
Dept in a Box Series: Menu & Product Management
From Mocktails with Marina by Marina
November 26, 2025 · 13 min · Season 1 · Episode 99
About this episode
This episode discusses the importance of Menu & Product Management in non-alcoholic businesses and provides strategies for profitability.
In today's episode of Mocktails With Marina, we're closing out the Department in a Box™ Series with one of the most important and most overlooked pillars of a profitable non-alcoholic business: Menu & Product Management. Whether you run a kava bar, non-alcoholic bar, bottle shop, kombucha taproom, sober lounge, or functional beverage café, your menu is not just a list of drinks. It's a financial engine . A marketing strategy . And the #1 driver of your customer experience and business profitability. Inside this episode, you'll learn: 🔸 Why your menu needs its own "department" Most business owners rely on vibes, taste, and creativity but without a system, you lose money on COGS, vendor errors, ingredient waste, and inconsistent pricing. We break down the difference between a hobby menu and a high-performing menu strategy. 🔸 How to centralize products, ingredients & suppliers You'll hear how to build one Notion-based product catalog that tracks ingredients, vendors, seasonals, costs, margins, substitutions, and pricing decisions so you can update your menu in minutes instead of reinventing the wheel every quarter. 🔸 The secret to profitable seasonal menus No more guessing…
People in this episode
Host: Marina
Topics covered
- Menu Management
- Product Management
- Non-Alcoholic Business
- Profitability
- Seasonal Menus
- Pricing Strategy
Keywords
- menu strategy
- product catalog
- cost tracking
- seasonal updates
- non-alcoholic drinks
- business profitability
- ingredient management
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Department in a Box™, Notion, kava bar, non-alcoholic bar, bottle shop, kombucha taproom, sober lounge, functional beverage café
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