Restaurant and Wine News

Your Wine Is Gross, Here’s the Fix

I love wine, but I usually don’t order it at bars. In fact, I frequently don’t even order it at restaurants. It’s not because I can’t find wine, actually it’s the opposite: wine is everywhere these days. The sad truth is, when I used to order wines at bars, most of the wines I ordered were disgusting–and if your wine sales are low, your wine might be disgusting, too.

If you open wines for single-glass pours on a haphazard basis, store the opened bottles behind the bar for an indeterminate amount of time, or stick all of your wine in the fridge, your wine is likely to be terrible. If you want to sell more wine (or at least sell the wine you’ve already purchased), you need to do better. This article offers four wine storage fixes to increase your wine sales.

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Attract Craft Beer Drinkers at a Lower Cost? Yes, You Can

When you think of beer in a can, the first image to come to mind might be a cringe-inducing one. Perhaps it’s the image of a six-pack of the cheapest, least drinkable beer that the local supermarket sells. You may be surprised, then, to learn of the growing acceptance and popularity of canned beer amongst craft brewery enthusiasts. Not only is the quality of canned craft beer becoming more and more trusted; canning also brings down overhead expenses, making it possible for more beer to be shipped for the same cost.

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8 Easy Ways to Make your Bar Customers Happy Every Day

Can you make your bar customers happier? (This is a trick question. The answer is “Yes.”) Since increasing your customer satisfaction is most important thing you can do to grow your business, we’re offering you eight tips to use in your bar, starting tonight.

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5 Types of Bar Regulars—Which Does Your Bar Have?

If you recently opened or are planning to open a bar, you’ll need to be able to attract your future bar regulars. Who are these mysterious people? What do they like? How do you get them to come back? This article answers all your questions, and gives you tips that pack in the crowds.

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Hangover-Free Sangria Your Patrons Will Remember (Fondly)

It’s getting pretty hard to believe these days, but summer is, in fact, on the way – and so the time is almost ripe to be thinking about sangria. While it is true that this drink is often treated by many bars as a simple afterthought (not to mention an easy way to use up leftover wine), you probably should think twice before just throwing together a sweet, wine-based concoction that is sure to earn your establishment a reputation as “that place we went to that one time that made me have the worst hangover of my entire life.” While a lot of different ingredients can go into a batch of sangria, quality does, on some level, count – and any batch that’s just packed with cheap liquor and lots of sugar is bound to be a recipe for a painful next day.

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4 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day at Your Bar

Earth Day is right around the corner, will your bar be packed for the holiday? With the increased emphasis that America is placing on planet stewardship, you can bet that your regular drinking crowd will be just as interested in saving the Earth as they are in trying the new springtime draft beers and cocktails. Here are four ideas to make sure your bar is the coolest place to be while helping to ward off Global Warming.

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Get More Bar Customers When You Add Vegan Cocktails

The hot trend right now is veganism, and though savvy restaurants are beginning to cater to vegans (it’s one of our 2014 food predictions), bars haven’t yet realized that they’re missing a significant customer base. This article puts your bar in the know about non-vegan and vegan cocktail ingredients, and also recommends ways to get those vegans to notice your bar. Let’s get to it.

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digital wine menu uncorkd

3 Surprising Ways to Use Your Digital Wine Menu

Digital wine menus are the future of restaurant menus, but they’re useful for so much more than just wine. Savvy restaurants use digital wine menus as a fun, interactive tablet-based menu experience that gets customers excited about exploring the menu. Not only do digital wine menus provide customers with in-depth information about their drinks (which only a sommelier, a cicerone, or a bartender could provide previously), they also provide restaurant owners total freedom from expensive menu printing costs. Wondering how you can use a digital wine menu like Uncorkd even if you don’t serve wine? Here are three surprising ways.

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Small Batches: That’s the Spirit!

Given the rise in popularity of craft beers and local food, it was only a matter of time before the artisan spirits industry would be taking off in the United States as well. Once associated with bootlegging during the Prohibition era, the distilling of small batch liquors actually now accounts for approximately 400 small U.S. distilleries – and they’re producing a variety of spirits, ranging from bourbon to rum, vodka, and gin. Among those small distilleries are Sag Harbor Rum, based in the South Fork of eastern Long Island, NY – as well as a number of Illinois-based whiskey producers, including Koval, which is located in Chicago, where it produces a single-barrel, gluten-free organic bourbon whiskey. Evanston-based Few Spirits, as well as the Lake Bluff areas’ North Shore Distillery, are also on the list. Read more

Is Your Spring Drink Menu Too Cold? Too Hot? Or Just Right?

Spring is officially here – and with it comes that warm breeze that you’re probably feeling right about now…

Wait. What I meant to say was, “Brrrr! Someone close that door!”

Actually, spring weather, as we all know, is extremely unpredictable. Given that fact, it’s hard to know just what your patrons will be craving most as it starts getting warmer. (Er, that is, a little warmer. Occasionally warmer?) Well, regardless of how you might best describe spring, to be realistic, it’s probably best to have a wide range of drinks available from which your patrons may choose. Read more