Dearborn Bars Bring Home Ideas from Vegas Conference

As one of the biggest bar nights of the year kicks off for St. Patrick's Day, several Dearborn bars are bringing home lessons learned during the Nightclub and Bar Convention and Trade Show held March 7-9 in Las Vegas.

The owners and staff of and attended the convention to get caught up on the new products and trends that will be shaping tomorrow's bar industry.

"It was a well-rounded conference," said Hisam Elawad, co-owner of Moose's. "We got to see the trends it looks like the bar industry is heading toward." That includes a wider variety of vodkas, in terms of both emerging distillers and new flavors, and new energy drinks and mixers.

Armando Rivera, manager of the Post, was impressed by the updated technological offerings and new design styles of standard barroom staples.

"We were checking out the video games, the DJ stuff, a lot of the new shooter glasses, martini glasses–anything new coming out," he said. "We saw a lot of cool new ideas."

The perfect pour devices struck a particular chord with the Post's owner, he said. 

A perfect pour device, like the spouts made by Precision Pours Inc., allows bartenders to pour perfectly measured shots, making it quicker and easier to mix drinks. It also helps the bar save money by eliminating over-pouring and reducing accidental spills.  For a bar like Post, which Rivera estimates serves roughly a thousand customers a week, perfect pours would save numerous bottles of liquor each night.

Precision Pours was one of more than 500 exhibitors on hand for the trade show, which included security, lighting and cleaning products, alongside well-known brands like Red Bull, Absolut Vodka, Malibu Rum and Coca-Cola.

The convention provides an opportunity for those in the service industry to network with brand leaders, learn about new ways of doing business, and to stay current on new and upcoming technologies in order to provide the best possible experience for their customers.

"There's some great entrepreneurs out there that we can learn from," Elawad said.

For Dearborn Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Giering, it's all good news for the city's nightlife scene.

"Any opportunity to grow and learn about what's exciting or what trends are happening, and bring that back to your own town and share that with the people at their establishments is a good thing," she said. "Hopefully those that attended brought back some really great ideas and new marketing concepts to help build up our nightlife in Dearborn."

Enhancing Dearborn's image and not only keeping, but expanding their customer base is certainly at the forefront of local business owners' minds.

"We're kind of a college town," Giering said. "We have over 25,000 students enrolled between U of M Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College. That group of people, coupled with our group of professionals, they want to have options, they want to have entertainment venues and things to do when they get off work or are done studying."

According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurants and bars are a driving force in Michigan's economy, having generated more than $13 billion in sales in 2010, across more than 16,000 eating and drinking establishments statewide. 

"I believe that Dearborn really relies, more than anything, on the food and beverage industry. That's a huge percentage of the local business," Elawad said. He said he would like to see more small business owners thriving in Dearborn, rather than "the same cookie-cutter style operations."

"I'd like to see more of the small businesses making it–the entrepreneurs, not just the corporate flavors."

Moose's, which opened in July, occupies the lot on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Howard, just within reach of popular franchises like Buffalo Wild Wings and Starbucks.

"I'd like to see the entrepreneurs doing unique brands, something that's creative," he said. "It's naturally more competitive, but it can bring in more people from outside the city."

Elawad left the trade show with some new ideas, which he hopes will make it onto the menu. 

"We already have a pretty cool drink menu, but there's some different options and ideas," he said. "It's too soon to give exact specifics." But Elawad suggested that inspiration may come from countries around the world, offering twists on Brazil's national cocktail, caipirinha, and "maybe a different, unique flavored mojito."

And Dearborn is thirsty to find out what's to come.