581: Justin Elliott on Cafting an Award Winning Cocktail Menu

  This is Justin Elliott's second time on the show. For Justin's full story head over to www.restaurantunstoppable.com/557. Having worked in some of the best bars in Austin, Elliott has consistently produced forward-thinking bar programs that have been recognized by Bon Appetit, Playboy, Texas Monthly, Zagat, Southern Living Magazine, Imbibe, Food Republic, Star Chefs and many more. This past year Elliott joined Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits where he specializes in helping Bars and Restaurant develop their cocktail menus. Today, Elliot is here to take us through his creative process of designing a cocktail menu. Show notes… Favorite success quote or mantra: "Fight chaos every day!" In today's episode, Justin Elliott shares: Where the creative process starts: The physical space should be a crucial place to begin. How the physical space ties back to the menu. What signifiers are and how you can use them to make your menu pop. Why you should not feel compelled to list every ingredient on you cocktail menu. Your objective, when writing a cocktail menu, being to entice the guest to drink what you've created; not to show off what ingredients went into the drink. The level of detail that goes into an award winning cocktail program. Understanding what your employees like.   A couple cocktail trends to be aware of going into the future.  Resources mentioned: cocktail menu dev checklist Today's sponsor: EthicsSuite.com -provide a safe, secure, simple and anonymous communication channel between you and your employees to help you protect your hard-earned reputation and assets. Demonstrate to your team that you are committed to providing a workplace that operates with the highest ethical standards. Staying informed about important issues will help you resolve them internally before they spiral into larger, costly, or public problems. Cashflowtool.com  A simple powerful and predictive cash flow companion for Qickbooks. Simple, because it requires no data entry, is always up to do and works on any device, anywhere. Powerful, because with it's built-in cash flow calendar, activitiy feed and anomaly detector, you instantly know all aspects of your cash flow with no surprises. Predictive, because you'll know your cash flow today and anticipate it tomorrow. Contact info:  @jdanelliott Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And finally, don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. Huge thanks to Justin Elliott for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!   Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!