NA PROGRAMS WITH COCKTAIL-LEVEL MARGINS.
NO NEW INVENTORY.
YOUR TEAM OWNS IT.
Your cocktail program is top-notch. Your NA program should be too. Elevated Bear helps you identify why your NA menu isn’t pulling its weight, then works with your beverage team to build a profitable program.
“We wanted to create an exciting menu of elevated non-alcoholic beverages for our guests to enjoy. Not the same old basic options you can find anywhere.”— Bryan Hannon, Co-Owner, The Dickens NYC
During the three-hour launch party at The Dickens, guests ordered 40 of the five new drinks created by Elevated Bear, creating $480 in new NA beverage reveue from ingredients the bar already had on hand.
NA PROGRAM AUDIT
Let’s identify the problem.Then build the right answer together.
Non-Alcoholic beverages are booming. You’ve got it on your menu. And the needle isn’t moving. Guests may order one, but not a second.The NA Program Audit provides a deep dive into each drink on your menu: what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus.Together we taste your current menu and evaluate the drinks using Elevated Bear’s VATS+S™️ evaluation tool. This isn’t an opinion. It’s a guided assessment.
| Visual | We drink with our eyes first. How does the drink look? The liquid. The glassware. The garnish. The presentation. |
| Aromatic | Most of what we perceive as taste is actually scent, particularly retronasal scent. Do you detect top, middle, and base notes? |
| Taste | What are you tasting? And where? We like to say that the hallmark of a great drink is that it feels like there's a party in your mouth. |
| Sensation (Mouthfeel) | Is it silky? Notice any heat? What about dryness? |
| Significance | How do you feel with this drink? Do you want to share how good it is with others? Where else could you imagine enjoying this drink? Poolside? Fireside? |
The Elevated Bear takes your team’s feedback on the NA menu, maps the findings to the Four Pillars, and compares the program against the standard set by your cocktail program. You receive an actionable report your team can begin incorporating into the menu. Or, if you prefer, the Elevated Bear can help you with Menu Integration.
NA MENU INTEGRATION
You understand technique, service and execution.Together we’re going to create your Elevated Non-Alcoholic Beverage program.
Integrating NA drinks into your beverage program can be the next step for clients who’ve completed the Audit and want a partner to help them bring the program to life. It’s also the natural starting point for venues that serve NA drinks, but haven’t formalized a program.This is a collaborative effort. You bring your vision, your inventory, your guests, and your service.The Elevated Bear brings the Four Pillars.
| Pillar | What it solves |
|---|---|
| Palate Mechanics | Balance, body, warmth, texture, and calibrated sweetness |
| Engineering | Whether the drink remains successful from first sip to last |
| Perfumery | Aromatic structure before, during, and after the sip |
| Hospitality | The guest's emotional, social, and inclusive experience |
Our goal is crafting beverages that address the gap that is created when ethanol is removed from a drink.
The work started with a third soda at 10:30 p.m.
I’m Scot, the founder of the Elevated Bear.
And while I was waiting for that third soda, I thought, “I’m not going to sleep tonight.” That led to “Why aren’t there better crafted, adult options for people who don’t want to drink alcohol?”Those two questions sent me looking for answers. Then I found Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Drinks by Dr. Kevin Peterson, and a whole new world opened up.Then Gordon Shepherd’s Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and why it Matters opened the next door. Shepherd’s work taught me the science of how we experience flavor.
But the road to the Elevated Bear began 14 years earlier, with a cancer diagnosis at 40. That started a health ripple effect that impacted how I socialized and lived my life.Three years ago, I developed diabetes 3c and started taking a GLP-1. I noticed that my “alcohol noise” was fading. I got a buzz, but the buzz was . . . blah. Not good. Not bad. Just blah. When I did choose to drink, it wasn’t about the alcohol, it was about fitting into the social structure of going out for “drinks”. And then it didn’t make sense anymore, hence the third soda that fateful night.Across event management, massage therapy, pharmacy ownership, and corporate partnership development, one thread has connected every chapter of my career: being of service to others.My goal is to help you create a profitable, scalable, repeatable system for your venue. One that complements your cocktail program, earns your staff’s confidence, and brings real hospitality to guests who don’t drink, can’t drink, or don’t feel like drinking in the moment.Because everyone deserves something in their glass that’s as unique as they are.