Max out your drink business on Cinco de Mayo

Straw-Ber-Rita, left, and Sauza Sparkling Margaritas, right. Images courtesy Bud Light, Sauza Tequila, respectively

Superstar mixologists, handcrafted cocktails and ultrapremium ingredients are just some of the factors that drive high-end bar programs right now. But there are a few days each year when how fast your bartenders can make drinks, rather than how well they make them, becomes a big deal. Margarita-crazy Cinco de Mayo is one of them. We’ve got four easy ways to help your bartenders out, plus a great option for customers who want the real thing no matter how long it takes.

If your bar attracts customers who covet inexpensive retro beers like PBR, Budweiser has a margarita-ish product line that’s perfect for you. Bud Light’s Lime-A-Rita malt beverage was the leading flavored malt beverage on the market in 2012. This year the company has extended the line with Straw-Ber-Rita. Both products have eight percent alcohol by volume and come in 8 oz., 16 oz. and 24 oz. cans. It’s inexpensive even at retail, where you can walk in off the street and pay less than $1 per can at a WalMart.

"The response to Lime-A-Rita, especially among non-beer drinkers, was tremendous, and we knew we'd tapped into a winning insight we could build on," says Rob McCarthy, v.p. for  Bud Light. "Strawberries and margaritas have long gone hand-in-hand. Straw-Ber-Rita is a unique twist on a familiar flavor that only Bud Light Lime can deliver."

Authentic? No. Fast, cheap and easy? You bet, and this premade product could be just the ticket to help your bar crew deal with the throngs on Cinco de Mayo.

So could another premade product, this one holding appeal for tequila aficionados who might visit your restaurant.

It’s the Hornitos Lime Shot from premium tequila maker Hornitos. This bottled clear spirit combines Hornitos 100% Blue Agave tequila with the taste of lime and a hint of salt. If your bar is overrun with customers doing tequila shots come May 5, this premade product can really speed up service. The Hornitos Lime Shot is also available in a 50-ml bottle—the airline mini bottle size—that might be useful in certain serving situations.

Sauza, another premium tequila maker, provides a third premade option you might consider. The company has just released a line of ready-to-serve Sauza Sparkling Margaritas. The product uses a Sauza Silver Tequila base that’s enhanced with Triple Sec plus effervescent bubbles and flavorings. Available flavors for Sparkling Margaritas are Original Lime, Wild Berry and Mango Peach. The product is sold in 750 ml bottles.

Technology provides a fourth option that would speed up your bar’s serving speed, and not just on Cinco de Mayo, either. It’s Bartendro, a precision cocktail dispensing robot. The device can turn out well-crafted drinks in just 10 seconds. Current models can do 200 cocktails per night and can handle 15 different types of cocktails at once

Bartendro’s maker, Partyrobotics, just completed a Kickstarter campaign (fully funded at $197,000) meant to boost production of four different Bartendro models into high gear. Units can produce 1, 3, 7 or 15 different drinks.

The Bartendro 15 is particularly useful for margaritas, its makers say.

“With 15 pumps you have the greatest flexibility of any of our bots and can easily make it into a custom drink machine for your favorite party. If you like margaritas you can load a few tequilas and a pile of mixers, letting users choose their favorite margarita type. Users can select their choice of tequila and then customize the drink to make it bigger/smaller, stronger/weaker or tarter/sweeter. Press the pour button and seconds later Bartendro will finish your drink!”

If your Cinco de Mayo crowd were tech-obsessed, the novelty value alone would convince customers to give this machine a try, perhaps more than once.

But if none of these options appeal to you and you want to make your Margaritas by hand, we’ve got a good option for you. Check out this video from Portland, OR-based star mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler and watch him concoct his Margarita with Cadillac Foam. It’s a how-to. We’ll bet you’ll think that his version of this classic drink is worthy of any restaurant’s cocktail list year-round, not just on Cinco de Mayo.