Hospitality focus: Pandemic London trend for high-end cocktail delivery ‘here to stay’, says Bacardi’s European chief

Bacardi’s European chief is certain the new London trend for ordering pre-mixed high-end cocktails to drink at home is here to stay even after lockdowns end across the continent.

As the pandemic hit in April, Bacardi joined with Deliveroo to help its partner bars deliver bottled cocktails to homes across the capital. The drinks giant has also just bought Tails Cocktails, a pre-batched premium brand launched in London in 2010, which offers bar-style cocktails in litres and kegs.

Tails normally sells to pubs and festivals, but with bars shut in lockdown and under Tier 2, it has pivoted to deliver to consumers. (A litre of pornstar martini serving six will set you back £30).

Francis Debeuckelaere, head of the privately-owned drinks giant's Europe-wide commercial operations, told the Standard that he is convinced certain consumer behaviour changes seen during the pandemic will stick - especially as part-time home-working becomes the norm.

He said: "I just think that there will be changes in behaviour and people will want to keep making cocktails at home.

"The trend is everywhere. We are launching everywhere [in the sector] - in England, in Germany, in the Netherlands. People don't know how to make a Patron margarita at home, so we will deliver.

"It's there to stay."  

Pre-pandemic Bacardi - owner of household name brands including Bombay Sapphire, Patron tequila and Martini Rosso - saw 20% of its UK sales in hospitality and 80% in supermarkets and other retail outlets. Today, on-trade sales account for just 8% of the UK trade.

Debeuckelaere, who has risen up through the Bacardi ranks over 20 years, said that he "remains convinced" the hospitality sector will bounce back quickly. 

His team has focused on supporting the giant's 100,000-plus on-trade partners across Europe in recent months, which has included urging them "think more like businesspeople".

The executive said he found that until the pandemic many hospitality venue owners had been satisfied with their business acumen "if the bar was full".  

He said: "People are realising they have a business to run. You need to be an all-rounder, to read a profit and loss account, to focus on rent agreements. We have been spending time with partners looking at their needs."