Business Buzz

Not all drinking establishments are created equal. Indeed, a growing number of entrepreneurs are spinning the bottle and ending up with businesses that are intoxicatingly inspired. A sampling:

By The Book

The success of Bar and Books speaks volumes. A New York City-based chain of upscale cocktail lounges that mixes drinks with reading material, Bar and Books boasted a 100 percent sales increase in 1995.

"We're not a bookstore pretending to be a bar," explains co-founder Mark Grossich. "We're a bar that happens to have books."

And lots of them. At each of Bar and Books' three locations, Grossich estimates some 3,000 to 4,000 books line the shelves. Customers read if they choose or merely soak up the ambience.

"[We're] seeking a return to the elegance of the '50s," says Grossich, who hopes to take his 5-year-old bestselling concept to other major cities. "[Back then,] people were simply more sophisticated about their nighttime entertainment."

Wines Of The Times

How do customers react to Marquis Sauvage's wine bar? "They're kind of overwhelmed, I think," says Sauvage, 27, who co-founded Denver-based Enoteca LoDo three months ago.

And wine-er, why-not? With more than 55 varieties of wine to choose from, Enoteca LoDo patrons have good reason to feel a little lightheaded. Whether it's $4 or $44 per glass, there's a lot of wine tasting to be done.

"Our place is casual and comfortable," says Sauvage, who forecasts an international future for his enterprise. With a diverse audience ranging in age from early 20s to 50s, Enoteca LoDo may well set the world spinning.

A Taste Of Japan

"Ninety-nine bottles of sake on the wall, 99 bottles of sake . . . ."

Well, maybe it doesn't have the same ring to it. But even if sake never penetrates the American consciousness to the same degree as other alcoholic beverages, Griffith Frost is betting that the domestic market for this Japanese staple is far from quenched.

"Eventually, sake will [comprise] 5 to 6 percent of the wine market," predicts Frost, president of Japan America Beverage Co. in Forest Grove, Oregon. "That's a pretty big number."

Frost is certainly doing his part to up the ante. His sake brewery, which is a joint venture with Momokawa Brewing in Japan, recently broke ground in Oregon. And by April 1997, Frost expects his premium sake to hit supermarkets-and sales to runneth over.

Why such confidence? "[Sake is] one of the fastest-growing alcoholic beverages in the industry, primarily because Asian foods have been growing [in popularity],' says Frost. "When people have Asian foods, they want to have an Asian wine-and that's where sake fits in."

This article was originally published in the February 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Business Buzz.