Restaurateurs should seek out new marketing schemes where alcobev companies look to ride piggyback on skill development contests and programmes says Vikram Achanta.
On premise sales may account for 20% of all alcobev sale, but that has motivated distillers, brewers and vintners to increase their promotion focus on restaurants, more precisely, bartenders and wait staff. They are gatekeepers to the consumer, with their influence varying depending upon the position they occupy in the pyramid.
The focus is akin to the fortunes at the bottom of the pyramid which renowned management guru CK Prahalad refers to in his book of the same name, of the economic power to be harnessed there.
Over the last few years, beverage companies have been targeting the bottom of the pyramid in the on-premise environment with a variety of measures. The most common measure taken by companies is a straight cash incentive, Rs50 for every bottle of champagne sold (proof being the cork), Rs5 for every brand cocktail sold and so on.
This is what we term a hard incentive; there is a quid pro quo here. However a range of other companies have been running a variety of programme with a two-fold objective; ensure that wait staff and bartenders have adequate knowledge on their brands and how to serve it, and build a relationship with the staff through a number of other measures to ensure their brand has first recall and that the goodwill pays off for it.
Both the above measures are a must. For example, Inbev in a bold move launched four of their imported range at once despite two of the beers being relatively unknown in niche styles (Leffe and Hoegaarden). Inbev’s first step was to educate the wait staff and bartenders. The programme Tulleeho crafted for them focused not just on the brand heritage and the perfect serve, but also how to pronounce the name (Who-Garden).
If education is important for beer brands, then it is all the more important for the white spirit majors, whose super-premium products are often consumed in cocktail form. A consumer paying a premium for a Belvedere Martini is not likely to do it a second time, if he gets a lousy drink.
Some companies go beyond training on their product or usage by enhancing the bartender’s all round skills. Smirnoff conducted multi-city training programmes on flair bartending, United Spirits hired local soft skill experts to help bartenders on grooming and customer interaction skills, while Diageo went the furthest with its subsidised five month programme
at its Johnnie Walker Bartending Academy in Mumbai.
To increase brand recall amongst restaurant staff, companies actively sponsor bartending competitions. Since 2007, Bacardi has run with considerable success, the India leg of their hunt for the best bartender in the world, the Bacardi Martini Grand Prix.
As the Indian market broadens out, beverage companies will turn their attention to restaurants in Tier two and three towns. The battleground for the alcobev sector is the bar and wait staff, where brand use and recall ride piggyback on skill development contests and programmes.
Vikram Achanta is the co-founder and CEO of Tulleeho, a drinks and food consultancy, and www.tulleeho.com, a drinks website. The company is closely involved with beverage companies in the development and implementation of skill enhancement and recognition programs for bar staff.
