Bar operators aren’t the only
ones playing in the higher price
ranges. When Banks Five Island
Rum recently launched, an all-star
team of New York bar stars —
PDT’s Jim Meehan (who worked
on developing the rum), Julie
Reiner of the newly opened Lani
Kai, Eben Freeman of the Altama-rea Group and Dushan Zaric of
Employees Only — helped roll
out cocktails designed to showcase the spirit’s fruity, pot-still-driven qualities. Clearly presented
as something special at the upper
echelon of the lightly aged rum
category, pricing for Banks was
set to push the $30 barrier, but
folks involved with the brand privately admitted the ultimate price
would depend on initial response
from the market.
That’s a far different attitude
from a few years ago, when
marketers for high-end spirits
seemed to be competing for the
honor of bringing out the most
deluxe, the most prestigious or
the highest price point spirit in
the category. The logic behind
that model mostly disappeared
with the recession’s onset. Yet
while conspicuous consumption
may be less in vogue and some
high-end brands may struggle to
sustain growth, there’s no precipitous drop in spirit prices at the
top. Marketers may hold off a bit
on introducing more expensive
products, but there’s still plenty of
consumer interest in spirits that
are special, whatever the price.
And that means there’s plenty of
ways for your bar to gain profits.
Price Breaks
The persistence of super-premium brands is partially a result of
the shattering of so many price
barriers in the 2000s. Cocktails
selling for $15, bottles of rare
malts pushing the $1,000 range,
vodkas like Jean Marc XO and
Crystal Head going for $50 a
bottle — all of this helped create
the idea that something rare and
well made was worth more, and
in turn, it created consumers who
now like to shop at many price
points up and down the ladder.
Partially driven by the craft
distillery boom, which is bringing
a flood of new small-production
spirits to the market, there’s a
constant thirst for the new among
operators of bars and restau-
rants. Beyond the small distillers,
producers of some categories —
notably tequila and mezcal — are
constantly importing new brands,
most at super-premium and
above price points.
Upscale Sales
For some operators, the economic
rollback had a serious impact at
the top end. The Brandy Library
in New York City defines itself
with an enormous collection of
rare malts, brandies and other
ultra-premium spirits, depending
largely on consumers willing to
spend lavishly. But according to
owner Flavien Desoblin, while
his traffic is strong, the current
picture is quite simple: “We have
a large proportion of corporate
clientele who used to bring in
four or five clients and order a
few rounds of the most expensive
whiskies or Cognacs we had, but
since the summer of 2008, that’s
all changed. Wall Street guys and
bankers are much more careful
about conspicuous spending
because of how it might look to
their coworkers or clients.”
At Brandy Library, orders might
have averaged $60 or more until
2008, but now they are about
half that, though Desoblin says
since the summer he’s noticed an
uptick in check totals, as custom-
ers are starting to loosen up on
spending. These customers also
want to know more about the
spirits they order, something
Desoblin, who heads a staff of
brandy “librarians” well-versed in
their stock, says is crucial when
trying to sell top-end spirits.
