Milkshakes: How to boost your GP

09-Oct-2014 - Last updated on 13-Oct-2014 at 09:18 GMT

Related tags Milk

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Milkshakes are not just drinks for children. Nigel Huddleston adds a double shot of spirit and shows how on-trend hard shakes can boost your GP.

Cocktails made with alcohol and milk or ice cream are one of the major on-trade drinks trends of 2014.

Hard shakes are luxurious, tasty, easy to put together and offer good margins, making them an attractive proposition for pubs of all types. But, like many big drinks trends, interest has been generated by the hip London bar scene.

West End steakhouse Mash serves a Five-Dollar Shake based on a drink ordered by Uma Thurman in the film Pulp Fiction, comprising Bourbon, Disaronno, vanilla ice cream, popcorn and salted caramel.

Over at the Love Shake diner in Shoreditch, customers can choose from a number of hard shake creations including the Oreeto, which mixes amaretto and Oreos.

Amanda Humphrey, Mixxit manager at Maxxium UK, says: “Hard shakes are bang on trend, largely as a result of the boom in the number of American whiskey bars and US-style diners.

“They’ve brought with them a lot of cheesy American drinks and they’ve really taken off during the past four, five, six months.”

Emmali Stenhouse, UK brand ambassador for William Grant’s Sailor Jerry spiced rum, says ease of preparation is a major draw for pubs and bars.

“They’re simple enough to make, and yet add a new level of excitement to a menu, meaning customers feel like they’re getting something really special. “Hard shakes open up tons of flavour combinations, from simple classics to the weird and wonderful, based around simple recipes that anyone can make.”

Like all American drinking stories, Prohibition played its part in hard shake history. Before the 1920s alcohol ban, booze was a common, if not predominant, factor in milkshakes. It was only afterwards that the milkshake became a light, children’s treat. Hence the modern resurrection of the alcoholic version comes with that qualifying “hard”.

Humphrey thinks hard shakes, or “milk punches”, strike a chord on several levels. “They’re not expensive drinks, with only two or three ingredients, so the GP is very good,” she says.

“The average in the cocktail trade is about 78%, but a for a milk punch you can be making 82% to 84%. They’re a cash cow really. They’re also visually appealing. A lot of places are using stripy straws and tins and other drinking vessels to make them stand out. Mini milk bottles are very popular.”

Creative presentation

Creative presentation Stenhouse at Sailor Jerry advises pubs to “think about how you want to serve them” and suggests touches such as milkshake tins, tall glasses with a long spoon, paper straws, or a cherry on top.

“These are all great ideas and help bars to differentiate themselves,” she says.

“If you want to create an occasion, make sure you consider presentation as that’s what will make them feel really special and give them the edge. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should at least be creative.”

Sailor Jerry has a bespoke serve, the Jerry Float, using the spiced rum with root beer and vanilla ice cream.

Stenhouse says: “Just make sure all of the ingredients and equipment are to hand, so service is not slowed. You’ll need a small freezer nearby to keep your ice cream good and cold, and a blender that’s up to the task, but that’s about it. “Otherwise, it’s whatever you choose to put in there such as flavoured syrups, fresh fruit, chocolate or sweets.

“It’s up to you, and bespoke serves will drive consumer interest and repeat custom.” But it’s important to get quality and consistency into the serve. “Once you’ve nailed your own house shake recipe it should be pretty simple for your staff to recreate,” says Stenhouse.

“As long as you’re following a basic recipe, it should be foolproof.”

Humphrey at Mixxit even suggest pre-preparing and refrigerating milk-drink serves to cut down on hassle at busy times. She thinks hard shakes work best and have a natural affinity with American whisky, so a lot of Mixxit’s work in this area is with Jim Beam.

But the company also has its own serves for Galliano liqueur and Stolichanya vodka, and Humphrey suggests pubs experiment with their own ideas.

“As a basic rule, aim for a 50ml double of spirit, 75ml to 80ml of milk and a half a shot of sugar or syrup if necessary,” she says.

“You can customise around that by flavouring your milk with fruit for example, but this should be the core DNA.”

For sweeter spirits such as Jim Beam Honey, the last element may not be necessary.

Customised flavours

More adventurous venues can play around with the “dairy” ingredient to customise flavours and to make drinks friendly to people with lactose intolerance.

“It doesn’t have to be milk — a lot of milk substitutes are being used for these styles of drink,” Humphrey says.

“Rice milk gives a breakfast cereal twist to it and we are also doing work with Bols Yogurt Liqueur as a mixer.”

So hard shakes are fun to drink, good to look at, easy to make and profitable. Make sure you milk this drink trend while you can.