BarProfits: Building a Sustainable Bottom Line

BIG IDEAS FOR QUICK CHANGES

Sometimes big ideas come in small packages, other times they’re plastered on a billboard or tattooed on a server’s arm. What’s the difference how or where you come by a good idea as long as it eventually lands in your laptop. To expedite things, here are some nuggets that caught the attention of our editorial staff.

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL — Ice plays an unheralded role in mixology. It lowers the drink’s temperature and allows its ingredients to meld and harmonize. The quality of the ice assuredly impacts the taste of the finished drink. Now it can also change the look of your drinks. ICE BALLS are seemingly the perfect marriage of form and function. Made on-premise in molds or purchased by the case on-line, they vary in size—with some reaching 4-5-inches in diameter—and look like crystal clear spheres in a glass. The singular shape allows them to melt at a slower rate, thus reducing dilution. For more information check out icecaters.com and japantrendshop.com.

DIRTY SUE — Veterans of the stick will attest that the secret to making a world-class Dirty Martini is the quality and character of the olive brine added. It’s what distinguishes the cocktail from all others. Preparing a Dirty Martini with brine sitting on the bottom of the garnish tray often results in a less than marvelous drink. There’s no reason to elaborate or mention that brine sitting out for hours can become tainted and cloudy with bits of olives and pimento.

The one-step solution is DIRTY SUE, THE ORIGINAL DIRTY MARTINI MIX (www.dirtysue.com). Developed by L.A. bartender Eric Tocotsky, the bottled premium olive juice is undoubtedly the best thing that can happen to a Dirty Martini.
ecreamery
WE ALL SCREAM FOR IT — As far as some of us are concerned, to be considered genuinely world-class every great bar or cocktail lounge needs its own signature flavor of ice cream. Chuckle if you must, but ice cream is incomparable in cocktails and specialty drinks. Even better, what if you were the only venue on the planet to have a particular flavor of ice cream? Once smitten with your creation, guests have only one place to satisfy their cravings.

At ECREAMERY.COM creating a customized ice cream is a matter of a few keystrokes. You call the shots. First you select the base between sorbetto, gelato or ice cream, then add in the flavors and any mixings. It’ll arrive at your door a few mornings later. A gallon costs about $90 with shipping. (ecreamery.com)

TOOLS FROM DOWN UNDER — A classy lounge needs classy barware. If the tools you’re using behind the bar date back to the Truman Administration, consider upgrading to Australian-based ÜBER BAR TOOLS. Designed by beverage professionals for use in high volume commercial environments, Über Bar Tools are the tools you need when preparing contemporary cocktails by dramatically reducing time, effort and waste. Their line of 11 indispensable tools includes an ingenious multiple-measure jigger, a pour test kit for bartenders and high-performance speed pourers. Here’s a company that gets it. (uberbartools.com)

SUDS WATCH —When a keg empties foam begins to spray out of the spigot as the gas pressure drains the last of the beer out of the feed lines. The rush of gas causes “fobbing.” When a new keg is brought on-line, the beer displaces the volume of gas in the feed line wasting both time and beer. Installing fob detectors eliminates the problem.

These devices are mounted in the walk-in and connected to the draft feed lines. When a keg empties, a float in the fob detector cuts off the flow of beer and the gas is prevented from entering the line. Once the device is recharged with beer, pouring can continue with no waste or fobbing. Priced at between $64 and $136 per unit, fob detectors are highly cost-effective and have impressively short ROIs. For more information check out micromatic.com and kegman.net

HONEY YOU CAN HOLD — Delicious and all natural, it’s hard to imagine a drawback to honey, other than it being messy and a hassle. Island Abbey Foods Ltd. of Prince Edward Island has done something about those shortcomings with the release of the HONIBE HONEY DROP, an individual teaspoon serving of pure dried honey free of any additives or preservatives. They’re perfect for sweetening hot tea or coffee. The Honey Drop comes in two flavors: pure honey and pure honey with lemon. Great stuff. (www.honibe.com)