To help out those shoppers who may be feeling a bit “bah humbug” during the months of November and December, and to help boost sales during the winter months, the owners and operators of restaurants, bars, hotels and malls may want to consider contacting a more grown up version of Santa’s helper for the upcoming 2023 holiday season.
Greg Boehm, the founder of both the Christmas-themed “Miracle” and the tropical tiki-themed “Sippin’ Santa” holiday pop-up cocktail bar concepts, transforms various bar/restaurant venues across the country into over-the-top kitschy winter wonderlands, complete with unique seasonal cocktails. The drinks are served in fun Christmas-esque mugs and glassware which can be purchased, with a portion of the drinkware sales donated to charity (in 2022, 10% of the proceeds went toward Seva Foundation, a global nonprofit that provides eye care services to underserved, disadvantaged communities).
For 2022, a whopping 147 different venues across the country agreed to participate in this unique pop-up bar concept that ran from Nov. 21 to Dec. 31, including McCoys Rum Room at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort in Fla., and the former Grizzly’s & Rock Tap House restaurant space at the Dakota Square Mall in Minot, N.D.
Through his connections as the owner of multiple bars in downtown New York, Boehm has enlisted Joann Spiegel, the general manager of the Mace bar in NYC, to create unique cocktail concoctions for the Miracle themed pop-up bars.
Spiegel, for 2022, developed such festive drinks as “Elfing Around,” with gin, prosecco and wine, and “Christmapolitan,” featuring vodka, elderflower, dry vermouth and spiced cranberry sauce. Boehm also recruited Jeff Berry, owner of the Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29 Polynesian-themed restaurant in New Orleans, to whip up one-of-a-kind whimsical cocktails for the Sippin’ Santa pop-up bars. Berry created such specialties as “Rudolph’s Rum Rhapsody,” featuring Jamaican and Puerto Rican rums, as well as the namesake “Sippin’ Santa” drink, which consists of aged demerara rum and even gingerbread mix.
The holiday pop-up bar idea came about eight years ago thanks to Boehm’s mother, who suggested Boehm transform one of his still-unfinished bar spaces into a temporary holiday concept with ample Christmas decorations. Little by little, over the years, Boehm’s bar industry friends also wanted to have a similar set-up for their own restaurant/bar locations during the winter months, and the “Miracle” and “Sippin’ Santa” concepts were born.
Visit www.miraclepopup.com and www.sippinsantapopup.com for more information.
