Shake up your fortunes

Barstaff don't need the flair of Tom Cruise in that blockbuster study of the drinks industry Cocktail to profit from mixing drinks. At least that is the message pubs are being bombarded with as cocktails become popular outside the exclusive domain of style bars.

For those still fearful that they don't know their Mojitos from their Mai Tais, there is plenty of help at hand, with no shortage of guidance on how to introduce cocktails to your drinks offering. One source of this is cocktail training body Squeeze.

On a day's training with Squeeze, and its trainer Myles Cunliffe The Publican - along with several members of the pub trade - learnt the four fundamentals of drinks that can easily represent £4-worth of profit for each glass served…1. Core cocktails

Myles teaches his students a core set of cocktails to use as a base. Once you know the basic methodology, he says, it is possible to adapt classic recipes yourself. For example, a Collins can be quickly made behind a busy bar, and it is easy to adapt the recipe of two shots of vodka or gin, ice, one shot of lemon juice, one shot of sugar syrup, one shot of strawberry puree and a garnish.

2. Equipment

It is important to equip the bar with an inexpensive basic set of cocktail tools, such as shakers and strainers. "You need a little of this gear," says Myles. "Otherwise, it's like saying to your chef 'we want you to do a full three-course dinner without any kitchen equipment'."

3. Ingredients

"I'm not saying have 10 gins and

10 vodkas. It's the little things that matter," Myles says. It is these little things, such as fresh fruit garnishes or a range of syrups, which make a visual impact with the customer.

"The UK has an abundance of fresh fruit. Why don't pubs use it more?" the coach asks.

He also recommends getting your chef to make the pub's own syrups as a measure that will both save expense and give you a home-made point of difference. For example, vanilla syrup is a simple reduction of water, sugar and a vanilla pod or two.

The menu

Once you have a concise range of cocktails in place, the next step is promoting them. Myles suggests alternating cocktails as a weekly special, and using a blackboard to advertise them, perhaps alongside a wine of the week. That ways you are not giving drinkers used to ordering a pint a complicated array of new drinks to choose from, and your staff will only have to get their heads around making one drink at a time.

For more information about Squeeze, see www.squeezeuk.com​

Case study:

The Winchester​

This pub in Highgate, London, is introducing cocktails to coincide with a refurbishment and re-opening in June. The Winchester's licensee Valerie Collins and two of her staff attended the course, and now feel ready to throw themselves head-first into mixing cocktails.

Valerie says: "We will try to build some kind of cocktail menu, but we are not going to turn into a cocktail bar. Generally, the pub trade is lazy and does not experiment enough. Cocktails are time-consuming, but look at the profits they offer."

This profit-making potential is highlighted by a variation on the Mojito that Valerie learnt with Squeeze, a drink with a cost price of around 50p that she plans to price at £4.80. She perfected the 'English Mojito' - two shots of gin, crushed ice, elderflower cordial, and lime wedges - and it will be the first weekly special to tempt her customers.