By Andrew Starke
On-premise patrons are buying fewer drinks, big brands remain king, cider sales are booming and premixed spirits are holding their own.
These are just some of the findings of a new report ‘Over the Bar 2011’, which looks at the past year’s drinking trends in pub hotels.
The team at BarScan has generated the report from hotel on-premise till data from around Australia, and it makes for interesting reading for all stakeholders in the pub hotels channel.
Over the Bar 2011 reveals the number of drinks sold over the bar in hotels has declined by six percent over the past year, while revenue fell by two percent.
Despite the difficult trading conditions, the price of a drink has increased in all categories.
BarScan’s Andrew Thomson said this is primarily a result of consumers moving into higher priced segments.
“This is positive for both publicans and suppliers, and presents opportunities for both players to capitalise the trend towards more expensive and profitable segments.” Thomson said.
Unsurprisingly, cider was one of the biggest movers of the past year, greatly assisted by a huge increase in tap presence.
“Cider is now available on tap in close to half of all BarScan-monitored venues, which is double that of last year,” Thomson said.
Consumers are also continuing to move into the low carb/dry and craft beer segments, which offers profit potential for publicans and an easy pathway for patrons to trade up.
Growth opportunities are identified in all categories, and one of the real surprises was premixed spirits.
Despite having the highest average price per serve of $8.61 a bottle, the segment has maintained its share of liquor sales over the bar at nine percent.
The report also looks at the performance of key suppliers and brands in each category.
“Big brands are king in the on premise and they have a considerably larger share of sales compared to the off-premise,” said Thomson.
Over the Bar 2011 is available now. For more details, contact Andrew Thomson on (03) 9818 8202 or click here to email him.