June  2003

BY THE WAY

CHEERS ON-PREMISE HANDBOOK

What if there was a blueprint that restaurant owners and beverage managers could reference to build their adult beverage programs into models of customer satisfaction as well as efficient, profitable operations? We think that blueprint has recently been drawn. It is the Cheers On-Premise Handbook and it's available in a 2003 Advance Edition from the Adams Beverage Group's Handbooks & Directories division.

Some of you may know that the Adams Beverage Group is Cheers' corporate parent. So, why are we using this space to toot our own horn? The answer is easy. The lack of information about beverage sales in restaurants and bars has become a critical issue in a competitive marketplace. Now with the new On-Premise Handbook beverage professionals putting together drink menus and promotion programs can reference a single source outside of their own operations for support data. Aren't you more likely to plan a successful signature drink or seasonal promotion if you can compare your own historical ring data with other information? In the On-Premise Handbook, you can leaf in minutes to a) the ten leading spirits call brands cross-tabbed by region, b) the most popular mixed drinks by market, and c) the top selling brands in each category overall.

About 20 years ago I heard Norm Brinker give an exceptional talk. Brinker must experience more insights per hour than most individuals do per lifetime. On this occasion he spoke on what it takes to develop a successful restaurant concept. He compared the achievement to slicing an idea so thin and so exact that its width is barely discernable. It's a tough challenge, he said. The slice to the left of the successful one doesn't work; neither does the slice to the right. In the business in which he specialized for so long (from founding Steak & Ale in 1966 to building multi-concept Brinker International), the desired conceptual targets are so small, you never hit them unless your strike is precise.

To achieve the success Norm Brinker did you have to know your customer and your marketplace down to the equivalent of a couple of decimal points. That's what data such as you'll find in the On-Premise Handbook does in today's on-premise world. Used in an environment where programs are planned and executed precisely, it is designed to give one competitor a special edge over the others.

So, are you ready to out-strategize the competition on brands and flavors, on stocking and reordering, on the well, the back bar and the drink menu, on refrigeration and drink dispensing? We're ready to help. Please note that data for 2002 in the Advance Edition of the Handbook is preliminary and subject to change. (Final information will be published in the fall. See page 19 for further information.)

 

Charles Forman
Vice President and Publisher