AT THE BAR

At Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar,
the Bikinitini is Svedka Clementine vodka,
reevaluate the menu and possibly expand
our naturally skinny line to nonalcoholic
drinks, too.”

CHAIN REACTION Cincinnati-based The Bistro Group, a franchisee of Carrollton, Texas-based T.G.I. Friday’s, and The Cheesecake Factory, Calabasas Hills, Calif., are restaurant chains that recently introduced skinny drinks.

“Last summer, we wanted to determine if adding three low-calorie cocktails would resonate with guests and impact the beverage innovation strategy and sales,” says Amie Dancu, director of marketing at The Bistro Group.

THE SKINNY ON SKINNY DRINKS

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar

The company tested two margaritas and a mojito, and the drinks performed well enough that the skinny margarita and blackberry margarita, with 130 calories each, made it onto The Bistro Group’s menus nationwide in January. The drinks cost $6 each, the same as regular margaritas.

the originals’ calorie counts. Mark Mears, chief of marketing, says the skinny cocktail drink mixes replaced some sugar with Splenda and other sweeteners, and the skinny drinks did not have reduced alcohol content or portion size. They range in price from $7 to $11.

“Focus on one key ingredient and develop the drink from that,” says Jacqui Berardi, lead bartender at The Liberty Hotel, Boston. “Just play around and see what you can come up with.”

The National Culinary Review | May 2011

“We use an agave sour mix containing sugar-free syrup to keep the great flavor profile,” Dancu says.

Also in January, The Cheesecake
Factory rolled out a skinny line
of its five most popular cocktails,
cutting calorie counts to 150—half

SLEEK SOCIALIZING Skinny drinks have fatter price tags at Boston’s Liberty Hotel, where an item from the Sleek Cocktail list is $12. “We started playing around with different key ingredients, fruits and purées, last summer to come up with cocktails that taste good but don’t have so many calories,” says Jacqui Berardi, lead bartender.

“When it comes to ingredients, shoot from the season to come up with your skinny drink,” says Sam Talbot, chef at The Surf Lodge in Montauk, N.Y. “I came up with the blueberry mojito in July, for example, and now we run it as a restaurant special, as one of our arsenal of skinny drinks. Depending on the month, the season and what’s available, we come up with different versions of our skinny drink.”