The Alchemist, the Simon Potts-led cocktail and restaurant concept, is developing its breakfast offer to maximise value from expensive sites.
Potts, speaking at CGA’s Insight 2018 conference, told delegates the breakfast offer was in keeping with brand’s commitment to high quality service and environment, and includes theatrical flourishes involving dry ice with tea, as well as non-alcoholic cocktails.
He said non-alcoholic cocktail sales had grown 2% year on year at the 13-strong group, and that soft drink innovations would be an area of focus for the next two years.
On the sugar tax Potts said The Alchemist had partially passed on the cost to consumers with a slight increase in the price of ‘full fat’ drinks, while absorbing part of the cost as well.
In terms of innovation, he said the growing group would look to harness technology better, and introduce elements of a digital presence to the bar experience.
He said: “Increasingly we have made big strides in our dayparts, and now that’s working for us. Breakfast has become an important part of the offer.
“We serve non-alcoholic cocktails, and we’re up 2 percentage points in terms of sales on last year.
“It’s about the environment you create, and though we started out as a late night bar, which is dark and moody, when you’re paying big rents, you need to make some hay in the day.
“We thought about how to make breakfast a bit Alchemist-y, so we’ve got teas that smoke when they come to the table.
“Over all we are trying to keep the same quality of service and environment that people expect from us.”
Potts said the porn star martini remained the group’s most popular drink, closely followed by its own creation, the light bulb moment, which is served with characteristic theatrical flourish.
