As we know all too well, when the weather gets colder, customers tend to stay in and order from home more often. That’s why offering something to keep your customers extra warm can help boost business on the delivery side. We’re not talking chili here, think boozier. Adding alcohol to your delivery menu not only expands your offerings, but can also help pull potential customers away from competitors who aren’t doing the same.
Need more reasons?
Alcohol e-commerce is expected to grow by 66% between 2020 and 2025, according to this study from BeverageDaily.
As if that wasn’t enough, adding alcohol to your menu can increase the average order value by up to 70%.
- Read the room.
There are thousands of different types of drinks you could put on the menu, but it’s important to make sure they’re the right ones. Take a closer look at your target audience and what they like to drink. (Need help figuring out who they are exactly? This blog can help!) Consider their tastes, demographics, and dining habits to put together a drink menu they’ll really soak up.
Here are the top 5 alcohol items ordered on Skip in 2023 so far:
- Pinot Grigio
- Raspberry Ginger Cider
- Classic American Lager
- Ice Lager
- Vodka
- Pick pairings properly.
Another great way to get customers to add alcohol is to make pairing suggestions with your food items. To create the perfect pair, make sure you have a good understanding of the ingredients in your dishes so you can make harmonious drink suggestions that complement the flavours of each. For example, a light white wine goes well with seafood and a lager goes great with burgers. For more delicious inspiration, check out our pairings blog here.
- Lean on local.
Any chance you get to add more local flair to your offerings, the better. Not only does supporting local producers create a sense of community, but it also goes a long way with customers. These days, more and more of them are gravitating towards businesses that support their local community, so it’s a move that’ll look good on you. Plus, by doing other businesses a solid, they’re likely to return the favour and support yours in return. So, search out your neighbourhood wineries, breweries, and distilleries and get to know their offerings to see if they align with yours.
- Seize the season.
As the seasons change, so should your drink menu. Think about which ingredients fit with the season and create special cocktails to complement them. For example, fall brings to mind cozy, warm flavours like cinnamon and apple. Perhaps you put a local cider on the drink menu. Or maybe a cranberry cooler? Or if you’re feeling really adventurous, you could create a pre-mixed cocktail, like an apple cider old-fashioned, and pair it with a seasonal food dish you’ve created to really kick it up a notch.
- Price it right.
If you’re now sold on adding alcohol to your Skip menu, you’ll need to make sure you price it properly so you can pocket some profit while adding value to your already amazing offerings. To get people to think about alcohol when they’re ordering delivery, you might want to consider bundling beverages with dishes they pair well with. Or offer a happy hour with special pricing during certain hours of the day. Want to set up your own happy hour items or category in the Skip app? Check out our helpful how-to article here.
At the end of the day, though it may take some effort to get alcohol on the menu, it could prove to be a worthy investment for you. We’ll cheers to that.
