Corrections or additions?
This article by Kathleen McGinn Spring
was prepared for the March 27, 2002 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Tech Review: Liquor Kiosk
The last alcoholic drink I had was called Victoria
Falls. I ordered it at the poolside bar at Disney World’s Animal
Kingdom
Lodge. Made of many types of fruity liqueur, lime juice, and Sprite,
it was very sweet — and very green. A year or so before, I had
ordered a slow gin fizz — sweet and pink — at Freddie’s
restaurant
in West Trenton. That pretty much sums up my recent experience with
alcohol, and my degree of sophistication in regards to same.
Needless to say, stocking a bar for a party — or even choosing
alcoholic accompaniments for dinner — is not one of my strong
points. How much of what kinds of alcohol to put in my cart is a
mystery.
Invariably, there is not enough white wine, or there is far too much
beer.
Even those who know how to mix a martini, choose a Beaujolais, or
pick a winner from a selection of microbrews may freeze at the
prospect
of stocking the bar for the office picnic, client brunch, or annual
dinner. Now there is help. Beverage Marketing Technologies, a Katonah,
New York-based company, has teamed with NCR to deliver extensive party
planning assistance via interactive electronic kiosks. Called
ChoiceMaster,
the kiosks are just starting to arrive in grocery stores, and there
is one in Wegman’s new wine and liquor store attached to its Nassau
Park supermarket.
The kiosk, which sits next to the check-out counter at the front of
the store, is helpful in some ways and great fun to play with, but
how useful is it? I gave it a try:
Extremely easy to use, the kiosk offers users a touch screenmenu with choices that include “Plan a Party.” At the nextlevel, there is a choice of barbeque or picnic, wedding orcelebration,cocktail party, brunch, dinner, or after dinner. I picked celebration,and was then asked how to type in the length of the celebration. Ichose six hours, and was then prompted to enter the number of guests.Thinking big, I attempted to type in 2,000. The program balked.Apparentlythis kiosk thinks only in numbers that have no more than three digits.That makes sense, actually. I imagine that anyone throwing a partyfor more than 999 people would need a lot more help than even themost advanced kiosk could offer. Still, going for a really bigimaginaryparty, I typed in 650 in the spot for number of guests.The next screen asked what kind of drinkers they were. The choicesare non-drinkers, light drinkers, moderate drinkers, and partyanimals.For each category, I was asked to give a percentage. I putnon-drinkersat 20 percent of the 650 guests. The kiosk then filled in the otherblanks, intuiting that 15 percent would be light drinkers, 30 percentmoderate drinkers, and 35 percent party animals. When I entered zerofor non-drinkers, the kiosk suggested that 35 percent would be lightdrinkers, 30 percent moderate drinkers, and 35 percent party animals.It is not necessary to accept these numbers. I could have put in anypercentages in any category.With percentages entered, the kiosk asks whether guestswill be drinking wine, beer, or liquor. And while the percentagesin each drinking category need to add up to 100, the type of alcoholeach will be drinking does not. So, for instance, during a day-longcompany outing, it is possible that every single guest might imbibefrom all three categories at some point. If the party planner thinksthat will be the case, 100 percent could be entered in each category.These two crucial steps — percentage of drinkers and percentagedrinking each type of alcohol — is where I could have used morehelp than the kiosk provided. Are there statistics on what percentageof adults are non-drinkers? On what percentage are likely to preferbeer to wine?For answers, I called Beverage Marketing Technologies and reachedJay Roelof, vice president for editorial content and services. Roelofsays the software doesn’t offer guidance because “the assumptionis when a person throws a party, they have a pretty good idea of themix they have.” The software does help out, he says, by restatingthe choices party planners have made, and allowing them to go backand make changes until they believe they have gotten it right.”It’s hard,” says Roelof, ” when you’re dealing with alot of people.”Initially, his company, which conceived the idea for ChoiceMasternearly 10 years ago, marketed to liquor stores. An early customerwas the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Independent liquor chainsfollowed, but Roelof says the company has now decided that the bestplace for its kiosks is “a grocery store environment.”In a small liquor store, he points out, there is often a knowledgeableowner or clerk who can give advice on how much beer to buy for thepost-softball-tournament celebration or what wine to serve with aprime rib dinner. This help is often missing in a supermarket, whichis where ChoiceMaster steps in.And while the company doesn’t plan to offer further guidance inestimatinghow many people in a large group are likely to drink how much alcohol,Roelof says it will help out in another area where I could have usedmore guidance.For my six-hour-long, 650-person celebration, at which I was planningto host 65 non-drinkers, 162 light drinkers, 196 moderate drinkers,and (God help me) 227 party animals, 20 percent of whom would bedrinkingliquor, 80 percent wine, and 75 percent beer, ChoiceMaster suggestedthat I purchase 68 bottles of liquor, 651 bottles of wine, 508 sixpacks of beer, and 123 six packs of soda. I didn’t feel thisstaggeringlist was tremendously helpful. What kind of liquor? How much of thewine should be red? How many of those six packs of soda should bemixers? And what kind of mixers?Roelof says the software is capable of making suggestions, and willsoon do so. The hold-up, he says, is that the guidance will providenot only a break-down of how many of those liquor bottles shouldcontaingin, rum, or vodka, but also suggestions as to which brand of eachto purchase. The company does not yet have advertisers, but is nowlining them up. “It’s a good selling tool,” says Roelof, andthe feature will be added as soon as advertisers are on-board.While I was disappointed not to receive more help on guesstimatinghow many big drinkers would be attending my imaginary 650-personconfab,and exactly what kind of liquor they would demand, I did findChoiceMastertremendously helpful in other ways. For one thing, the kiosk printsout all of its suggestions. A touch on the screen and my party planscrolled out.I found that the kiosk offers an impressive selection of recipes forparty food. Under salads alone there are at least four choices —meat, fish, and poultry; fruit; vegetable and legume; and rice, grain,and pasta. For each choice there are about 12 recipes. The recipesprint out, making it a snap for the last minute party organizer torun around the store and throw ingredients into a cart.And while there was no guidance on breaking down those 68 bottlesof liquor for my big party into gin, whiskey, and vodka, there isextensive help in choosing the correct drink to match with a widevariety of foods. Under a “Food Match” heading, ChoiceMasteroffers Quick and Easy, More Complex, and Soups and Stews. I went rightfor Quick and Easy, where the menu of choices included meat, seafood,pizza and pasta, vegetarian, spicy/ethnic take-out, and fowl. Pickingspicy/ethnic takeout, I was presented with more choices — Japanesesushi/sashimi (with horseradish, soy, ginger, or garlic),Japanese-style(with soy and/or ginger), Cantonese style (with sweet and sour sauce),Szechuan/Human/Thai (with garlic, soy, or fermented black bean), andmore — much more.For those with a thirst for knowledge about spirits, there isextensiveinformation on concocting drinks, and about composition and historyof all kinds of alcohol. Roelof, who writes a lot of the copy, saysthe aim is to present enough information to inform, but not tooverwhelm.There are tomes and cocktail books on wine and beer, he points out.ChoiceMaster is not seeking to impart this encyclopedic education,but rather to offer a concise page of information. Nicely illustratedand well-written, the thumbnail descriptions of different types ofalcoholic beverages are fascinating.I learned, for instance, that there are three large wine categories— varietal, regional, and generic. I also could have found outall about fermentation and aging, and about the difference betweenusing bottles and wood. Given more time I also could have delved intobeer by country, style, and/or name.Skipping right to history I looked up the origin of cordials,liqueurs,and schnapps. I learned that these drinks date back to medieval timeswhen alchemists used them to create healing potions. “Many,”according to ChoiceMaster, “were intended to stimulate theheart.”Heart is “cor” or “cordis” in Latin, and that is howcordials got their name.I would have gone on, but it was lunchtime, and the store wasbeginningto fill up. Aware of monopolizing the kiosk, I reluctantlyrelinquishedmy position. No doubt it is fun to play with, and its recipe featureis outstanding. As for its core function, I think it would be helpfulfor estimating the amount of soda and beer to buy for an officepicnic,but less helpful in stocking a bar for a big dinner. The additionof specific suggestions on what types of hard liquor to purchase willgo a long way toward alleviating questions over stocking a bar.That leaves only the issue of determining which among one’s workmatesare teetotalers, which are moderate imbibers, and which are the sortsfrom whom the booze had better be hidden if it is to last the evening.Technology — or at least ChoiceMaster — apparently is goingto offer no help with that one, leaving party planners reliant onfield research or rumor.— Kathleen McGinn SpringPrevious StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
