Post #774107 by HaleTiki on Thu, Mar 16, 2017 8:34 PM

Prikli I don't think you're way off base at all and I think you summed up a lot of what others have said here as far as making sure you create a menu and environment which allows you to stay in business and lure in customers who may not like the more hardcore tiki stuff or be willing to give it a try right off the bat.

It's funny you write all of this out tonight since I started writing out what I actually want on my opening menu this evening (while listening to Trader Sam's music) and I'll just go ahead and list off some of the stuff that's on there that might interest you.

A traditional Daiquiri
A hurricane
A standard, non-fancy grog
A painkiller
Then all of the classics

I also plan on having three beers on tap at the moment. A miller, coors, bud, light style. A Blue Moon style craft. And then last but not least a Kona because it fits the theme. I know beer sales can be a huge boon, so I was already planning on having those.

Finally, I have in mind a few different ways to engage customers in loyalty type programs. I don't want to give too much away but one involves what I'm calling for the moment a "Grog Log". Where a customer will try all of our on menu Grogs and then a few off menu with different types of rums, but the same ingredients everywhere else as an introduction to the way different rums taste and how that affects what you taste in a drink. For instance, a dark rum grog pulls out the demerara flavor more from the syrup that's included.

I also have ideas for a loyalty program that gets customers to drink through our menu, but I'm still trying to decide how exactly I want to do that. Either way there will be rewards at the end of the rainbow for either of these and I think they both have great potential to keep customers coming back and trying new things. I fully realize that the most important thing I can do is create a feeling of "This is my go-to place" for our guests.