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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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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 a rim or garnish, reinforcing the “stripped down” vibe without sacrificing all of the rich flavors of Reposado Tequila and Grand Marnier.

For the Spicy Smoky Salty Mango, 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 flavor in as many ways as we could without over-complicating it. The amchur infusion adds dried spice and green mango, complimenting the complex yet mild spice notes of Ancho Reyes. A syrup made simply of high-quality mango purée and cane sugar adds sweetness and texture. For garnish, we used dried mango covered in lime and blended spices, which amplifies the drink itself…and served as a treat!

Spicy Smoky Salty Mango Margarita

Get the recipe!

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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.

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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. The tactic we landed on was to add a tropical note to each part of the usual ingredient base. The blend of Campari and Aperol (Camperol) was inspired by Julie Reiner’s Kula Negroni. This summary strawberry base is complemented by pineapple kombucha instead of club soda. Tropical passion fruit liqueur adds to the depth of tropical flavor, and a coconut oil fat wash concentrate adds brightness and tropical aroma that really pops.

In my mind, 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.

Tropical Spritz

Get the recipe!

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Want more pop up and events tips? Check out

• Mike Capoferri’s tips for event bartending
• Events 101 class with Lindsey Johnson
• Batched Cocktails: Techniques and Tips