Notes From a Pop Up: Tips, Tactics, and Techniques

Taking your bar away from your bar can be hard. With smart planning and prep, it doesn’t have to be.

Typically, your menu is built to your bar. But how does this translate when you take the show on the road and into someone else’s space?

Pop Ups are part of today’s industry landscape. Whether you’re taking over a friend’s bar, slinging at a festival, or running nights in a historic midtown Manhattan diner, you’ll face unique challenges…and probably some unexpected ones.

There are ways to make these “away games” and one-off events successful and easy, though, so you can focus on what counts: sharing the experience you came to share.

The red and blue concept bar at BCB. — The bar, pre-service.

Case Study: BCB

At this year’s Bar Convent Brooklyn, our team created and served an eight-cocktail menu at the Campari Academy Bar, built around the concept of the creative tension between minimalism and maximalism.

We served this menu to 1,500 people a day from a footprint with a variety of space and equipment limitations.

Read on for notes from the process—from planning to prep to execution—and ideas for when your next pop up.

The Campari Academy bar, during service.

Where do you start with a pop up?

We like to start by fully understanding the “where” and planning menu choices and spec tweaks around it. This allows you to “pre-troubleshoot” potential issues like ice supply and ticket time. To prepare, the team identified three main challenges:

1. Guest Volume + Speed of Service
“The traffic coming through is intense. We had to design cocktails that could be scaled, served rapidly, and still feel special.”

2. Physical Limitations
“There were constraints around space, refrigeration, water, etc. We relied on precision prep and batching. Every element—down to garnish and glassware—needed to be planned in advance and travel-ready, with minimal room for error.”

3. Sustainability
This was a guiding force and we sought out multiple uses for components. Infused ingredients were repurposed as garnishes, syrups, and even cocktail dusts.

Academy bar team — Yes, we *did* make a lot of Negronis.

After working through the challenges, development started with a focused R&D Session.

“We knew we needed drinks that were delicious and beautiful without sacrificing efficiency or consistency,” explained Academy Head Bartender Jelani Johnson. The team selected four foundational builds—Negroni, Margarita, Old Fashioned, and Spritz—and “used them as base structures to explore and expand upon.”

Each drink was offered two ways: first in a classic, minimalist form, and again as an elaborate, “more is more” take. Besides literally making the bar’s concept digestible, it provided an exciting canvas to explore technique and storytelling.

One final note the team agreed upon was the “post-mortem” review. Since this was a two day event, the team set aside dedicated time after the initial run to review what worked, what didn’t, and how to pivot. This intentional space was critical in re-evaluating the actual flow against our expectations, and improving.

spicy Margarita and smoked cocktails on bar top. — The “maximalist” serves of the Margarita and Negroni.

The Cocktails

Read on for the team’s recipes, plus notes on technique, concept, and tactics for efficient service.

NEGRONI

Minimalist: Classic equal parts formula, pre-batched.
Maximalist: Ch-Ch-Cherry Bomb Boulevardier — Russell’s 10 infused with dried cherries, four types of cherry liqueurs, marinated cherry garnish, and cherrywood smoke under a cloche.

Notes:
The Negroni was pre-batched and diluted at 4%. This slight dilution allowed for minimal stirring on the wetter ice available during the event, speeding up service and reducing our ice needs.

For the Boulevardier, we explored cherry integration at every step of the way, focusing on flavor depth and creative reuse of the ingredient.

Ch-Ch-Cherry Bomb Boulevardier
Get the recipe!

MARGARITA

Minimalist: Grand Margarita Milk Punch — Espolòn Reposado, lime, agave, and Grand Marnier clarified with whole milk for a velvety smooth texture.
Maximalist: Spicy Smoky Salty Mango Margarita — Uses amchur-infused Espolòn, Ancho Reyes, mango syrup, mezcal atomizer, and a smoked mango salt rim, finished with chile-spiced dried mango garnish.

Notes:
We decided to serve the minimalist version as a milk punch. Preloading the “production” of the cocktail made it infinitely faster and easier to serve in high volume. We served it without rim or garnish, reinforcing the “stripped down” vibe without sacrificing any of the rich flavors of Reposado Tequila and Grand Marnier.

For the Spicy Smoky Salty Mango Marg, we used a flavor that has been everywhere lately, and has been trending in some of the world’s best bars: spicy mango! Here, we integrated and layered the flavors in as many ways as we could without over-complicating it, even utilizing a spiced salt rim and an edible garnish of dried mango covered in lime and blended spices.

To keep service humming in the limited space, we pre-rimmed glasses in batches, which also helped keep the bar area clean. The drink’s mezcal component was added as a finishing atomizer spritz, a cost-effective way to both a touch of theater and incorporate the Ensemble blend’s nose of cooked agave and smoke.

Spicy Smoky Salty Mango Margarita
Get the recipe!

OLD FASHIONED

Minimalist: A classic Bold Fashioned with Wild Turkey 101, simple syrup, and bitters.
Maximalist: Floral French Old Fashioned — With Courvoisier VSOP, chamomile honey syrup, elderflower liqueur, and two types of bitters, finished with a floating chrysanthemum flower.

Notes:
The 101 proof Bourbon Old Fashioned is iconic and we wanted to pair it alongside something which would appeal to Old Fashioned drinkers while leaning into and complimenting the white flower notes of Courvoisier VSOP.

APEROL SPRITZ

Minimalist: Aperol Spritz — Aperol, Cinzano Prosecco, soda water, slice of orange. In that order, built in a balloon glass.
Maximalist: Tropical Spritz — Uses Strawberry-infused Camperol, pineapple kombucha, Passionfruit liqueur, and a coconut-washed tincture finished with a pineapple wedge dusted in dehydrated Campari strawberry powder.

Notes:
You know and love the spritz. You know how to make a perfect one. Good to go!

For the Tropical Spritz, we were interested in the balance between maximizing tropical flavor without overdoing it. We swapped the traditional aperitivo base for a strawberry-infused “Camperol” blend of Campari and Aperol, inspired by Julie Reiner’s Kula Negroni. In place of club soda, we used a pineapple kombucha. Next, we added a measure of tropical passion fruit liqueur and a fishing “coconut blast” tincture for brightness and pop.

“Basically,” Jelani explained, “this is the Miami Vice of spritzes. Pineapple and coconut meet strawberry, with just a touch of passion fruit for extra complexity. It remains very light and refreshing…but is an over the top expression of a usually very simple drink.”