Nightclub & Bar - July 2009

Cheers to the Positive

Tuesdays are a time to celebrate.

For every glass ordered, Pops f

Back in April, Tom Verhey, owner of Chicago’s Pops for Champagne, came up with an idea to help those less fortunate find work, while simultaneously encouraging his patrons to celebrate something every single week.

The Toast on Tuesday promotion invites guests to come in each week and raise a glass to anything in their lives that is going well.

“With all the doom and gloom going on in the news,” explains
Verhey, “I thought it would be nice to spend a day celebrating each
week. It could be anything people want to toast — an upcoming
trip, a new friend — anything. We normally offer two pours for our
Champagnes, a 3-ounce and a 5-ounce, and on Tuesdays, guests can
choose any of the 12 Champagnes by the glass on our menu and pay
the 3-ounce price for 5 ounces.”
or Champagne donates $1 to the Chicago Jobs Council organization,
which is dedicated to helping those less fortunate find employment and career advancement opportunities.

“So far, we have done this for three weeks, and we have raised over $500. We are averaging between 60 and 100 glasses sold per event.”

The promotion has been such a success that Verhey plans to continue it for at least three months.

“We estimate that 25 percent of the people coming in on Tuesdays now are here specifically for the promotion. The type of crowd we get in here is extremely varied,” he says. “It’s everyone from visitors — since we are located downtown — to the after-work local crowd. We have done some advertising on table tents and through our PR firm, but mainly it’s word of mouth. We explain the promotion to every person that comes in, and once people come by on a Tuesday and enjoy the discount and the great atmosphere, they tend to return. The saying is true: ‘The more you celebrate life, the more there is in life to celebrate.’”

Kai-Inspired Competition

General manager Kari Olsen urges bartenders to concoct cocktails using Kai vodka.

At Red Square, located in Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, the menu features 30 cocktails and vodkas from around the globe. One vodka that sells particularly well in cocktails is Kai, made in Vietnam.

The increased sales on this brand are due mostly to a staff incentive program headed up by general manager Kari Olsen.

“We do an incentive program every few months where we allow the bartenders to create a drink with Kai, either the regular or the lychee flavor, and then the entire staff gets to vote for the favorite and that drink is added to the menu,” she says. “We have done this about three or four times, and the staff gets really into it.”

At a pre-shift meeting, the group gathers to taste the different cocktails and fill out comment cards on which they like best and why.

highlighted in any way

“Having them explain why they like the ones that they do helps the bartenders get feedback and an idea of what people are looking for in taste,” Olsen explains.

“The winning cocktail
is not separately
on the actual menu,
but it’s usually a big seller since the winning
bartender always suggests it, and the servers
feel a little more attached to it, so they promote
it tableside as well.”

Kai supplies the bartenders with sample bottles to play with so the bar doesn’t work through the stocked product. The most recent winner is the Kai Blossom, which appears on the spring/summer menu.