Earlier this year, The Edison at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, (part of the Patina Restaurant Group) teamed up with the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation and offered guests a special cocktail, The Pink Ribbon, where a portion of the proceeds from each drink was donated to the charitable organization.
Today, the proceeds of that drink were given in the form of one of those fun giant checks to Tracy Jacim, president and CEO of the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation by the GM of The Edison, Aaron Fert, and the Mixologist behind the cocktail, Alana Sullivan.
Alana, who crafted the cocktail in honor of her mother’s triumph in her battle against breast cancer, took home the grand prize in a contest in New Orleans that inspired this initiative at The Edison, where this special cocktail took on a whole new meaning with the guests who enjoyed it at the Disney Springs eatery.
I was able to sit down and have a brief chat with Alana and Aaron about the drink, The Pink Ribbon, and what the team at The Edison did.
Tony:
So you made the drink, Alana, in honor of your mother?
Alana:
Yeah.
Tony:
Can you tell me more about that inspiration?
Alana:
So, my mom is a survivor, and back in 2020, during the pandemic actually, back home in New Orleans, somebody approached me about entering a competition for breast cancer. It had to be a pink drink, and other than that, it could be anything that I wanted. And I immediately started thinking of how I could make it pink because I have a red dye allergy. So I have to be very careful with a lot of things. And I just started thinking about things that my mom and I used to make back whenever we were hanging out. And margaritas were always a big thing for us. So, trying to think of how I can make that as naturally pink as possible, I combined watermelon and raspberries and I cooked it all down and made it as pretty as I could, and somehow I ended up winning that competition…
Tony:
So what was the final result?
Alana:
It's a watermelon-raspberry-mint margarita.
Aaron:
We were talking about ways to move our bar program forward with Alana. And we were sitting down talking, and this was, oh God, July, August, something like that. And the story came out and I'm like, "We're going to run with this. We're going to take this, we're going to make it happen." And we really wanted to stay true to the cause and make sure that we were giving something back to the charity. And we put pen to paper, tested the drink out with some guests at the bar top. Everybody loved it. And then we ran with it and made it happen.
Tony:
I'm curious, how did the testing work? Did you just go, "Hey, we're working on something new, try this."
Aaron:
Kinda… We literally will make a drink behind the bar and just put it in front of somebody and be like, "What do you think?"
Alana:
Yeah. We do that a lot.
Aaron:
Yeah, we do that a lot. I think usually when you throw it in front of somebody and you tell them what you're doing with it…We'll solicit their opinion and they'll tell us. You get some pretty blunt answers when you throw it out there.
Tony:
What were your favorite ones?
Alana:
Oh, I don't think I got anything negative about it at all…I think, honestly, it was one of our servers the first time I made it for him and I told him about it and he started pushing it to almost everybody he could because he's like, "This is literally the best thing I've ever tried." And then him selling it as often as he was, I was like, "Okay, this is actually going to take off. This is going to do really well."
Tony:
Is it still available on the menu or was it only for October?
Alana:
So it was only for October, but we always have all of the ingredients to make it, even if we don't have… We had made a syrup out of it. So even if we don't have the syrup for it, we have all the ingredients. I still make it fresh. I made it yesterday for somebody…
Tony:
So if someone came in and knew what they were looking for, you would still make it?
Alana:
Oh, absolutely.
Tony:
How much was raised from the drink?
Aaron:
3,800…About a dollar a cocktail.
Tony:
Okay. So you sold 3,800 of them?
Aaron:
Yeah, we had one server who, in the span of about four hours, sold 39 or 40 of them in one shift. He just said, I'm going to do it. And he did it and his station was pink everywhere, so…
Alana:
Everywhere.
Aaron:
And that 3,800, that's across Edison, Maria and Enzo’s,
Tony:
Okay. So the drink was also available at all those locations as well?
Alana:
Yeah, it was going to start here and then we got them to join in on it as well, which was super exciting. I didn't expect that…
Aaron:
I had a lot of table visits, a lot of mine just kind of spent glad handing and just walking around the room. And I actually had a couple really almost tear-jerking table visits where I went to the table and I'd walk up to a couple ladies who had the drink…and it would end up leading into, "I was a breast cancer survivor, my mom was a breast cancer survivor." And it was nice to see them supporting it and spreading it on social media, and getting people to support that cocktail and to be able to give something back.
Tony:
It's got a meaning to it.
Aaron:
It does. It does. And when you see that personal touch to it, it really brings a lot of that personal feel to the business. And it's not just us selling cocktails, it really kind of has that… It's why we do what we do…I remember a table that was at the couches, I couldn't remember the ladies' names, but it was two ladies. And one of them was in remission and they were just out having a lady's day. And it was just really kind of nice to hear them, appreciative of what we were doing.
Alana:
I'm pretty sure those are the ladies that came and thanked me and hugged me. It almost made me cry. It was definitely different.
Aaron:
It's nice to have those fuzzy love hug moments…
Alana:
Yeah.
Tony:
Yeah, especially in this industry…
Alana:
Right? It's not often that I want to be hugged by a customer.
Tony:
Is this something you see yourself doing again and again?
Alana:
Probably.
Tony:
Would you mix it up, no pun intended, and do a different drink?
Alana:
Yeah. I've had a few different ideas for different things that I could do. They asked me to come back and compete the next year for it, but I ended up moving out here from New Orleans…So it was right as they were doing the next competition. I moved, so I wasn't able to compete again, unfortunately.
Tony:
Tell me more about this competition.
Alana:
It was for… So New Orleans is famous for Mardi Gras and there was a crew called "The Crew to Pink," and they do a ball every year and they do a competition every year before their parade. They actually do the parade in Baton Rouge, but they do it every year…
Tony:
And what was your prize? Besides bragging rights?
Alana:
I got this really awesome pink cocktail shaker, like a pink cocktail set, and it's all engraved with everything on there.
Tony:
That's really cool.
Alana:
It's honestly my favorite prize that I've ever gotten.
After the presentation, Alana made The Pink Ribbon for Tracy and the two connected over the drink, sharing their stories over the award winning cocktail.
Though Alana told me that it’s her special pink cocktail set that was her favorite prize that she’s ever gotten, I was also present when Aaron and the Bar Management team of The Edison presented Alana a special gift – a bottle of a top shelf brand of tequila – for her efforts. Based on the reaction I saw, there might be a new top prize contender in town.
