17th October 2024
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Summer is just around the corner. With the arrival of longer days and warmer nights – not to mention the fast approaching festive season – more people are spending more time socialising outside. The sales opportunities for bar owners and hospitality businesses are rising with the temperatures. Question is, are you ready to seize them?
Providing commentary on its 2023 On Premise Consumer Pulse Report, respected research consultancy CGA identified strong sales trends across all drinks categories during the peak summer period:
“…27% of consumers drink soft drinks more often, followed by Beer (21%), Cocktails (19%), and RTDs (17%). During this time of year … a key priority for consumers choosing drinks is that it’s served cold (75%) and is refreshing (72%) … the season also sees On Premise users opt more often for casual dining restaurants (52%) and pubs (46%), with the hotter weather seeing consumers more likely to visit venues for casual occasions.”
Capitalising on these profit opportunities doesn’t just happen, of course. It requires solid planning and innovation everywhere from your event and entertainment schedule to menu planning. But it also extends to ensuring you have the right bar fridge solutions, so you’re ready to serve the perfect drinks for your patrons, every time.
To help you get thinking about the possibilities, here are six key things worth considering when investing in new bar refrigeration:
Bar fridge doors typically come in three types: solid swing, glass swing and glass slide. Slide doors tend to work better in confined or busy service spaces with multiple staff operating in close proximity. Swing door options require a little more space but tend to be more versatile with reversible door hinges and handy ‘stay open’ features that are perfect for easy restocking. Combination units can also be specified, featuring both solid doors and glass doors with shelves for storing and displaying chilled bottles.
Marketing Coordinator EMEA
Long gone are the days of ‘one-style-fits-all’. Today’s modern bar fridges are highly modular and customisable, configurable to fit the exact space and style of your venue, as well as the products you need to store and serve for patrons. At True Refrigeration, exterior finishes are also fully customisable with the choice of black powder-coated cold rolled steel, stainless steel, or you can take advantage of our Custom Colour service, offering a wide range of colour matches to complement your decor.
Built-in refrigeration makes sense for larger and more permanent bar fit-outs. Only trouble is, many traditional fixed systems depend on rear ventilation to run efficiently, especially in summer, which can eat into your available floorspace. To address this, True has developed a range of innovative ‘front-breathing’ systems that require zero clearance at the rear or sides. They’re super versatile systems, not to mention highly space and energy efficient.
Do you have different service areas? Looking to ease queue sizes during peak periods? Interested in hosting pop-up events? Investing in mobile bar fridges could be a great idea, allowing you to take canned and bottled beverages wherever your patrons are. Even better, True’s TDR and TDD ‘Direct Draw’ dispensers allow you to chill and dispense drinks directly from an array of compatible keg sizes without the need for plumbing. Rapid cooling is provided by commercial advanced ‘Forced Air’ technology and insulated dispense columns are designed to reduce foaming and wastage – providing faster pull down and colder serving temperatures, even on the warmest summer days.
If you offer an extensive drinks menu you may want to consider an integrated bar refrigeration system that can dispense a variety of chilled liquid products and keg sizes from the one unit. These clever systems are compatible with a wide range of beverages including draft beer, wine, cider and even specialty drinks such as cold brew, nitro coffee or kombucha. Your bar staff will thank you, especially when things get busy.
Not every bar fridge needs to be used as a display unit. But with a little creativity, in the right location, they can make absolutely fantastic merchandisers, especially for impulse purchases. One of the most effective ways to draw attention to speciality drinks and products is with a next-generation lighting solution like TruLumina® which is exclusive to True Refrigeration. Systems with TruLumina® provide your venue with a choice of up to 14 eye-catching interior illumination colours. It’s absolutely ideal for use in counter top and behind-bar fridges that sit at or near eye level.
Together, we’ll help you make the most of summer.
From the capacity, footprint and configuration of your bar refrigeration units to the aesthetics and serving experiences you want for your patrons, there’s plenty of factors to consider. You can explore our full range of bar refrigeration options for Summer ’24/25 here. Or simply contact us today.
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