The Bar Was Open. Nobody Was Ready
Hotel guests are showing elevated purchase intent across every beverage category. The distribution landscape just fractured. Most independent operators have no plan for either. That gap has a cost.
Every Table Had A Bottle
Barbaresco, Italy. Every table had a bottle. Nobody asked why. Two Atlanta restaurants. Same city. Same caliber. One room that looked like this. One that did not. The only difference was a pricing decision.
The $24 Last Word
A $24 Last Word cocktail in a suburban restaurant sent us home to make our own. The math behind that price reveals why restaurant beverage sales have dropped 26 percent since 2019 and what operators building for the long term do differently.