What It Takes to Run a World-Class Non-Alcoholic Beverage Program

Nearly a decade after Seedlip’s launch kickstarted the transformation of “non-alcoholic spirits” from a contradiction in terms to a legitimate beverage category, the case for thoughtful, well-executed non-alcoholic beverage programs has been resoundingly made. Walking into a bar or restaurant and seeing a collection of non-alcoholic drinks in various formats — beers, wines, mixed drinks — used to be a rare and pleasant surprise to those among us searching for zero-proof options that look and feel like traditional alcoholic drinks. But now, it’s a baseline expectation.

Beyond accessibility simply being a core tenet of hospitality, non-alcoholic drinks are big business. While spirits sales have been trending downward due to a cluster of factors including GLP-1s, inflation, and greater conversations surrounding alcohol’s health risks, the non-alcoholic drinks sector has been growing steadily in recent years. And my own experience validates this trend as well.

I was the bar director for New York’s Momofuku until 2018 and when we added non-alcoholic drinks to our beverage programs we saw beverage sales increase overall. It wasn’t that people were ordering non-alcoholic drinks instead of our other offerings; we were essentially capturing revenue from people who would otherwise be drinking tap water. A few years later, I received a substantial investment from a big liquor conglomerate to launch my own line of non-alcoholic drinks. Our launch was derailed by the onset of Covid, but I was able to keep the company running for years off of revenue alone when everyone involved in the project thought we’d be closed within months. People want these drinks, and they’re willing to pay for them.

But what separates a perfunctory smattering of non-alcoholic drinks from a truly world-class offering that not only attracts new customers, but keeps them coming back? As someone who’s trafficked in non-alcoholic beverages in some form or another for over a decade, I have some thoughts that have been supplemented here with wisdom from a handful of top-notch beverage professionals. This is what it takes to create a world-class non-alcoholic drinks program.

Don’t Serve People Alcohol by Accident

A term that I first heard at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail conference, uttered by La Maison Wellness founder Camille Vidal, is “zebra striping,” where people alternate between drinks with and drinks without alcohol on any given night. This represents the majority of people who will be ordering non-alcoholic drinks but that does not mean that there are people for whom an accidental serving of alcohol is not a serious concern.

“I’ve always treated an alcohol-free guest as an allergy. We go through all the same procedures that we go through for a life-threatening shellfish or peanut allergy.”

Tawny Lara, author of “Dry Humping” and co-founder of non-alcoholic drinks brand (parentheses) tells me about the time she was inadvertently served alcohol while celebrating her five-year sober anniversary; she ordered a non-alcoholic beer and was brought one with alcohol by mistake. “I was literally cheers-ing to my sobriety with beer,” she says. Lara quickly realized the mix-up and the staff quickly replaced the drink without incident, but for many people, the stakes can be high.

Laura Silverman, founder of Zero Proof Nation, a website that tracks non-alcoholic beverage offerings, was at a wedding nine years into her sobriety when she ordered a non-alcoholic drink and specifically mentioned her recovery from alcohol use disorder to the bartender. She was served a drink full of bourbon anyway. “I was so upset and so triggered,” she says.

Fortunately there is a growing cadre of beverage professionals who treat a guest’s need to avoid alcohol — for whatever reason — with the seriousness it deserves. “I’ve always treated an alcohol-free guest as an allergy,” says Austin Hennelley, bar director at Kato in Los Angeles. “We go through all the same procedures that we go through for a life-threatening shellfish or peanut allergy.” In addition to marking all order tickets with a no-alcohol tag, Hennelley also designs every cocktail, with and without alcohol, as a completely unique drink with its own glassware and garnish, so there is no confusion.

Hennelley’s approach represents perhaps the most cautious end of the spectrum, and much of what they’re able to do at Kato reflects the restaurant’s controlled, fine-dining service model. But there are plenty of strategies to implement in order to ensure that the right drink gets to the right person.

“You want me to drink alcohol to make you feel better? It seems like there is some judgment sometimes when we order non-alc.”

“Bartenders do f*ck things up,” says Derek Brown, Washington, D.C.-based founder of Positive Damage, a drinks consulting company focusing on mindful drinking. He’s implemented simple steps such as having a special pick that goes on non-alcoholic drinks so that at every point in the drink’s path to the guest it is clearly identified.

Pouring non-alcoholic beers and wines table-side is another way to assure guests that they’re getting what they ordered. Sam Bail, founder of Third Place Bar, told me about the recent time she ordered a non-alcoholic rosé and was served a regular rosé by accident, something that could have been avoided if the drink was poured in front of her. Adding an additional verification step like this is a great way to give assurance to guests that they are indeed getting what they ordered.

Know What Terms Mean

When researching labeling laws for my non-alcoholic drink company, I fell down a very deep rabbit hole learning about the definition of “non-alcoholic” versus other terms that people use to denote drinks without alcohol, such as “zero proof” or “0% ABV.”

Under FDA rules, any product that contains up to 0.5 percent alcohol by volume can be labeled “non-alcoholic.” For the vast majority of people, this is not an issue. I’ve spoken with many people in recovery who regularly enjoy these drinks, but those with medical conditions as well as religious restrictions do need to steer clear.

Terms like “zero-proof” and “0% ABV” or even “alcohol-free” are reserved for beverages with literally no alcohol. It’s important that menus clearly indicate the contents of drinks, just as someone would want to know if a menu item contained trace amounts of a major allergen.

If you’re using cheap ingredients in order to make a drink that’s significantly cheaper than the typical menu items, this can reflect a lack of care. People are willing to pay for a thoughtfully considered drink, regardless of its ingredients.

Garret Richard, chief cocktail officer at Sunken Harbor, uses techniques rooted in the soda jerk tradition, repopularized by Darcy O’Neil, that employ high-strength ethanol to extract flavors for the bar’s non-alcoholic drinks. He dilutes these extracts into simple syrup at ratios of around 15 to 30 milliliters to one liter of syrup enabling custom extractions of flavors like cherry bark and cinnamon. Ethanol’s higher solvent power allows for a concentrated flavor extraction that, when diluted into a syrup — and then a cocktail — produces drinks that are under the 0.5 percent ABV “non-alcoholic” threshold. Sunken Harbor also uses specific glassware and garnishes to demarcate non-alcoholic drinks and, when asked by guests, uses someone’s comfort level of consuming vanilla extract as a “litmus test.”

Don’t Run Out

I was recently at a bar with a robust non-alcoholic cocktail section that only had two out of the menu’s four drinks available. It might seem obvious to advise not 86-ing menu items, but the fact that non-alcoholic drinks tend to sell at lower volumes means that inventory management for these items might not be top of mind.

Richard’s custom extracts yield long-lasting inventory that’s easy for Sunken Harbor Club to replenish as needed. But a bar or restaurant can also develop a program with a diversity of ingredients that make the inevitable 86 less of an issue. I suggest that if you’re rounding out the program with beers and wines and other ready-to-pour items, it can provide cushioning in case a custom infusion or juice runs out unexpectedly.

Don’t Be a Dick About It

People ordering non-alcoholic drinks can face less-than-hospitable reactions from staff. For instance, Lara recalls a time when she was told to “live a little” by a server when she ordered a non-alcoholic drink. “You want me to drink alcohol to make you feel better?” she says. “It seems like there is some judgment sometimes when we order non-alc.”

Aside from that, if a mix-up does happen, the wrong way to respond to a guest complaint is by insisting the drink is non-alcoholic. When a guest complains that something they’re served isn’t right, the correct response is to take the guest at their word and work to correct it.

Invest in Your Non-Alcoholic Program

One of Bail’s pet peeves is encountering an ambivalent instruction to suggest some flavors to the staff and they’ll come up with something on the fly, essentially putting the onus on the guest to devise a drink they’ll enjoy. She thinks it’s lazy. One of the delights of visiting places that put care into what they serve is to discover the point of view of the program and feel the delight of an unexpected or new culinary experience.

By that same token, many of the experts I spoke with advised truly investing in non-alcoholic drink programs, and this costs money. If you’re using cheap ingredients in order to make a drink that’s significantly cheaper than the typical menu items, this can reflect a lack of care. People are willing to pay for a thoughtfully considered drink, regardless of its ingredients.

Implementing a world-class non-alcoholic drinks program is more than just choosing the right products. Training, proper systems, and thoughtful care are crucial parts of beverage service, and should be at the forefront of every effort to pull off an exciting and well-executed drinks menu.

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