News Briefs for September 13, 2011
September 13, 2011• Bacardi USA is introducing the “OakHeart Challenge,” a series of simultaneous nationwide bar events designed to support the launch of Bacardi OakHeart, on September 15. Through the program, Bacardi aims to get more than 25,000 consumers to sample the new extension on the same day, at the same time. Bars in several key markets, including Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin, will be hosting OakHeart Challenge events. Rolled out in the U.S. earlier this month, Bacardi OakHeart is a 70-proof, spiced blend of Bacardi Superior and Gold priced at around $12.99-$15.99 a 750-ml that aims to take on rival Diageo’s Captain Morgan in the spiced rum segment.
• New England restaurant chain Margaritas Mexican Restaurant has named Hugo Marin as its new president. Marin will focus on continuing to expand the Margaritas brand through franchising. His past experience in the restaurant industry includes positions as CEO of Al Copeland Investments, a Louisiana-based restaurant group, and vice president of operations at Ted’s Montana Grill. Marin also held management positions at The Cheesecake Factory and Romano’s Macaroni Grill, among others. Margaritas Mexican Restaurant has 23 locations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Jersey and opened its first franchised location in Livingston, New Jersey in June.
• Kicking off its fall season, Acker Merrall & Condit raised $3.8 million at its New York wine auction held September 10, with 97% sold. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Chateau Lafite Rothschild accounted for nine out of the top 10 lots, with a 3-bottle 2003 Romanée-Conti offering and two separate 12-bottle 2000 Lafite Rothschild lots tying for the top lot at $29,280 apiece. Acker Merrall & Condit and affiliates will hold at least seven more live auctions in 2011, including September 16 and 17 in Hong Kong, October 22 in Chicago—Acker’s first auction through its new Midwest division, created through the June acquisition of Chicago’s Edward Roberts International—and at New York’s Restaurant Daniel October 29.
• This month, Pernod Ricard USA is making available 20 bottles of a new prestige Scotch whisky offering, Royal Salute Tribute To Honor, priced at $200,000 a bottle. The prestige blend includes whiskies aged 45 years and older and is packaged in a silver and gold gilt design, with each bottle jeweled with 413 hand-cut black and white diamonds. Continuing to thrive as a gifting option, particularly across Asia, Royal Salute reached record global volumes of 200,000 cases in the 12 months through June, Pernod’s fiscal year, translating into a 27% net sales increase from the previous fiscal year.
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