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Arcoroc Mix Up Collection: Creations from Saul Bolton, Chef at The Vanderbilt |
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The New Meaning of "Bar Food"
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All of a sudden, a bowl of pretzels at the bar doesn’t cut it anymore. With today’s casual, value-oriented and patron-designed eating habits, more operators are selling food at and in the bar, creating additional revenue—and dining occasions—that customers are happy to take advantage of.
Eating at the bar, or at high-top tables and couches in the bar area, feels fun and spur-of-the-moment, often encouraging additional sales of cocktails, wine and beer as well as food. In establishments with a traditional dining room, ramping up service in the bar area creates the equivalent of a second venue, deserving of a menu that’s more casual and snacky, with lower overall price points. And with the popularity of dining in the bar growing, some of the hottest new concepts are lounge/restaurant hybrids that emphasize sophisticated food and drink equally, a kind of chef-driven bar that’s a culinary step up from the neighborhood pub.
Here’s how food is now being served in the bar:
• Happy hour offerings, including free nibbles or specially priced snacks and small plates
• Dedicated bar menus that are different from the main dining room’s, emphasizing cocktail-food shareables like pizza, chilled shrimp and other raw-bar items, sliders and sandwiches, and other casual fare
• Late-night and between-meal service of a simplified menu when the dining room is closed
• Full-scale dining at the bar, with the same menu but a different environment—and often a different sales mix
• Food that’s designed to closely complement wine, beer and even cocktails
For more information on how Cardinal can provide tableware that will help you leverage the bar-food trend, contact sales@cardinalglass.com
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Trivia
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Another Chance to Win with Cardinal!
Test your Cardinal Newsletter/Website knowledge and put yourself in the winner’s circle. Just read, retain, and be among the first to respond. For this issue, the first five respondents who correctly answer the following three questions will receive Arcoroc Rondo Bowls for your 'Sophisticated Bar Nibbles.'
1. What is the name of Saul Bolton's restaurant that created these mouth watering photos?
2. What material is Rondo made of?
3. What dinnerware collection comes in 'splashy colors'?
Please send your responses to: Janice.Douglas@arc-intl.com. Include your name, address and email. Winners will be notified by email.
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January 27, 2010
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Follow us
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Arcoroc Candour Collection: Creations from Saul Bolton, Chef at The Vanderbilt |
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Bellying Up to the Bar
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New wave bar food is often a mix-and-match proposition for the customer, with a little nibble here, another glass of wine there, and maybe a more substantial something after that–think tapas bar, only all-American. Fun, smaller-format plates as well as platters for sharing at the bar add drama and value to the experience.
 Rondo Ceramic Plates from Arcoroc are perfect for the trend, the concentric decoration and unique shapes draw the eye to the center of the plate to focus all attention on the culinary creational bites. This collection fits well for sharing at the bar.
Minerali offers attractive etched-surface glassware plates in smaller Dessert, Appetizer and Side Dish plates for a more traditional look. Eclectic, lighthearted Mix Up glassware and dinnerware boast a large array of sizes, in four different splashy colors plus clear/white.
When sturdy performance is a top concern, streamlined Delice in the fully tempered Opal dinnerware line offers a choice of contemporary black or white, in a variety of shapes and sizes including rimless platters for shared items, as well as multipurpose bowls in two heights and sizes.
Purity and Divinity, in the Mini Grands Chefs line from Chef & Sommelier, combine an upscale look and feel with unique, attention-getting shapes, including footed bowls (with a silicon band for slide control) and even dramatic covered vessels for truly “wow” presentations.
 Because the service of food in the bar will more than likely also build beverage sales, you’ll want more of whatever glassware you already stock, or perhaps new shapes and sizes that allow for more creative merchandising of specialty cocktails, wine or beer-pairings, flights and other offerings. The Arcoroc Beer Collection, for instance, offer a variety of different shapes and sizes for different styles of beer.
Visit us online to download our catalogs at www.cardinalcatalogs.com, or call 973-628-0900 to speak to a sales representative.
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Tips & Tactics
Sophisticated Bar Nibbles
From spiced nuts and warm olives to housemade pickles and deviled eggs, the "little taste" (at a little price) is coming on strong for bar menus. The possibilities for nibbles in the $3-9 price range is just about endless: truffled popcorn, a crock of pate, an interesting dip with crackers or bread, warm pretzels with housemade mustard. Baked goods such as flat breads, crostini, warm biscuits with specialty butter or even old-fashioned pull-apart monkey bread are also picking up steam.
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Arcoroc Rondo Bowls
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