MÁS MARGS — Denver’s Margarita Truck
Look,
Nobody needs a margarita truck.
Seriously.
You need water.
You need food.
You probably need somewhere for people to pee.
A blacked-out ’77 Chevy Step Van with a cocktail bar hacked into the back of it?
Completely unnecessary.
Until you start imagining the thing sitting in your backyard with twenty people around it.
Then suddenly we’ve got a problem.
Because now you can see it:
... Window open.
... Music going.
... Shakers cracking behind the bar.
Lime. Ice. Tequila.
Somebody walks away with a margarita that makes the person next to them go:
“What the hell is that?”
And now they want one too.
That’s MÁS MARGS.
A real cocktail bar stuffed inside an old Chevy for people who were doing perfectly fine without a margarita truck...
right up until they found out one existed.
So Why Are You Still Here?
Probably not because you desperately need somebody to pour tequila.
Denver’s got bartenders.
Lots of ’em.
Good ones too.
You could probably solve that problem by tomorrow.
So... no.
Usually there’s something else going on.
You’re throwing the party.
Food’s handled.
Music is figured out.
Venue looks good.
People are coming.
And you keep looking at the whole thing thinking...
"It needs something."
Not twelve more decorations.
Not another cute little sign.
And definitely not a bar setup that looks suspiciously similar to the one you saw at somebody else’s wedding three months ago.
Just one thing that makes the whole thing feel a little less...
expected.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Then Something Funny Happens
Here’s the weird part.
Getting people to walk over to the truck?
Not exactly our biggest challenge.
C’mon.
It’s margaritas coming out of an old Chevy van.
We don’t need to make this any weirder.
What happens after they get there is better.
They grab a drink...
and then they kinda just...
stay.
Lean against the side of the truck like it’s been sitting in their backyard for years.
Elbows on the counter.
Drink in hand.
Watching the next round get made.
Talking to whoever happens to be standing there.
Somebody sees a drink come through the window and goes:
“I want whatever that is.”
Now there’s another round.
Then a friend wanders over.
Then another one.
And somehow, forty-five minutes later, the truck has turned into the place everybody keeps coming back to.
Nobody planned that.
Nobody announced it.
Nobody pointed over and said:
“Alright everybody, this is where the fun happens.”
It just sorta...
does.
That’s what good bars have always done.
You walk over because you want a drink.
You stay because something’s happening there.
We just happen to bring ours in a '77 Chevy.
Which Would Be Pretty Embarrassing If the Drinks Sucked
Here’s where we could’ve gotten lazy.
Build the truck.
Make the thing look ridiculous.
Park it somewhere nice.
Open the window.
Then pour the same syrupy margarita everybody’s been drinking at weddings since 2004.
Probably would’ve worked too.
For a while.
People would take pictures.
Post the truck.
Tell us how cool it looked.
Then take three more sips...
set the drink down somewhere...
and quietly forget about it.
Eh.
No thanks.
The people behind MÁS MARGS have spent years working in bars and competing in cocktail competitions, so we already knew the slightly annoying truth:
... A drink can look fucking beautiful...
and still suck.
... It can have twelve ingredients...
and still suck.
... A bartender can explain the clarified-whatever for four minutes...
cool.
Drink still tastes like ass.
Eventually somebody has to put the damn thing in their mouth.
That’s the test.
So we keep coming back to one really complicated question:
"Would we order another one?"
That’s it.
If the answer’s no, we don’t care how clever the recipe is:
... Fresh lime.
... Good tequila.
... House-made syrups.
... Fruit that actually tastes like fruit.
... Heat you can taste without losing feeling in your face.
... Acid where it needs it.
.... Salt where it needs it.
And enough restraint to know when the drink is already good...
so leave the poor bastard alone.
Sometimes that means a Cointreau foam.
Sometimes it means tequila, lime, something sweet and not screwing it up.
Either way, we’re not trying to make somebody stand there admiring the recipe.
We want ’em to take the first sip...
stop for half a second...
look back at the truck...
and go:
“Yeah. I’ll have another one.”
There’s a Slightly Selfish Reason to Do This Too
You know what’s fun?
Watching a bunch of people have a really good time because of something you decided to do.
That’s it.
That’s the whole dirty little secret.
You’re standing there with a drink.
Music’s going.
People are loose.
Nobody’s doing that little phone-check thing where they pretend to read a text but really they’re wondering how much longer they hafta stay.
And every time you look over...
there are still people wrapped around the truck like they co-signed the title.
Elbows on the counter.
Drinks in hand.
Somebody’s laughing.
Somebody’s ordering another one.
Somebody else is dragging a friend over going:
“Dude. You gotta try this.”
And somewhere in the middle of all that...
you get this little moment.
You look around.
Look back at the truck.
Take a sip. And think:
"Yep. Good fucking call."
That feels pretty damn good.
Not because you need everybody walking up and going:
“WOW. What an incredible host you are.”
C’mon. Nobody talks like that.
It’s quieter than that. It’s more like this little private:
"Heh. Yeah. I did that."
The party’s working.
It’s got a pulse.
People are staying.
Nobody’s looking for an excuse to bail.
And this whole thing you spent weeks putting together is actually...
y’know...
doing what you hoped it would do.
That’s who MÁS MARGS tends to make sense for.
The host who doesn’t just want everybody fed, watered and technically entertained.
They want the night to have a little somethin’ going on.
A little personality.
A little: “Okay... this is pretty fucking cool.”
Something they can look at halfway through the party and already be glad they spent the money on.
Because average?
Pfffft.
Average is easy.
This is just...
way more fun.
So... Where the Hell Do You Put a Margarita Truck?
Turns out, lots of places.
Parties. Company stuff. Weddings. Weird ideas.
Okay. Let’s Talk About the Part That Usually Makes People Blink.
$1,500.
And you still buy the tequila.
Yeah.
Stack those two things on top of each other and, for about three seconds, it sounds a little...
Ehhhh.
Fair.
Buuuut...
here’s where people get crossed up.
They assume the $1,500 is buying margaritas.
It isn’t.
You can buy a margarita. Hell, you can make a margarita.
Tequila.
Lime.
Something sweet.
Shake the thing.
Boom.
Margarita.
That’s not the hard part.
The $1,500 gets you the blacked-out ’77 Chevy Margarita Truck.
Aaaaand:
... Up to four hours of service.
... One bartender.
... Two craft cocktail selections.
... The setup.
... The prep.
Plus: all the behind-the-scenes, nobody-thinks-about-it-until-60-people-want-a-drink-at-once fuckery that makes the whole thing actually work.
Then it’s $9 per guest for the stuff that starts disappearing once people show up thirsty.
Stuff like:
... Fresh citrus.
... Juices.
... House-made syrups.
... Infusions.
... Tinctures.
... Mixers.
... Garnishes.
... Ice.
... Cups.
All. Of. It.
And the tequila?
That part’s yours.
Yep.
Colorado requires MÁS MARGS to operate as a hosted bar, which is a fancy way of saying:
"You buy the booze."
We tell you exactly what to buy.
Roughly how much.
You grab the bottles.
Done.
No scavenger hunt.
No standing in the liquor aisle Googling:
“How much tequila does 93 people drink?”
Honestly?
Buying the tequila may be the easiest damn thing you do for the entire party.
So if you’re sitting there looking at $1,500 thinking:
“Gee, that’s a lot for margaritas.”
Yeah, yeah we know.
Which is why we’d never ask you to drop $1,500 on margaritas.
That’d be ridiculous.
You’re paying to have MÁS MARGS sitting at your party.
The truck.
The bar.
The bartender-y shit.
The drinks.
The whole damn thing working the way it’s supposed to.
That’s a different purchase.
Wait. I Still Have to Buy the Alcohol?
Yep.
That’s the weird part.
You can thank Colorado liquor laws for this one.
People sometimes call this a “dry hire.”
Which sounds like something an attorney made up because simply saying:
“You buy the booze.”
was apparently too easy.
But yeah:
That’s basically it.
MÁS MARGS operates as a hosted bar. Not a cash bar.
Meaning we don’t roll up with a truck full of tequila, start swiping credit cards and sling margaritas out the window like some irresponsible little taco truck for booze.
Nooooope.
You’re the host.
You buy the alcohol.
We turn it into something worth drinking.
That’s the whole damn mystery.
And before you start picturing yourself wandering around Total Wine with a shopping cart going:
“Uhhh... how much tequila do 257 people drink?”
Relax.
We’re not doing that to you.
Once we know how many people are coming and which margaritas you picked, we tell you what spirits to buy and roughly how much you’ll need.
You grab the bottles.
We handle the rest.
And honestly?
There’s a pretty nice upside to this whole slightly-weird arrangement.
You own the alcohol.
Which means: nobody gets to take a $35 bottle of tequila...
move it twelve feet...
call it part of the “Premium Spirits Package”...
and somehow make it worth $110.
Want decent tequila?
Buy decent tequila.
Want the really good stuff?
Go nuts.
Either way, you know exactly what the bottle cost because...
well...
you bought the damn bottle.
So theres:
... No mystery markup.
... No wondering what somebody means by “premium.”
... No trying to figure out whether that tequila behind the bar is actually the stuff you paid extra for.
You control the booze.
You control what gets poured.
You control the dough.
We own all the shit that happens after the cap comes off.
Pretty simple once somebody finally explains what the hell a “dry hire” is.
But What If Somebody Doesn’t Drink Alcohol?
Ahhh.
Good question.
Because apparently the only two choices at most bars are:
Alcohol.
Or...
lime juice with club soda and a sad little garnish.
No thanks.
We have an entire non-alcoholic cocktail menu for people who don’t drink, aren’t drinking tonight, are driving, are pregnant, are taking a break...
or just don’t feel like getting shit-faced at your wedding.
Whatever.
And these aren’t the regular cocktails with the tequila yanked out and everybody pretending nothing happened.
That’s cheating.
They’re built as actual drinks from the start:
... Alcohol free booze
... Fresh citrus.
... House-made syrups.
... Fruit.
... Herbs.
... Spice.
... Bitters and other non-alcoholic ingredients where they make sense.
All the same annoying little balance stuff we obsess over with everything else.
Just...
y’know...
without the booze.
Because somebody choosing not to drink shouldn’t mean they get handed the beverage equivalent of the kids’ table.
They should still be able to walk up to the truck...
order something they actually want...
take a sip...
and go:
“Ohhh. That’s goooood.”
Alcohol or not...
that’s still the test.
Could You Do This Cheaper?
Jesus.
Yes.
Of course you could.
Ab-suh-fucking-lutely.
Hire a bartender.
Rent a bar.
Put some bottles on a wobbly table.
Grab margarita mix at Costco.
Hell, your cousin Steve may even own a cocktail shaker.
Steve could surprise everybody.
Maybe Steve’s been hiding a gift.
We’re rooting for Steve.
But none of those things are the same purchase.
That doesn’t make ’em bad.
It just makes ’em...
something else.
And if price is the first thing you’re sorting all of this by?
Eh.
We should probably save each other some time.
MÁS MARGS probably isn’t gonna win that contest.
And honestly?
We don’t really want to.
Because eventually:
“Can you make it cheaper?”
turns into...
... Use cheaper ingredients.
... Spend less time prepping.
... Make shittier drinks.
... Cut the bartender hours.
... Lose the truck.
... Trim this.
... Cheap out on that.
... Keep shaving until there’s barely anything left to shave.
And after enough of that...
congratulations.
We’ve got a bartender standing behind a table next to the french onion dip pouring drinks.
Which, again...
is perfectly fine.
It’s just the exact thing you could’ve hired in the first place.
So yeah.
Could we make MÁS MARGS cheaper?
Sure.
We’d just hafta slowly remove all the reasons you wanted MÁS MARGS.
Seems like a pretty stupid way to save money.
There’s One Slight Problem
There’s one truck.
Literally.
One.
No fleet.
No backup sitting behind a warehouse.
No Truck Number Seven showing up because we booked three weddings on the same Saturday.
When the truck is at your party...
somebody else can’t have it.
And when somebody else has your Saturday...
well...
you get the idea.
That’s about as sophisticated as our scarcity strategy gets.
No blinking countdown timer required.
So Now What?
You know what the truck is.
You know what comes out of it.
You know what it costs.
You know you buy the alcohol.
You know there are cheaper ways to put drinks in people’s hands.
And yet...
here you are.
Alllll the way down here.
Still reading.
Huh.
Which probably means the question isn’t:
“Do I need a Margarita Truck?”
Noooo.
C’mon now...
of course you don’t.
Nobody needs a Margarita Truck.
You also don’t need the good tequila.
Or the ridiculous backyard.
Or half the shit that makes a really good party...
y’know...
really fucking good.
That’s not how this works.
The better question is probably:
“Do I really fucking want THIS one at my party?”
And considering you somehow made it through all of this...
the truck...
the drinks...
the $1,500...
the weird Colorado booze thing...
Steve...
and you’re still down here?
Yeah.
We’ve got a pretty good guess.
So...
we made you a button.
