Connecting with the Cocktail Crowd

Operators are shaking up beverage menus with fresh cocktail choices, from Washington, D.C.-based The Palm Restaurant’s White Cosmopolitans and watermelon mojitos to Hutchinson, Kan.-based chain Montana Mike’s new Loose Moose margaritas.

More than one in 10 consumers quaffed a cocktail

the last time he or she purchased dinner from a restaurant, according to R&I ’s New American Diner Study. To better craft menus and coach servers on selling strategies for mixed drinks from minty mojitos to classic sidecars, check out who’s most likely to order the potent potables.

• By gender , females are more likely than males to order cocktails.

• By age , Gen Y diners (ages 26 or younger) are most likely and boomers (ages 42-60) are least likely to order cocktails.

• By ethnicity , African-American diners are far more likely to order cocktails, with 20% having done so the last time they ate dinner out.

• By income level , consumers earning $75,000 or more are the most likely to order cocktails.