Quality drinks can make a visit to your establishment a memorable one and determine whether customers return and recommend it to others.
That makes it a vitally important element of your business and one worth investing time in, to ensure your staff are getting the drinks serve right every time.
All of our Sell More, Save More establishments have been refining their drink-making skills with help from Maxxium UK's training scheme, Mixxit, and they've all reported some positive results.
Woody's bar has taken on a new lease of life since the training, having completely revised its drink offering to become the only cocktail bar in the area, while the Wheel Inn has been attracting more female drinkers with its new long drinks offering. The Stanley Arms, renowned for its ales, is now serving eight per cent more spirits and the staff are well equipped to offer them mixed as well as straight.
Mixxit offers three types of tailored training to suit on-trade establishments from country pubs to top end style bars, free of charge. It's headed up by three top mixologists, Wayne Collins, Andy Gemmel and Patsy Christie but the entire Maxxium sales force is qualified to offer training to their customers countrywide.
Woody's bar - Mixxit's biggest Sell More, Save More success so far - a 25 per cent increase in spirit sales!
Mixxit's biggest success story of the Sell More, Save More initiative so far has been Woody's bar. Maxxium's Patsy Christie offered cocktail training to bar owner Natalie Coleshill and her team, who wanted to revive the business and recruit new drinkers through cocktails.
Patsy took the team through the basic principles of mixing a drink, guided them through the flavours and mixed drinks families and how spirits are the building blocks of the art of cocktail-making.
Speaking about the training, Natalie said: "It was absolutely brilliant, far better than we'd hoped and the staff loved it. Patsy gave a really good background, explaining the flavours and the history behind the brands which really helps to bring it to life. The results have been phenomenal, the cocktails have been going so well, better than the wine even, it's been amazing.
"The training has helped us take our business in a new direction. The customers love it and even the men are going for cocktails. I'm really happy with it.
"Sprit sales have increased by 25 per cent following the training. Previously we did not offer any cocktails nor have a drinks menu. We didn't stock Stolichnaya at all so that accounts for about 10 per cent of the increase and Sourz is also a big success - we now use the range in cocktails so that has increased by around 15 per cent. The menus have also helped consumers to make an informed decision about the highball drinks we offer.
"The training really inspired the staff to focus on offering the perfect serve and better quality every time. The flavoured Martinis were a big hit over the festive period too, on New Year's Eve they accounted for over 70 per cent of the night's drinks yielding a good profit margin as well as making the experience more premium. The support I have received from Patsy and Maxxium I cannot rate highly enough. It has changed the dimension of my business as well as keeping us all enthusiastic!"
Following the success of the first round of training Patsy returned for a second session to find that business had increased so much that Natalie had taken on three new members of staff.
She found that guests had been particularly enjoying the French Martini, Cosmopolitan and Curveball made with the UK's number one cognac, Courvoisier.
The Stanley Arms - boosted spirit sales by eight per cent following Mixxit training!
Maxxium UK brand development manager David Miles visited the Stanley Arms, known for its fantastic cask ale offering but less so for spirits.
"It is a really good, award-winning, real ale pub with a loyal following," he said. "The staff are clearly there for the long term and keen to learn how to make good drinks. We kept it really simple because that's what they wanted. I showed them the basic principles including the importance of filling the glass with ice and giving your drink a squeeze of lime. They just wanted to serve a good whisky and Coke and give the staff confidence to talk about it."
Licensee of the Stanley Arms Steve Bennett commented: "The training was very good and the staff really enjoyed it. Since then we've put menus on the tables which are reminding customers of what we offer apart from our ales. We've seen around an eight per cent uplift in spirit sales, which is a very good increase."
• For more information on Mixxit training please email mixxit.uk@maxxium.com and for ideas and inspiration visit www.mixxit.co.uk. Click on You've Been Trained to find more examples of how Mixxit's sales team has helped increase trade for other customers.