The Nutcracker, What's Done in the Dark Series Part 1

Happy Holidays from The Delasol Group!

In this first installment of the What's Done in the Dark Series, we explore the prohibited sale of alcohol in our communities. Our harmless post title belies the true nature of the nutcracker, and we don't mean the soldier in red.

In modern day Harlem, USA, a nutcracker is a horse of an entirely different color. Nutcrackers are potent mixed liquor drinks advertised on colorful flyers and sold in doorways and on corners throughout the borough.

Delasol founder Suneye Holmes first encounted the concoction at the annual African-American day parade in 2008. She remembers receiving flyers and business cards in broad daylight at the family affair, "as though selling liquor without a license is even legal!!"

The watered-down marketing techniques only serve to make the beverages appear more accessible and less suspicious to potential buyers.

$5 is the going price for a sealed plastic bottle of a Styrofoam cup of the drink. Vendors are composed of women, blue-collar workers, the underemployed and the requisite hustler-type. Buyers are usually underaged, underemployed or both, though young professionals and family-types are not uncommon. Obviously there is a need to regulate for the protection of the community: youths should not be inebriation and we need to know what's in those cups!! This area of the shadow economy highlights the need for accountability, order and consumer protection laws.

A typical investment is $250 for alcohol and fruit chasers. A typical return is $700, or $2.80 received for every dollar spent on ingredients.

The manufacture and sell of homemade mixed drinks is the stuff stories are made of in Manhattan. 80 years ago, people were just as enthralled with passing the time with an illicit elixir. But just like then, law authorities today are determined to quash the occurence. Equating the unauthorized sale to that of endangering a minor or child abuse, they are pouring out suspicious contents and passing out summons on the street. Recessions have a funny of increasing ECONtrepreneurship...and the fuzz.

Thanks to the NyTimes.com site and Harlem World, USA for much of the research for this blog.


cheers,

delasol