Nitro Can Be a Key to Beverage Profitability

The concept of “hybrid” has been a profitable one for several years, and in today’s foodservice landscape, where operators are looking for new inroads to customers, it’s almost a necessity. C-stores are becoming more QSR in nature. Full-service restaurants are adopting ghost kitchens. In the world of beverages, coffee and cocktails are now a money-making combination that’s catching on across the country. Let’s start by talking about what that pairing actually looks like.

In most cases, consumers frequent coffee bars in the morning and during the course of the day. They’ve become defacto work-from-home options where people can find the ubiquitous infusion of caffeine. Cocktail bars have their own dayparts. It’s quite rare to see a customer sip a Manhattan before lunch, but before or after dinner is another story. And when you consider how both coffee bars and cocktail bars often go unused during the other’s peak times, the marriage between the two is obvious. This isn’t a new concept, particularly in urban centers. Dual concept operations can increase visibility, provide much-need marketability, and most certainly appeal to profitability. So how can an operator differentiate a dual-concept coffee and cocktail bar from the one down the street?

Producing Nitro Beverages for Coffee-Minded Customers

One of the biggest trends in beverages over the last several years, whether it be coffee or cocktails, has been the upswing of nitro-driven menu options. This is certainly true for both coffee and even cocktails. Upscale and innovative-minded cocktail bars have discovered that nitro coffee is a great ingredient for specialty cocktails. By using nitrogen, bars can create coffee-infused cocktails that are smoother and creamier in texture and mouthfeel, transforming standard cocktails like the White Russian or Coffee Martini. Certainly, these types of beverages are marketable, but they also provide a unique way to present spirits with enhanced aromas and flavors, as well. On the coffee side, the rise of nitro cold brew is a phenomenon that’s not showing any signs of slowing. Particularly in warmer months, nitro cold brew coffee is a more flavorful and elegant alternative to standard iced coffee, and it provides the potential for higher price points as it’s seen as an elevated expression of craft coffee.

Cold Brew Coffee Equipment Can Provide Both

Creating nitro-infused coffee and cocktails requires the right equipment, and Viking’s Nitro Brew Dispenser does just that by allowing operators to run a nitro coffee program in the morning with an elevated nitro coffee-infused cocktail option at night. Units are designed with this type of operation in mind, providing dispensing options that come in two, three, and four-tap units that dispense still and nitro-infused cold brew and cocktails. Operators can configure menus as they please.

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Foodservice Equipment & Supplies