According to the latest Nielsen CGA survey, the margarita is the number 1 favorite cocktail for both males and females in on premise drinking occasions. Nielsen launched their CGA’s OPUS (On Premise User Survey) in May of 2016 to gather data on consumer drinking habits and demographics for on premise retail locations throughout the country.
For the second year in a row margaritas remained America’s favorite cocktail. An interesting fact was brought up by Scott Elliott, SVP at Nielsen, “We know that 25 percent of on premise visitors don’t know what category they’re going to drink before entering an outlet.” Cocktails remain a great way to both maximize revenue for retailers as well as enhance the experience of the consumers. The research suggested that the following changes would be helpful to improving those experiences: specifically name drink brands as cocktail components, be explicit with liquor bases and especially the flavor profile and lastly to differentiate cocktails between day/night drinks and occasion/specialty drinks by introducing specific offers and promotions.
Source: Nielsen CGA, June 2017