Are you looking for a unique selection of drinks to offer women visiting your establishment on their special occasions? Maybe you want to create a chilled ladies’ night out drinks combo or a drinks menu for bachelorette parties’? Look no further. We’re here to help.
There are several types of drinks you can offer at a bar. Most have a rich history and an array of flavors, making it challenging to decide what to put on your menu and what to leave out. This is especially true if you want to match the palate preferences of non-conformers who prioritize flavor and health over the usual buzz.
But, don’t worry. We’ve prepared this unique guide to make it easy for you to find the perfect drinks for different occasions.
Unlike most guides, we’ll discuss common factors influencing women’s selection of drinks to help you understand the driving forces of your guests’ taste preferences. Then, we’ll provide a few non-traditional suggestions that offer just as much, if not more, complexity and flavor as full-proof drinks. You’ll also learn some budget-friendly drink strategies to keep your profit margins high.
Understanding Drink Preferences
Drinking goes beyond consuming a beverage. It’s an intricate interplay of several psychological or environmental factors that can reveal much about your guests’ taste buds, social preferences, and overall emotional well-being.
As an event venue manager, knowing these factors will help you understand your guests better so you can enhance their drinking experience.
Debunking Myths About Feminine Drinks
First things first, let’s debunk myths about feminine drinks. Are there best drinks to order at a bar for a woman? The direct answer is no.
We can all agree that drinks don’t have gendered associations. Luckily, modern culture is embracing this fact and slowly shifting towards more inclusive hospitality.
Your female customers are now free to obey their palate and order whatever drink they prefer, even though women were traditionally limited to sweeter, fruitier, and brighter drinks. Similarly, men can now order sweeter drinks without fear of being judged as before when they were limited to dull, harsher, or more tangy options. These days, individual preferences and curiosity prevail.
Factors Influencing Drink Selection
As mentioned earlier, several factors influence what your guests choose to drink, when, and how. Some of these include:
Personal Taste
Do they prefer bitter, sour, sweet, or savory drinks? Save for adaptogenic drinks, the sensitivity of an individual’s taste buds will almost always determine their drink selection. And because taste buds change with time, most people gravitate towards different types of drinks at various times or seasons.
It’s best to pay attention to your guests' taste buds and let them guide you to make their drinking experience memorable. Don’t be afraid to change your drink offerings as your customers’ preferences change.
Alcohol Tolerance
Nearly 63% of U.S. adults love the bottle and delight in alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine, or liquor. For all the alcoholic drinks you offer in your establishment, it’s best to make their alcoholic content info clear. You can do this by arranging your bottles according to the level of buzz they offer. So, when clients request their drinks, it’s easy to show them which ones are stronger than others. It will play a significant role in the type of drinks guests choose.
Customers with a high tolerance will most likely prefer drinks whose alcoholic strength is high, whereas those with a low tolerance will go for options with minimal buzz.
Social Norms and Cultural Influence
Social norms shape our drinking behaviors. They dictate what’s acceptable within a social group. This includes how much your guests can drink and what drinks they consume.
In the same way, cultural norms contribute to drink preferences. Some cultures appreciate strong beverages and link them to specific traditions or rituals. Doing this attaches symbolic importance to the drinks, increasing their perceived value in social celebrations.
It’s a good idea to understand the social and cultural norms of the region your establishment is in. This way you can stock up on their most valuable beverages. It shows you’re in tune with the community’s culture, and this will make you their go-to joint. For example, the drinking culture in the U.S leans more towards beer and liquor. It’s different from other regions, like Italy, where they prefer wine.
Occasion and Setting
Occasions and social settings can also influence your target clients’ drink choices. Say you’re hosting an intimate party for a close-knit group of girlfriends. If most order alcoholic drinks, like cinnamon whiskey or Canadian whiskey, the rest will be inclined to choose similar beverages. You might have to create excellent cocktails of their choice to meet their needs.
On the other hand, if they go with non-alcoholic drinks, such as grapefruit juice or ginger ale, you’ll likely have to create custom drinks to match their occasion’s rhythm or flow.
Emotional Connection
Customers can develop a liking for specific beverages based on positive associations with past experiences. Say you served delicious fruity drinks during one of the events you host on your premises, and customers had an unforgettable experience. They’ll prefer the drinks they enjoyed over others due to the emotional ties they created with your offers during the event.
Such customers will come back to your bar for the same drink again and again. They might even introduce their close friends and families to the same. This is why it’s always a good idea to monitor your clients’ behavior and double down on what’s working to satisfy your customers and maximize your profits simultaneously.
You can always use event management automation platforms, like Perfect Venue, to help you with this. Besides helping to streamline your day-to-day event management tasks, Perfect Venue’s superior analytics feature offers accurate insight into your customer’s preferences and purchase behavior.
Coping Mechanisms
For some individuals, drinking is a coping mechanism for various conditions, such as stress and anxiety. In such cases, many opt for the old-fashioned harsh alcoholic drinks sweetened with sugar or adaptogen drinks (those made from roots, herbs, or other stress-relieving plant materials), depending on their levels of anxiety or stress. Experts generally advise against this form of self-medication, though. They term it problematic because it usually leads to dependence.
You can always engage your customers when you realize things are getting out of hand. After all, the bar is an area of socialization. The more engaging you are with clients, the better. Just ensure you approach the matter carefully without interfering with their freedom to drink what they want. For example, you may offer alternatives with less alcoholic content when you notice they’ve had a bit too much as a way of introducing them to something new.
Importance of Personal Comfort Over Societal Expectations
Knowing the underlying motivations behind your client’s drink choices is essential. It can help you offer diverse drinks to cater to their various needs and wants. It also allows you to understand and engage with your customers better. Prioritize your client’s comfort over societal expectations always. Listen to them and be ready to meet their requests without judgment.
Light and Health-Conscious Drink Choices
Nearly all health-conscious drinks have very little alcoholic content, if any. That’s because alcohol is toxic and inflammatory to the human body. It weakens our immune system and leaves us vulnerable to various illnesses while damaging different body organs. It’s also one of the most well-known cancer-causing substances in our bodies.
Restaurant owners exploring health-conscious drink options have to consider a few essential classifications when labeling different options, including:
- De-alcoholized drinks – have a maximum of 0.5% alcoholic content.
- Alcohol-free drinks – have 0.05% or less alcoholic content. For these drinks, trace amounts of naturally occurring alcohol might form during brewing.
- Low-alcohol drinks – contain a 1.2% alcohol maximum.
With all the above in mind, here is our list of refreshing, classic cocktail, wine, and beer alternatives you can offer clients without compromising quality. Treat our suggestions as an introductory guide to health-conscious drink selections, and feel free to experiment and come up with tailored options for your target customers:
Shirley Temple
Undoubtedly, this is one of the most popular drinks under the health-conscious category. You can make this bright red, Instagram-worthy classic cocktail from several ingredients, such as ginger ale (or lemon-lime soda), orange juice, and more. Then garnish it with a cherry and serve with ice cubes to make it more refreshing.
Gimber
If you’re looking for a drink that'll make your clients’ taste buds dance, have Gimber in your selection. It's made from an unmatched blend of herbs, spices, lemon, and organic ginger, guaranteed to bring a smile to your client’s faces.
Lyre’s
Lyre’s non-alcoholic bourbon has generous and complex flavors that make it enticing and delicious. Most people love it when mixed with other fruit drinks, such as pineapple juice. You can serve it with an orange slice or lime wedge as garnish.
Bin Moretti Zero
Thanks to its perfect balance of fresh, hoppy, and citrus flavors, Bin Moretti Zero is a delicious health beer preferred by many. It pairs well with most vegan dishes. You’ll be able to offer an extraordinary experience for your vegan and vegetarian clients.
Spicy Ginger Beer
Spicy ginger beer is a favorite for most bar owners because of its versatility. It has a spicy-sweet flavor profile, which makes it a perfect base for most healthy mixed drinks. You can also serve it standalone with crushed ice and a lime wheel garnish.
Virgin Pina Colada
This popular tropical blend of pineapple juice and coconut cream needs no introduction. It’s the perfect classic cocktail for various family-friendly occasions. You can serve it blended or shaken with ice cubes. Ensure you play around with different garnishes to make it more refreshing.
Wine Selection Guide
Whether you’re looking to offer chilled white wines or classic reds, there’s a range of zero-proof options that provide the unique taste of fine wine. A few options to include in your bar menu include:
- Opia Organic Rosé
- Pierre Zero Signature Chardonnay
- Le Petit Beret Sauvignon Blanc
- So Jennie Paris Blanc
- Elivo Zero Deluxe Red
Budget-Friendly Drink Strategies
The versatility of your drinks menu plays an essential role in appealing to a broad audience and enhancing your customers’ experience. But, you must remember to manage your budget to ensure you run a profitable bar.
In this section, we’ll discuss a few strategies you can implement to ensure you create a menu that satisfies your customers’ evolving preferences without eating into your profits.
Setting a Budget
The first step in developing a menu that’s affordable to your patrons and profitable for you is to set a budget. Doing this will ensure your costs remain manageable. You can create a budget by categorizing your offerings into tiers. Then, set aside a budget for premium drinks that’ll fetch more and another for the affordable options.
This tiered approach will help you cater to diverse customers without straining your finances. You can have a combination of premium, mid-range, and inexpensive drink prices to manage your costs and maintain healthy profit margins.
Introduce Craft and Signature Drinks
Craft and signature drinks are an interesting way to introduce your personality into your offerings and connect with clients. They’ll help your restaurant stand out and let you command higher prices because of their perceived value and exclusivity.
Allow yourself to get as creative as possible when creating signature in-house drinks. You want to capture the taste buds of customers attracted to your signature drinks. So, they will use word-of-mouth marketing to get others on the lookout for new flavors to try your unique menu items.
Cost-Effective Sourcing for Your Drink Menu Items
One way to maintain your restaurant business’s cash flow is to keep your production costs low. The secret is to source your menu items from suppliers who provide high-quality products at affordable prices. When you do this, you’ll be able to create offerings that appeal to your target audience without exceeding your budget.
Also, consider creating solid partnerships with local suppliers, distilleries, breweries, or wineries and signing a bulk purchasing deal with them. Most will be willing to negotiate special pricing with you to help keep your production costs low.
Another cost-effective sourcing strategy that can help you keep your finances intact is to source versatile bases you can use across multiple drink offerings. It’ll keep the costs of producing different types of drinks low while keeping your menu fresh.
Menu Adjustments
Seek and analyze customer feedback actively to make data-driven decisions about which drinks you need to maintain, modify, or remove. This will ensure your menu items resonate with clients and you’re not wasting money on drinks that are not selling well.
You can gather effective feedback through in-person and online surveys. Or use automated restaurant operations platforms to track your client’s purchasing behavior. Adjusting your drinks menu based on the feedback you receive from customers also shows you value them and are committed to offering a one-of-a-kind experience.
Conclusion
Ultimately, safe and responsible drinking should always come first. To run a successful establishment, ensure you provide clients with all the information they require to make responsible drink choices. Also, be open to customizing your offerings according to clients’ requests to help them create unforgettable memories and connect with your brand.
If you host several events on your premises, don’t forget to check out Perfect Venue. The platform will help you increase the efficiency of your business operations and give you accurate insight to improve your services. Book a free demo to see how it works.
