Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/28636
At Baja Sharkeez shrimp tacos are paired with tequila drinks and beers during Taco Tuesday promotions. Newcomers are treated, he says, to “artisan spirits paired with our handcrafted ales and lagers.” For instance, Gunderson recently served up a “winter warmer” by pairing a holiday- spiced ale containing cinnamon, clove and nutmeg with a Bas Armagnac Reserve. It is priced at $8 and changes every week. Leigh Lupinacci, director of food and beverage at the seven- location Baja Sharkeez, based in Hermosa Beach, Calif., says pairings of spirits and beer are cleverly suited to a seafood chain. She calls them the latest “hook,” saying, “T ey’re what we use to lure the customer in,” she says. “T ey stay, they eat, they socialize.” A prominent pairing would be “Taco Tuesday,” with aggressively priced Margaritas and tequila shots on off er. “A taco and a Margarita is the perfect pairing,” she says, citing a Cazadores Cadillac Margarita that Sharkeez couples with its house specialty, Mahi Fish Tacos. She also features a $14 bucket of four Corona beers on ice, “which go really well with those tacos.” NEW OPPORTUNITIES Over the past few economically challenging years operators have had to take a serious look at new ways of attracting business, adding value and keeping menu off erings exciting for their customers. Well-selected, and priced, pairings often do the trick. For Lupinacci at Baja Sharkeez, drink pairings have been one of the best antidotes for upping the bottom line since economic www.cheersonline.com blues that hit the industry hard, beginning in 2008. “People right now are looking for the best bang for their buck,” she says. “I think they’ve always been apt to do that, but especially now.” She says they shoot for an 18 percent pour cost, “and pairings defi nitely help us reach that fi gure.” T e good news for Sharkeez is that largely because of pairings, she says, “our sales haven’t really gone down at all during the economic downturn.” T e chain focuses heavily, she says, on daily promotions, Monday through T ursday “to drive food and drink business sales.” Its drinks and food “off ered at a more aggressive price point than they would be at 10 p.m.,” she says, citing Monday’s “eff ective pairing lineup” of “Flaming Fajitas on a Sizzling Skillet,” coupled with a “South of the Border pitcher party.” T e Fajitas start at $4.25, but they’re normally $7.49, which she says is “about a 50 percent discount.” Pitchers of double-sized cocktails run about $5.25, but normally, they would be close to double that. T e traditional Mexican fajitas, Lupinacci says, are “served with 22-ounce personal pitchers of Sangria, Margaritas and Cabo Lemonades,” made with Stoli Blueberi, Triple Sec, cranberry juice and sprite. “T ey’re drinks that are a little bigger served in a personal pitcher with a Mexican fl air.” In addition, Sharkeez also off ers “all the Mexican beers,” Lupinacci says, and APRIL 2011 | 43