The Next Round: What happens after you change your drinking?

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Club Soda Drinks Academy is our four-week training programme for drinks professionals to learn about low and no alcohol drinks. The first cohort of 14 bartenders, supermarket buyers, pub owners, and others got together at the Tasting Room for the first week’s session. On the agenda they had an introduction to alcohol-free drinks by our Josh, a presentation of the latest trends by Katie from KAM Insights, and a talk on wellbeing in the drinks industry by Nicky from the Drinks Trust.

Club Soda Drinks Academy group photo at the Tasting Room

In between the learning, the participants were given a chance to stretch their legs with a practical task: to “be the customer”. The team were sent out in pairs to some local pubs, bars, and hotels to do a bit of mystery shopping. The mission was to learn what it’s like to buy an alcohol-free drink. Or try to buy one. The instruction was to observe the menus and the displays, talk to the staff, and ask a few questions about the non-alcoholic options. And then to buy and enjoy an alcohol-free drink, and come back to share what they found out with everyone.

academy drinks

On the whole, the group were a little underwhelmed by their experiences. At one bar, instead of an alcohol-free cocktail the offer was “water, or fruit juice?”. Next, in a hotel bar, the bartender offered coke as the only option. At a pub nearby, asking for an alcohol-free beer, the only one mentioned was a lager in a bottle – when in fact there was also an IPA on tap, and several other bottled beers that our mystery shoppers later spotted themselves, but the venue staff didn’t know or remember about.  

At another bar, the menu mentioned two alcohol-free spirits, both of which were out of stock. But there were two others available instead! And the bartender was able to improvise cocktails using the drinks they did have. The final venue was wine bar with a very long menu, but no alcohol-free wine options (there was a beer and gin though). And the waiter seemed “a bit taken aback, even offended” that somebody asked for a non-alcoholic wine. So our academy students walked out.

What does this tell exercise tell us? The first thing to note is that this was a group of drink professionals, and most of them seemed surprised by what happened on their little trip out. They were not expecting the choice to be so poor, and the staff reactions to be less than helpful, if not nearly hostile, to customers asking for an alcohol-free drink. The second thing is the  confirmation that 0% drinks are still an afterthought for many pubs and bars. The choice is very limited, staff have not been properly trained on what is available, and the attitude sadly is often that alcohol-free doesn’t really belong in their venue. 

We have come a long way in many respects, but there is still work to do before we get to an equality of serve. Club Soda is working hard to make low and no alcohol drinks a regular part of all venues. Our Academy will send out an energised group of experts to spread the message to their places of work – and all the pubs and bars they visit! You can read more about the many other things we do here.

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