CUSTOMERS ARE ORDERING MORE UPSCALE DRINKS

 

I have ran across this article which is very relevant to today's economy and customer trends.
More updscale, more education, more choices ... essentially everyone needs to do more!

ON-PREMISE CONSUMERS ARE ORDERING BETTER QUALITY DRINKS MORE OFTEN
Source: Wine & Spirits Daily
https://winespiritsdaily.com/
March 5th

More consumers are consistently ordering beverage alcohol when they go out to eat. In fact, 84% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed in Next Level Marketing's annual report (conducted in February) said they are ordering alcoholic drinks nearly every time they go out, up 5% from last year's survey. With 87% of consumers surveyed ordering the same or better quality drinks, and just 6% saying they are ordering cheaper drinks.

The number of drinks consumers are ordering per occasion on-premise has consistently stayed around 2.2 drinks the last few years, and that number is a little higher among males and millennials. While consumers may not be drinking more per occasion, the number of occasions has increased. "People are drinking more often, better quality, but in the same amount each time," said Next Level Marketing's Mike Ginley at the VIBE Conference last week.

As for where they're drinking, casual dining chains are the most visited type of bars/restaurants among those surveyed, with local independent casual dining restaurants in second place. The main drivers of determining where to go are food quality, food and drink value prices and service. Beverage programs play a key role in determining where consumers want to spend their money on a night out.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD BEVERAGE PROGRAM?
The survey found that the top five key elements to a beverage program are: (1) good value prices, (2) happy hour specials, (3) great drink quality, (4) great beer selection and (5) drink specials and promotions. A bit lower on the list, you'll find great wine selection and great cocktail selection.

EXPERIMENTATION AND BRAND LOYALTY
Experimentation of new brands is "remarkably high" across beer, wine and spirits, with about 80% of consumers responding that they tried a new brand within the past 90 days, and about 60% tried a new brand in the past month, according to Mike. Though the general consensus is that consumers are less brand loyal these days, Mike suggested that many still are brand loyal based on the fact that consumers said they only consumed about 3 or 4 brands in total over the past 90 days across each category.