To satisfy patrons' thirst for healthier and more exciting beverages, and drum up additional business, restaurant and bar operators are ramping up their alcohol-free selections.
The common denominator is water and its many derivatives — everything from coffee to tea, fruit-flavored drinks, juices, concentrated drink mixes and more. The trend toward offering these nonalcoholic beverages is all in keeping with current nutritional advice that urges consumers to drink plenty of fluids for improved wellness and performance. Just about anything wet that doesn’t have a payload of sugar, calories or alcohol will hydrate a body, the experts say.
“The best advice I have for people in a restaurant is to drink water,” says Kim Larson, a nutrition, fitness and health coach in Seattle and a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “But coffee, tea and low-fat milk also are fine.”
Larson advises people to “stay ahead of their thirst” by drinking fluids throughout the day, because by the time thirst is noticeable, dehydration has already begun. Eight glasses of fluid per day, or about half one’s body weight in fluid ounces, are viewed as handy consumption guidelines.
Larson says the fluid may come from flavored calorie-free waters, restaurant-made spa beverages with fresh flavorings such as cucumber, mint, lemon or berries, diet soft drinks and vegetable and fruit juices, in addition to the aforementioned beverages. But, she adds, watch out for fruit juices, which can be high in natural sugars. Diluting them with water is advisable.
“Generally, I think consumers are looking for interesting, flavorful beverages that don’t have calories,” Larson says.
That corresponds with a finding of the Chicago-based research firm Technomic Inc. last year that 44 percent of consumers — up from 39 percent in 2012 — call for healthier beverages at restaurants. Technomic researchers also reported last year that 21 percent of consumers — up from 16 percent in 2012 — say that beverages play a very important role in deciding which restaurants to visit for meals, underscoring the importance of innovative beverage offerings.
Such intelligence is not lost on operators. For example, the steak and sushi restaurant Roka Akor in Chicago does a brisk trade in bottled mineral water and alcohol-free signature drinks among guests not partaking of its extensive sake, cocktail and wine selections. One of the popular alcohol-free specialties is the Raspberry Mule, a tangy mixture of house-made raspberry puree, lime and ginger beer.
“Guests today expect high-quality nonalcoholic choices,” says Patrick Henaghan, Roka Akor’s assistant general manager. “We try to provide them with something sophisticated and thought out.”
At Ray’s and Stark Bar in Los Angeles, part of the locally based Patina Restaurant Group, water sales have increased by 500 percent since 2013 when a 42-page water menu was introduced. It features detailed taste descriptions of 20 mineral waters from around the world, priced at $8 to $20 per bottle.
“I wanted to show America how interesting water can taste,” says Martin Riese, creator of the list and general manager and water sommelier of Ray’s and Stark Bar. “People are saying, ‘I love the water list, what a great idea.’”
This summer, Patina will menu six mineral waters at its seasonal restaurant operations at the Hollywood Bowl, and the company’s bistro and café concepts will in time sport lists of 10 to 15 waters, Riese says.
At Belly Shack, chef-owner Bill Kim’s Asian-Latin eatery in Chicago, Vietnamese Iced Tea and yuzu lemonade round out a beverage selection that includes Korean grape and orange drinks, iced tea and domestic carbonated soft drinks.
In fact, the Vietnamese Iced Coffee, made in a 24-hour, cold-brew process and served with freshly grated cinnamon bark, is Belly Shack’s top-selling nonalcoholic beverage. “People actually come in just to get that,” Kim says.
A variety of hydrating, alcohol-free and flavorful choices are on offer at the Border Grill restaurants in Los Angeles and Las Vegas: hot or iced espresso drinks, the sparkling Minty Lime Cooler, aguas frescas, or Mexican-style fruit and water drinks, and Pepper Citrus Juice, extracted from fresh yellow and red bell peppers, apples, beets and lemons.
“Honestly, I think customers are excited to get a handmade beverage that you can’t get at other restaurants,” says Mary Sue Milliken, co-chef/owner of Border Grill.
