Mocktail Bar

The following is a list of items that are included in the self-contained, mobile mocktail unit.

• 3 blenders
• 3 juice jugs
• measuring cup
• spoons
• recipes
• "How To Run a Mocktail Bar" handout
• tips from the OSAID group
• extension cords

A tracking form must be filled out during the activity which keeps track of the number and kind of mocktails sold, the number of alcoholic beverages sold at the event, number of volunteers used, and the number of people in attendance.

A $25.00 fee applies for rental of the unit, payable to the OSAID group (Fort Frances High School chapter). This fee will be used to upkeep the mocktail unit.

How to Run a Successful Mocktail Bar - and have fun doing it!

Location, location, location!

One of the most important things to consider when planning a mocktail bar is location, location, location. If you are so far removed from the bulk of the crowd your mocktails will not fly (literally!).

Assemble your team early

I strongly suggest that you have a large number of volunteers signed up to help. There is nothing worse than showing up for your shift and finding out that you are the chief cook and bottle-washer with no hope of parole. Get volunteers signed up as soon as possible.

Steer clear of the soda

It is important that you sell absolutely no soda pop. Why you ask? Well anyone can get a can of soda pop, but fortunate are the few who can get a taste of your mocktails!

Know your limits

I recommend that your mocktail bar serve no more than 3-4 drinks. 3-4 mocktails will cut down on the preparation of the mocktails. More than four drinks on the menu is fine, but the workload will increase.

Serving the masses

Another consideration is to be very prepared with regards to the mocktail supplies on hand. This takes practice and careful consideration. Always error on the side of caution - it is better to have too much than too little. Talk to other organizations that have held mocktail bars, and find out from them how many they have sold. Try this to estimate your needed supplies: Estimate how many people you think will show up to your event (be optimistic now!). From this number guesstimate the number of drinks you will sell: for example, 2 drinks for 75% of the people in attendance.

Stocking up

Once you establish which drinks you want to serve, write down what you will need for supplies, then, before you fork over your organization's money, go out and knock on the doors of local suppliers to get as much of the mocktail supplies donated as you can. Your organization will love you for it! When you are out and about getting mocktail supplies in-kind (as much as you can, anyway), consider talking with a local furniture store that stocks used refrigerators. If you intend on serving blender drinks (frozen drinks) having a fridge around can save you time by providing a place where you can mix drinks up ahead of time.

Have a system

Our mocktail bar used different coloured 2" X 2" pieces of construction paper as "mocktail drink tickets". We used a different colour each night so that people don't bring a bunch of "home-made tickets" to us demanding drinks. On these tickets we wrote the initials of the drink. For instance, if the customer ordered a Bloody Shame (caesar or bloody mary at a regular bar) we would put the initials "BS" on the slip of paper (sorry, BS is not something we promote around these parts!). Anyway, we had a bit of a system going: the customer would come to one end of the "bar" where the money was (an "Order Here" sign could be placed here). We placed an adult supervisor here but it really didn't matter as long as that person is responsible. From here, the cash person would take a ticket and write the initials of the drink that the customer order on it (confused yet?, don't worry it will all fall into place). The customer would then pass the ticket onto another person who would take the ticket and put it into a covered bucket of sorts (so you can keep track of the number and kinds of drinks sold). They would then yell out the order to the awaiting "Prep. Crew" who would create the drink and they would in turn pass the drink on to the awaiting customer. The customer would walk away a happy man (or woman). Another satisfied customer.

How did we do?

It is important to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the mocktail bar, that is why I recommend you keep a covered bucket handy where all your drink tickets can go. Why covered? Well you know what it's like when drinks start a-flying, juice and celery everywhere.