Cocktails sparkles in 2017 bar menu

Followed by innovation and a constant change cocktail is taking many forms in India in last few years. From being a country where people straight away grab an alcoholic drink, beverages to customers who have grown with global beverages change and acceptance Cocktail has taken a new look. Today customers are going fancy over the presentation forcing restaurant owners and bar tenders to play around the cocktails.

While tricky in its business and appearance cocktail as a trend is pushing every restaurant and bar to experiment with it driven by the craze of the young energetic crowd they cater to. Recently opened restaurant cum bar named SamBar Pub & Kitchen in Khar area of Mumbai is trading high on its fun cocktail drink which is being presented in an International avatar matching the same standard with a regional tadka. Opened with a theme of South India, their desi cocktail which is a blend of South India filter coffee with a mix of vodka is cashing on big numbers other than Rasam mary and Curry Martini. “The cocktail drinking in India has gone up in last two years. The response has been phenomenal not only at my place but at other restaurants and bars also. The innovation, the idea people come up with and sense of curiosity has increased and they do not set up with classical mojito and stick to something new as it is refreshing change,” shares Pragnesh Rai who was already into the bar business from last 35 years catering to a different kind of crowd.

Connected socially consumers can keep a record on what’s happening in other metropolitan countries and what likeminded or groomed customers are drinking there and as these learning have no boundaries and is something promoted by food tourism restaurants have to be a step ahead to see what crackles their business in India. According to industry experts, two years ago the cocktail sale was about 2-4 per cent and today when they are reinventing the menu by imbibing little bit of madness they do 28-30 per cent of cocktails.

Also, in present market, it is important for bars and restaurants to balance offerings with changing consumer demand. The consequence is the adoption of diverse approaches as menu engineering models (a structured approach to designing menus) and menu strategies (concepts that are creative, unique, and in line with the player’s business objectives). “Cocktails and mock tails are doing well but after two cocktails a person would want to stick to his drink. They are a crowd puller especially with bars doing molecular stuff with smoke and presentation. Every bar is doing well because they are innovating with new menu, doing innovations around cocktails. Innovation is a continuous process,” says Hitesh Keswani who owns famous bars like Radio, Silver Beach Cafe amongst others.

Seeing the rise of the consumption and a fad of the new age drinkers and beverages lover a Mumbai based start up is started named BarCzar which gives you an option to have cocktail from your favourite place for Rs 500 a month on subscription basis. “we felt that there is no single platform in India which showcases this opportunities for bars and so we brainstormed and figured out how this will encourage these kind of concepts,” adds Karan Gonsalves who is on a ride to promote cocktail drinking in India.

Hence, we can say that Innovation plays an important role and the way cocktail should be presented has to be gimmicky in order to bring India on world radar.