming Sounds For '07
How To Keep Patrons On the Dance Floor

The adage that dancing to the beat of a different drum derives greater pleasure has become applicable to the club scene, or so the alterations made to in-house music throughout the last year would have you believe. As 2007 approaches, many operators are leaping into the unknown, testing the waters for the latest — albeit transient — changes in sound, and closeting those stale genres to which people no longer jump and jive. Predictions on profitable in-house music for the upcoming fiscal year might vary from venue to venue, but there are still concrete, reliable methods to make nightlife at yours as lively and danceable as the most posh clubs around.

Appetizing Check Totals
Patrons and Operators Continue To Get Their Share From Bar Food

Perhaps mirroring the unprecedented demand for variety and diversity in beverage offerings, consumer desire for more in the area of bar food has pervaded the on-premise industry. In fact, as dining behaviors have evolved of late, with more patrons willing to spend more at the bar if the food is right, the trend has transcended the corner bar environment and attracted the notice of the chains as well.

Refilling a Category
Strategy and Addressing Consumer Tastes Kept Beer Flowing

When a well-known Eastern publication heralded the death of beer last year, it was news to beer men like Dave Peacock, vice president of business and finance operations at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis.

Triumphant Trendsetters

Editor’s Note: Some of the information in this article is compiled from staff reports from previous issues this year.

As 2006 comes to an end, the nightlife establishments that stand out above the rest are those that have created and conquered the cutting edge trends of today and tomorrow.

 
Twists on Bourbon Cocktails 

Bourbon has been as sturdy and constant at the bar as the brass foot-rail over the years. Propping up sales like no other, it is a versatile friend for bartenders and a warm companion to all those chilly-evening drinkers. But bourbon sometimes suffers from its unfailing presence, and many operators overlook it when they should be reaching for it. Here in this issue, Nightclub & Bar brings you a few new twists on that old rye and corn cohort. Don’t forget about one of your most valuable assets –– there are undiscovered profits in the warm, golden hues of bourbon. 

Make 'Em Dance and Sing
Small Change Turns Big Profits With Latest Jukebox and Coin-Op Trends 

Not sure what genre of music your demographic has been attuned to? No need to worry.

Screen with Envy
Music, Marketing and More With ScreenPlay 

On-site marketing has experienced perhaps no greater star player in recent years than screens programmed with an ever-more-specialized sensory assault, part of an overall scheme of music video and marketing messages. Among the tech wizards behind the scenes making this happen is ScreenPlay, whose Nightlife music video system aims to offer a complete music management and advertising solution for the hospitality industry.

Spirits That Move You
Top-Selling Spirits Keep the Blitz On Sales and Profits 

There is a lot more to stocking a bar than determining the latest listing of top sellers. If it were that simple, every bar could reap the benefits of stellar sales simply by perusing the latest “Adams Wine & Spirits Guide.”

A Gridiron Goliath
State Street Brats in Madison, Wis., Scores With Super Bowl Promotion

Back in the July issue of Nightclub & Bar, we published a Buzztime Report focused on fall football –– specifically, checking into where and how patrons most enjoy the games.

The Theory of Evolution
Scottsdale’s Virtual Chameleon Axis/Radius Freshens Up Once Again

A serious and long-standing force in the Scottsdale, Ariz., club market, the husband and wife team of Diane and Les Corieri have no intentions of slowing their vibe simply because one of their venues is nearing a decade in age.

Avoiding the Fauxito
Cutting Corners Can Make a Mess of Your Mojitos

A few years ago, (fill in the rum brand)-tinis were cropping up on drink menus across the country, but imbibers never really gave light rum-tinis much credibility. When America rediscovered the Mojito, my favorite spirit began to gain the respect it had tried to earn for so many years.

Center of the Universe
“The Show” Combines With Restaurant And Hotel Shows for Mega-Event in Las Vegas

The city that many would argue is the absolute epicenter of hospitality — the nonstop service behemoth that rolls around the clock, setting trend after trend by upping the hospitality ante — is the perfect place for what is now a synergized mega-event for the beverage and food industry. From bars to clubs to restaurants to hotel hospitality, if you have a stake in the industry, there’s not any place on the planet you should be other than Las Vegas March 4-7, 2007. A never-before-seen hat trick now brings operators three shows in one.“