The Profitability of Hot Drinks – How to Supercharge your Business in the New Year!

January 28, 2020

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With the new year comes new opportunities and this could include boosting your sales with hot drinks. Whether you are looking to boost your existing range, or introduce hot beverages for the first time with commercial coffee and espresso machines and hot water boilers, the following tips will help you.

What Hot Drinks Should You Offer?

When considering what drinks to sell, you need to look at your customer demographic and decide what would sell best. If you are offering a wide range of food, then you may also want to offer a variety of hot drinks to accompany them.

In most cases, a selection of teas and coffees along with hot chocolate will work well. You can then add to these if there is a demand from your customers. Expanding this range may also bring in new customers, especially if you add your own versions of popular hot drinks.

Finding The Right Equipment

Most coffee shops and restaurants have commercial coffee and espresso machines and water boilers to make their hot drinks. Many customers now expect this quality and so you should research the best machines available that will create the drinks you want to offer.

It is important that you try to invest in a good quality machine as they will usually offer the best customer support and require less maintenance and repair. You will also find that they offer improved taste and quality over other machines. Many coffee machines will have the ability to make hot water for tea, or you can have an additional water boiler as well.

Companies such as 247 Catering Supplies, can offer invaluable guidance when choosing the right coffee and espresso machines for your business.

Creating a Menu

To help inform your customers of the choices you offer, it is a good idea to have a drinks menu. This could be a chalkboard hanging behind the counter, or a printed menu that sits on each table.

The menu can include all the food and beverages that you offer, but keep the drinks section separate from the food. You may also want to separate hot and cold drinks to help them stand out.

Some businesses will have a separate drinks menu in the table, which will have all of the drinks listed. This helps to encourage customers to try new things and find their favourites.

You may also want to have a specials board by the counter which has limited edition hot drinks. These can tempt customers to try them and give you an idea of possible additions to the permanent menu in the future.

Adding these features to your website is another way that you can encourage customers to visit your business, especially new customers.

Presentation

When it comes to food and drink, it is often the presentation that impresses a customer as much as the taste. This means having pictures of the hot drinks you are offering on your menu, especially the signature ones. You should also invest in some interesting glassware and mugs to present your beverages in the best way possible.

Adding garnish to your hot drinks such as chocolate flakes, syrup and cinnamon will all add to the glamour.

You can also take some pictures of the drinks you create and add them to your website and social media to tempt your customers.

Offer Several Options

Coffee, in particular, has now developed a range of options to accommodate the tastes of the customer. To attract the widest clientele, you should think about how many options you can offer.

• Pricing

While many customers will want the high-end hot beverages, you should also try to cater to those looking for a budget option. You can either offer added elements that are priced separately or have set drinks that range in price according to their components.

• Flavours

Having a range of flavours can also be a temptation to your customers, and also cater to the widest audience. With coffee, this could mean having a range of syrups that your customers can choose from, and with tea, you can offer a range of fruit teas along with different blends.

• Coffee Blends

Along with flavours, coffee blends are another option that you can use. This can either be as a permanent choice or as a special blend offered for a limited period.

• Varieties of Milk

Many customers are now moving to alternative types of milk either as a personal choice or because of dietary needs. This means the more choice you can offer, the more potential you have to attract new customers.

As well as the full cream and fat-free milk options, you should also consider offering alternatives such as soy, coconut and other types of milk.

Advertising

Once you have chosen your menu and decided on the drinks you want to offer, you need to tell your customers about it. There are several ways that you can do this, including many you are already using.

• Special Offers

When you first launch your new drinks menu, you should consider including special offers on the menu or as separate displays on the tables. This will alert your existing customers to the new drinks and encourage word of mouth.

• Social Media

A great way to announce a new product or range is to post it on your social media sites. This also has the added benefit of encouraging your customers to comment and interact with you.

• Taster Events

Although many customers will already have a favourite hot drink, you can encourage them to try new ones by having taster events. You can create small samples of new menu items and offer them to customers when they come in. You may find that this will lead to increased sales and give you valuable consumer feedback.

By using these and other techniques, you can successfully introduce new hot drinks to your menu, and reintroduce existing ones to your customers. As with any items on your menu, you should tailor your options to your customer demographic.