Boost Your Drink Sales with Chocolate Cocktails

Boost Your Drink Sales with Chocolate Cocktails

Dessert Cocktails are not only popular all on their own; they also fit with many of the current cocktail trends:

  • Sensory Experiences 
  • Premiumization and Value
  • Sustainability
  • Fun, sweet cocktails

Here, we’ll take a closer look at these current and future beverage trends and explore inspiring recipes created by our Chocolate Academy™ UK Chefs.

A cocktail

Top 2024 Beverage Trend: Sensory Experiences

Forbes Magazine spoke with Mark Tubridy, bar manager of The Baccarat Hotel New York, who credits Netflix's Drink Masters with creating a buzz around cocktail presentations. He says, "I expect to see mixologists looking for new and innovative ways to tell a story through their creations." Kimpton Hotels' "2024 Trends to Watch For" suggests looking to textures and unique garnishes to highlight your establishment's unique perspective.

a cocktail

For Customers, "Value" Doesn't Mean "Cheap"

While current economic trends have caused many customers to rethink their attitude toward dining out and try to reduce food expenditures in general, it has also caused them to focus on the quality of the meals and drinks they choose. Consumer behaviour indicates a sharp knowledge that one does, in fact, get what one pays for. In their article from early 2023, Diageo Bar Academy noted that 56% of consumers are willing to pay more for a better-quality drink.

High-quality ingredients and attention to detail are the way to go.

a cocktail

Sustainability

In Flavour Blaster*’s List of “Cocktail Trends for 2024 that You Need to Try!” (6 December 2023), they noted the growing prevalence of sustainability in cocktails, just as seen in the hospitality industry as a whole. Emphasis on caring for the environment and those who grow and process our food has an undeniable place on your cocktail menu. Using sustainable ingredients and incorporating no/low-waste practices into your operation says that you share your customers’ values and are committed to using high-quality ingredients.

 

*  (a manufacturer of cocktail glasses and technological bar gadgetry)

a cocktail

On the Sweet Side

Both Mintel and FSR (Full-Service Restaurants) Magazine have noted a rise in customer cravings for Dessert Cocktails, with Mintel noting “Many new and trending alcoholic beverage offerings tap into consumers’ love of sugar including dessert.” In FSR’s piece, beverage director Chevy Farrell also noted the uptick in the offering of dessert cocktails and offered some notable advice: offer your dessert cocktails on your regular bar menu; don’t group them with desserts, as this could scare off craft cocktail-loving customers. “I try not to draw lines between cocktails in a sense of defining them as ‘dessert cocktails.’ I put them on the list alongside any other of my cocktails. It seems like the consumer is more likely to put aside any phobia of ordering a dessert-style drink [this way].”

More Trends to Explore