Hosting sponsored tastings in your establishment is one more creative way to turn lazy bar nights into local events that bring in clientele old and new. Working with beer, wine, and spirits brands that are looking to garner a consumer following also opens the door for owners and operators to rev up their beverage offerings, which keeps things fresh.
Before hosting an event, decide what it is you’re trying to accomplish. In other words, what is the theme? You may be trying to promote a particular spirit or brand that has hasn’t been selling well, or one you’d like people to know has found a home on your back bar and cocktail menu. The event may be held in conjunction with a local charity or non-profit organization to raise awareness of an issue. Either way, it’s best to know whom it is you’d like to invite (and why) before putting the word out.
Taking advantage of the expertise of such an event coordinator can be beneficial; whether a member of your staff or an outside hire, event planners will know what you need to do to get started, as well as how to properly promote the event.
Dori Bryant, president of The Polished Palate, in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and founder of the Spirits of Mexico event in San Diego, organizes tasting events, competitions, and seminars at the on-premise level for consumers and industry professionals. Recently she helped roll out Tequila Tuesdays at Red Mesa Cantina, a modern taqueria and ceviché bar in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The weekly Tuesday events were initially meant to promote both the existence of the new venue as well as its tequila flights. Once a month, however, they are expanded into ticketed seminars where customers can learn all about tequila and how to appreciate it from experts on the category such as distributors or other industry insiders. The different tequilas offered at each event are provided by the featured brands—some mainstream, others from smaller independent distilleries—and are complimented with small plates of food on Red Mesa’s regular menu.
Red Mesa Cantina wants to maintain their Tequila Tuesday seminars as small, intimate educational experiences for paying customers. The monthly event is an opportunity for both customer and owner to learn about different tequilas on the market, as well as for the venue to meet its end goal of becoming the go-to place for tequila and good cuisine.
For larger venues such as Hudson Terrace, a luxury bar and lounge in New York City that boasts multiple floors and over 5,000 square feet of available event space, sponsored events are possible on a grander scale. For a recent chocolate and wine tasting—one event in a six-part series organized by CocktailSeries.com—the venue hosted over 600 paying customers, all of which were exposed to new products and the venue itself.
“Doing these events allow people to see our venue in a different light,” says Erika London, event planner for Hudson Terrace. “People that attend the CocktailSeries.com events are not necessarily the same clientele that would come in for a bottle service night. CocktailSeries.com has a large database, and they host very unique events that attract a lot of people.”
Sponsored tastings and events can be beneficial for both consumers and on-premise owners and operators. For one, customers can come in and learn about new products on the market for a fun couple of hours at minimal cost. Similarly, bar and nightclub owners are exposed to products that consumers are interested in, that they can learn about and add to their inventory.
“Once you start a relationship with different brand reps, they bring you offers, and what they have may fit your needs,” says London. “Hudson Terrace changes its menu seasonally, so it’s definitely good exposure for our managers and owners to be exposed to different things that we did not have in our venue before.”
Red Mesa Cantina is not afraid to add new products from its Tequila Tuesday seminars to its tequila list. “For the first event, several distributors in the area came in and then wanted to be a part of what was going on,” says Patrick Harrison, Public Relations Director for Red Mesa Cantina. “The next day, they offered to host and sponsor upcoming tastings. We definitely use products we’ve never had or even heard of. We work with distributors and producers; they will supply product which cuts our costs, too.”
In terms of profitability, both Harrison and Debbie Rizzo, president of DRinkPR, in San Francisco, California, a boutique PR firm specializing in beer, wine and spirits, say sponsored tastings won’t necessarily generate immediate revenue. Instead, says Rizzo, who works with brands such as Bols Genever and Combier, “the benefit is the affiliation between the brand and the venue. Brands try to align with locations that have been good to them or are interested in bringing it on their menu and promoting them.
“As much as everyone wants to make money, a lot of these smaller, boutique brands do not have big budgets. Figuring out a trade, realizing you’re getting press, helping a small brand grow, and bringing something interesting to your venue, is a big proponent for owners and managers,” she says. “Elixir in San Francisco has a cocktail club once a month. They bring in big names in the cocktail industry or host sit-downs with distillers so members can learn about a product. The sky is the limit when you’re creative and can find someone to support you in the endeavor. Also, consumers want to learn, so if you give them that opportunity in a way that doesn’t cost too much, it’s a win-win.”
Leveraging a partnering company’s contact or marketing list will help broaden your reach, and possibly bring in new customers. Another option is to promote the event on-premise. Red Mesa Cantina is not promoting Tequila Tuesdays with a huge media campaign. Instead, a more subtle approach ensures that its target audience is reached.
Putting together a sponsored tasting or event in your venue requires planning and effort. Keeping in mind what it is you are trying to accomplish from hosting them, however, is key to its success.
For most, the long-term benefits—established relationships with brands and organizations, as well as opening your doors to potential new customers—are going to be the most valuable elements. Counters London, “It definitely helps to be open-minded. Most small venues won’t host events like this because they don’t think it’s necessarily the most profitable avenue. But exposure to new people is going to be profitable in the long run.”
