How Post-Mix Drinks Can Help Pubs and Bars Improve Margins
Every penny matters when you’re running a pub, club, bar, café or restaurant. Drinks need to be good quality and customers expect quick service. However, operators also need to keep a close eye on costs and waste. That’s where a well-managed post-mix drinks system can make a difference. Instead of storing large quantities of individual bottles and cans, post-mix combines concentrated syrup with water at the point of dispense. As a result, venues can serve popular soft drinks efficiently from behind the bar. There are several ways this can help a hospitality business manage costs and protect its margins. 1. Understand Your Cost Per Serve Knowing how much each drink costs to serve is essential when setting prices. Post-mix syrup is supplied in concentrated form and mixed as the drink is dispensed. Therefore, one bag of syrup can produce multiple servings according to its specified mixing ratio. This makes it easier to calculate an approximate cost per serving and compare it with the selling price. Of course, syrup isn’t the only cost involved. CO₂, water, energy, ice, staffing and other overheads also need to be considered. Nevertheless, understanding the product cost is a useful starting point when reviewing margins. 2. Reduce Reliance on Bottles and Cans Individual bottles and cans can take up a surprising amount of storage space. A post-mix system concentrates much of your soft drink supply into bag-in-box syrups. Consequently, venues can reduce the amount of packaged stock required for popular draught soft drinks. This can be particularly useful where storage space behind the bar or in the cellar is limited. There is another practical benefit. Fewer individual bottles and cans can mean less packaging to handle and dispose of during service. 3. Keep Busy Bar Service Moving Speed of service matters, especially on a busy Friday or Saturday night. With post-mix, staff can dispense a soft drink or mixer directly at the point of sale. There’s no need to repeatedly retrieve, open and dispose of individual bottles for every order. That can make straightforward orders quicker to prepare. Furthermore, the same system can provide drinks for several purposes. Soft drinks can be served on their own, alongside spirits or used as mixers for cocktails. A faster system doesn’t automatically guarantee higher profits. However, efficient service can help staff deal with busy periods more effectively. 4. Improve Consistency Customers expect their favourite drink to taste right every time they order it. A correctly installed and maintained post-mix system mixes syrup and water at the required ratio. Consequently, staff don’t need to manually prepare each soft drink. Consistency is particularly important when a venue has several people working behind the bar. However, dispensing equipment needs to be properly maintained. That’s why reliable servicing is an important part of running a post-mix system. At CS Drinks, servicing and maintenance are handled in-house by our own team. 5. Make More of Your Drinks Range A post-mix system isn’t limited to glasses of cola and lemonade. Popular flavours can also be served as mixers alongside spirits. Furthermore, they can form part of cocktail and mocktail menus. This gives venues opportunities to use the same products in several ways. For example, cola can be served alone or alongside rum, whisky and vodka. Lemonade can work as a soft drink, mixer or cocktail ingredient. Therefore, a carefully chosen post-mix range can support several areas of the drinks menu without requiring a completely separate stockholding for each serve. 6. Reduce the Upfront Cost of Equipment Installing new drinks dispensing equipment can represent a significant investment for a hospitality business. CS Drinks takes a different approach. For suitable customers, we can install a complete post-mix dispensing system with no set-up charge, with the cost offset through syrup purchases. If a venue doesn’t have sufficient sales volume to support this arrangement, a small rental charge may apply. We can discuss this with you before anything is agreed. There are no lengthy contracts, and you simply order syrup as you need it. 7. Look Beyond the Price of Syrup When comparing drinks suppliers, it’s tempting to look only at the price of the product. However, there is more to running a reliable post-mix system than syrup alone. Installation, equipment reliability, maintenance, delivery and support all matter. After all, a cheap drink isn’t much use if you can’t dispense it when customers are waiting. CS Drinks delivers its post-mix syrups directly rather than relying on delivery companies. In addition, our equipment servicing is handled in-house. That means our customers deal directly with the people supplying and maintaining their system. Could Post-Mix Work for Your Business? Every hospitality venue is different. Therefore, the right drinks dispensing system depends on your available space, expected sales and the type of drinks you serve. At CS Drinks, we’ve been working with the drinks trade for over 35 years. We supply post-mix soft drinks and dispensing equipment to pubs, clubs, bars, bistros, cafés, restaurants and other hospitality venues. Moreover, we’ll help you determine the most suitable arrangement for your business. Speak to Steve, Dianne or Matthew on 01539 559033 to discuss your requirements and find out whether post-mix could work for your venue.