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How Sarah Brought Her Evenings Back to Life with Restaurant Beverages

Claire Brunaud
Sep 30, 2025
2 min read

The Context

Sarah runs a bistronomic restaurant in Nantes. Her food was a hit, lunch service was usually full… but in the evenings, especially during the week, the dining room felt empty.

On the drinks side, nothing unusual: a solid wine list, but few festive options. Guests came for dinner… and quickly left afterwards.

The Problem

By analyzing her evenings, Sarah identified three issues:

Dinners were limited to main course + glass of wine.
Guests had no “reason” to stay longer.
Margins on drinks remained low and stagnant.

In short: the potential of restaurant beverages was underutilized.

The Change

Sarah decided to rethink her drinks offering to transform the evening atmosphere:

Create an aperitif moment: she introduced a short cocktail list (Spritz, Negroni, Virgin Spritz).
Animate weekday evenings: she launched a “signature cocktail Thursday,” with a small discount.
Highlight festive non-alcoholic options: colorful mocktails and flavored waters to reach a wider audience.

With this new approach, drinks became an experience in their own right, not just a meal accompaniment.

The Results for Restaurant Beverages

Three months later, the impact was clear:

+30% increase in evening beverage sales.
Guests stayed longer, leading to more desserts, coffees, and higher overall bills.
Servers had a new selling point to boost the customer experience.

By rethinking her drinks offering, Sarah didn’t just increase her margins—she created a convivial atmosphere that keeps guests coming back.

Sarah’s Lesson

Restaurant beverages are not just about consumption: they can be a powerful lever for profitability and guest engagement.

👉 With the right choices (cocktails, mocktails, promotions), drinks can turn a quiet dining room into a lively and profitable space.

And What About Data?

Sarah’s story perfectly illustrates a key point: to make the right decisions, you need to track sales and understand guest behavior.

That’s exactly what Fyre enables:

A dashboard to track beverage sales in real time and identify star products or “dead weights.”
FyrePulse to capture market trends (e.g., the rise of mocktails).
Venue Activation to test offers like “signature cocktail Thursday” and measure their impact directly at the POS.