High-End beverage alcohol sales May bolster restaurants through recession.

The continuing consumer interest in cocktails, super-premium spirits, fine wine and imported beer, and the apparent lack of price resistance among customers, pushed on-premise beverage alcohol sales to a modern high in 2006.

This and other insights about the way beer, wine, spirits and cocktails are sold and marketed in bars and restaurants can be found in the Cheers On- Premise Handbook 2007, published by The Beverage Information Group.

Within the last decade, beverage alcohol sales have consistently grown faster at bars, restaurants, hotels and clubs than they have at off-premise outlets. This boom in business has much to do with consumers’ growing interest in dining out and enjoying a luxury experience with super-premium spirits, wines and beers. “Variety, convenience, health and wellness are all having an impact on-premise,” says Eric Schmidt, manager of information services for The Beverage Information Group. “Value – not necessarily cost – is top of mind.”

Much of this growth was fueled by the continuing attention paid by marketers of new and ultra-premium products to the restaurant business, where beverage alcohol brands are built today.

In every case, on-premise growth outpaced off-premise. If anything, the spirits category accelerated in 2006. In total, consumers spent just over $58 billion on spirits in 2006 – more than $34 billion of that on-premise. On- premise dollars for beer were also higher, while for wine they were essentially tied with off-premise dollars.

Spirit, wine and beer sales overall surged in bars and restaurants, up 2.9% in volume, compared to a 1.6% increase at retail stores. But dollars on- premise were up 9.2%. Wine showed the biggest gain in dollars on-premise, up 10.6%, 5.2% in volume. Spirits were up 10.1% in dollars on-premise and 6.9% in volume, while beer grew 8.2% in dollars and 2.5% in volume.

The Cheers On-Premise Handbook 2007, published by The Beverage Information Group, is the first and only annual statistical report on trends in adult beverages served in hotels, bars, restaurants and clubs. The handbook contains beer, wine and spirit consumption by category, state and metro market. Brand data, retail sales, consumer demographics and industry statistics are included. The cost of the publication is $3,000.

For more information at http://www.bevinfogroup.com