ALCOHOL INDUSTRYINSIDERSubscribe free
Prompt Library

Marketing prompt

Rename the drink, not the recipe: the fix that moved a dead cocktail

A quality pour that nobody orders is dead inventory and wasted menu space, and most operators respond by reformulating instead of renaming. Sunday Hospitality Group changed one name at Hotel Chelsea's Lobby Bar and turned a slow seller into its best seller, a move you can test on your own list this week.

How to use it

  1. Copy the prompt below.
  2. Swap each [bracket] for your own details. The more specific you are, the better the answer.
  3. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini and send it.

The prompt

You are a beverage menu strategist who has written cocktail, wine, and beer lists for high-volume restaurants and tasting rooms. My business is a [winery / brewery / distillery / retail shop / bar] in [city or region]. My slow seller is [item name], which is [describe the liquid, style, ABV, and price]. It currently sells about [units per week] compared with [best seller name] at [units per week]. My brand's history includes [founding year, family names, address, original building use, vineyard or neighborhood name, anything local]. My guests are mostly [describe them: hotel guests, locals, bachelorette groups, trade buyers, club members].

Give me:
1. Twelve alternative names for this item, each one anchored to a familiar category word my guest already knows (martini, spritz, old fashioned, pilsner, rosé, highball) or to a specific piece of my brand history. No invented foreign words, no abstract art-gallery names.
2. For each name, one line on who orders it and why they would pick it over my current best seller.
3. A menu description for your top three names, maximum 12 words each, listing no more than the spirit or grape and one hook. Undersell it.
4. A flag on any name that overpromises on what the liquid actually delivers.
5. A simple 30-day test plan: what to change, what to hold constant, and the one number I should compare at the end.

Push back if my history details are too generic to build a name from, and tell me what to go find. If your first list feels clever rather than orderable, give me a second list of six names that a tired guest at 9pm would say out loud without hesitating.

What you fill in

  • winery / brewery / distillery / retail shop / bar
  • city or region
  • item name
  • describe the liquid, style, ABV, and price
  • units per week
  • best seller name
  • founding year, family names, address, original building use, vineyard or neighborhood name, anything local
  • describe them: hotel guests, locals, bachelorette groups, trade buyers, club members

Get new prompts in your inbox.

Join the operators who read Alcohol Industry Insider every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Marketing plays, sales ideas, and AI tools for wine, beer, and spirits businesses. Join today and get The AI Prompt Playbook, 50 ready-to-paste prompts, free.

Free, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Join and get the 50-prompt AI Playbook as a thank you.