According to Nation’s Restaurant News, restaurant and bar owners will be seeing a significant boost in alcoholic beverage sales in 2011, according to research from consulting firm Technomic Inc. However, these sales aren’t as big as they’ve been after downturns in the past.
The Chicago-based firm sees a nominal 1.9 percent rise in overall restaurant and bar alcohol sales in 2011.
“The past several years were brutal for the alcohol category in bars and restaurants,” said David Henkes, a Technomic vice president and head of the firms on-premise practice, “as consumers were trading down to value offerings or simply not ordering alcohol at all.”
While beer and wine sales are expected to rise in 2011, Technomic is being “cautiously optimistic.”
“What we’ve found is that the beverage program doesn’t necessarily get people into the restaurant, but it can be a differentiating factor once they are there,” he said.
