CLEVELAND — Der Braumeister owner Jenn Wirtz is preparing some new summer cocktails.

What You Need To Know

  • Alcohol and food to go have become popular since the pandemic

  • They have changed how restaurants operate 

  • One northeast Ohio restaurant has added catering to their services with the increased popularity of food and alcohol to go

“It’s called a pineapple rum splash," she said.

She doesn’t know how popular it will be yet, but you can get it to go in a pouch.

Wirtz said these "cocktails-to-go" are more of a hit in the summer. They were popular during the pandemic, and Ohio later made cocktails to go permanent.

The National Restaurant Association found in its 2023 State of the Industry Report that nine out of 10 spots that started selling alcohol to go plan to keep going if it’s allowed in their state.

Wirtz said alcohol to go sales have accounted for 7% of all alcohol sales this year. It’s more than a drop in the bucket.

“When you’re talking about just under a million dollars, that’s a nice chunk of change," Wirtz said. 

She’s also really seen a difference in catering. Her bar had to adjust to this model during the pandemic. Now it’s just another service they offer. Alcohol to go has been a hit through catering. She said on a recent corporate catering order, nearly half of the money made came from alcohol to go.

“In 2020, catering really opened up some doors for us that weren’t there previously," Wirtz said. "So I think that being able to offer your catering clients cocktails to go as well as beer to go wine to go, I think all of those things tie in with one another.”

Takeout food is still popular this year, and it’s about 6% of her total sales. It was as high as 16% of her sales in 2020.

Wirtz said catering created a whole new customer base, and it’s changed how they do business. She said they weren't originally a catering restaurant. 

“It was something that I wanted to work on, but COVID really pushed me into doing that a lot faster and on such a larger scale than what I was prepared for in the beginning," she said.

Her restaurant still has some staffing shortages, which are common throughout the industry, so she can only be open four days a week. But catering, food and alcohol have kept them afloat.

“Catering has allowed us to continue making the same amount of money, with only being open up four days a week," Wirtz said. "So catering, we do big catering jobs on Sunday, Mondays, or Tuesdays. We’re prepping things, we do special events that are more catered wine events, beer tastings, beer pairings and private events as well."

What was once a lifeline is now a way of making a living in the restaurant business.