Options for a brunch bar

[carolina64]

One of the options we are looking at is having a morning ceremony, then brunch reception. We wanted to have a very limited number of alcohol options, perhaps only mimosas, ramos gin fizzes or even bloody marys. a very limited bar.

How is this charged out? does it count as a regular open bar or would they charge for say a gallon of mimosas?

thanks for any info y'all have.

 

[sambycat]

thats what we are doing, and having champagne/mimosas and bloody marys. as far as i can tell, you can wither do a "based on consumption" or per drink price VS. an hourly or however its termed but a blanket price for the open bar per hour. as far as i can tell, there really isn't anything less expensive about offering a signature drink, it's just fewer options for the guest to be presented and/or select. and the drinks seem to be like 7ishpp for mimosa and 8.75 for bloody marys (or vice versa)?

hope that helps!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

I did just mimosas at my brunch, and they were bill on consumption. We also were not required to have a bartender for this, so we saved a ton of $ on not having a bartender fee!

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

I did just mimosas at my brunch, and they were bill on consumption. We also were not required to have a bartender for this, so we saved a ton of $ on not having a bartender fee!

I thought the bartender fee was only $100? I'd like to have mimosas/champagne for my brunch wedding too, and if we can get away without having a bartender, we'll probably do it. But what about non-alcoholic drinks? Don't you have to have a bartender for that, even if it's just sodas and juice?

 

[lurkyloo]

No bartender required for sodas and juice. Sodas are lined up on a table and the juice is in pitchers or dispensers or something—can't remember. We had a waiter who kinda positioned himself behind the soda table, but he wasn't a bartender mixing drinks, checking IDs and all that other stuff that the bartender fee covers (for bars that sell less than $500 in booze).

 

[Sarah84]

No bartender required for sodas and juice. Sodas are lined up on a table and the juice is in pitchers or dispensers or something—can't remember. We had a waiter who kinda positioned himself behind the soda table, but he wasn't a bartender mixing drinks, checking IDs and all that other stuff that the bartender fee covers (for bars that sell less than $500 in booze).

Ooh great to know, thats $100 saved already

 

[Dreams595]

Does the bartender fee vary by location? We are having our brunch reception at Living Seas with soda, juice and mimosas and the bartender fee is included in our BEO. And we're doing bill on consumption.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

No bartender required for sodas and juice. Sodas are lined up on a table and the juice is in pitchers or dispensers or something—can't remember. We had a waiter who kinda positioned himself behind the soda table, but he wasn't a bartender mixing drinks, checking IDs and all that other stuff that the bartender fee covers (for bars that sell less than $500 in booze).

Wait wait wait....so you're telling me that we don't actually have to pay $25 per person for a 5 hour non-alcoholic bar just for soda from a bartender??

Does the bartender fee vary by location? We are having our brunch reception at Living Seas with soda, juice and mimosas and the bartender fee is included in our BEO. And we're doing bill on consumption.

I'm pretty sure they charge everybody the bartender fee, and then if they meet sales of over $500 they waive the fee.

 

[lurkyloo]

Wait wait wait....so you're telling me that we don't actually have to pay $25 per person for a 5 hour non-alcoholic bar just for soda from a bartender??

Nope, I'm telling you you don't have to pay the $100 fee for a bartender if you have soda and water because you don't need a bartender. You still have to pay $25/per person for the actual drinks if that's the cost of your soda and water package or the estimate they've given you for bill-on-consumption. Frankly, after getting burned by a $900 soda and water package that was not even half used, I'd recommend BOC for *any* type of beverage unless your group is at least 50% champion drinkers.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

I thought the bartender fee was only $100? I'd like to have mimosas/champagne for my brunch wedding too, and if we can get away without having a bartender, we'll probably do it. But what about non-alcoholic drinks? Don't you have to have a bartender for that, even if it's just sodas and juice?

Like Lurkyloo said, you definitely do not need a bartender for non-alcoholic drinks. I had one event with no alcohol, and we were only charged for the price of what people drank.

In terms of alcohol, I was told that having just wine, or in my case even mismosas, would not require having a bartender there, therefore, I didn't have to pay a fee for that either. I only had a bartender when I had a bar with multiple types of drinks (beer, wine, margaritas, mixed drinks) but we drank more than $500 worth, so we didn't get charged a fee anyway.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Nope, I'm telling you you don't have to pay the $100 fee for a bartender if you have soda and water because you don't need a bartender. You still have to pay $25/per person for the actual drinks if that's the cost of your soda and water package or the estimate they've given you for bill-on-consumption. Frankly, after getting burned by a $900 soda and water package that was not even half used, I'd recommend BOC for *any* type of beverage unless your group is at least 50% champion drinkers.

Ok, well I don't mind paying a $100 bartender fee, but DF and I have issues paying $25pp just for soda. Can you tell me how the BOC works? I thought I read somewhere on another thread that to do BOC, you have to pay some HUGE amount of money up front (i.e. around $5000), and then whatever you don't use you get back. If that's the case, then what's the point?

 

[lurkyloo]

That is definitely not the case. The amount they charge you up front is based on the cost of two drinks per person for the first hour and one drink per person each hour thereafter. The per-drink price used in these calculations depends on the cocktail cost of the type of bar selected, so in your case, it would be based on the price of soda/juice.

Say you have 30 people at your 5-hour reception and they base the price on soda because you'll just be drinking whatever juice is included in your brunch menu. That's six drinks per person at $4/drink, so $24/person BOC vs. $24.50/person for a flat-rate, all-you-can-drink package. $24/person x 30 people = $720 (plus tax and service charge).

So right there you're saving 50 cents a person—not a lot, but I guarantee you that not every single one of your guests will drink (or open and abandon) six drinks in five hours, so when you get the refund afterward, your costs for BOC will be even lower.

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

That is definitely not the case. The amount they charge you up front is based on the cost of two drinks per person for the first hour and one drink per person each hour thereafter. The per-drink price used in these calculations depends on the cocktail cost of the type of bar selected, so in your case, it would be based on the price of soda/juice.

Say you have 30 people at your 5-hour reception and they base the price on soda because you'll just be drinking whatever juice is included in your brunch menu. That's six drinks per person at $4/drink, so $24/person BOC vs. $24.50/person for a flat-rate, all-you-can-drink package. $24/person x 30 people = $720 (plus tax and service charge).

So right there you're saving 50 cents a person—not a lot, but I guarantee you that not every single one of your guests will drink (or open and abandon) six drinks in five hours, so when you get the refund afterward, your costs for BOC will be even lower.

Thank you for the help! I calculated the numbers out for 95 people, which is about how many people we are having, and it's still pretty steep. But we may go with this option if we think we'll be getting money back. I have no clue what we're going to do because we still want at least a cash bar so that the drinks are there if anybody wants one, but it's a brunch wedding so we don't anticipate very many people drinking alcohol. Or maybe we will skip the bar altogether and just have mimosas/champagne and BOC sodas, OR we were also thinking of having an open beer/wine bar for 2 hours and then cash bar after that. I keep grinding my teeth over this because I don't think it's right to make guests pay for soda, but at the same time $25pp is ridiculous!

 

[lurkyloo]

Just to be sure what I wrote was clear—BOC doesn't mean your guests have to pay. And usually if people do a cash bar it's because they want to offer lots of different and/or premium kinds of alcohol. So you could do a BOC soda package and then just offer the booze at the cash bar.

My vote is for option #2—I think brunch is the one meal where you can totally get away with skipping alcohol altogether, and if you really really want it, you can just add one thing, like those mimosas. I just don't want you to have to grind your teeth!

 

[Belle2Be]

Just to be sure what I wrote was clear—BOC doesn't mean your guests have to pay. And usually if people do a cash bar it's because they want to offer lots of different and/or premium kinds of alcohol. So you could do a BOC soda package and then just offer the booze at the cash bar.

My vote is for option #2—I think brunch is the one meal where you can totally get away with skipping alcohol altogether, and if you really really want it, you can just add one thing, like those mimosas. I just don't want you to have to grind your teeth!

We want to do the same, with just the mimosa option, with about 30 people. Would it be cheaper to BOC, bring in our own champagne, buy it by the bottle, or do the open bar thing?

 

[carolina64]

Is it possible to have the soda/juice part as a package and the alcoholic drinks as billed on consumption? Also, does the package have to start at the beginning of the reception? The food service plan comes with more than adequate beverage options, except maybe the two mixed drinks.

 

[CityGirlLost]

Why is it that you don't need a bartender for mimosas?