UGA Sorority Point Competition at El Barrio this fall

El Barrio Tacos & Tequila, located in the Five Points neighborhood of Athens, is having its first competition amongst University of Georgia sororities to see which chapters can get the most points throughout the fall semester.

The Details

To earn points for their sorority, girls can order either a skinny margarita or one of the monthly drink specials to get a tally for their team.

The competition began on Sept. 1 and will run through Nov. 30.

The plan is for t he winner, who will be announced by Dec. 15 through a social media announcement, to receive a private party for their sorority on the patio with food included.

Maggie Petzelt, the general manager at El Barrio, said she came up with the idea of the sorority point competition as a way to give back to the community that has supported them since they opened.

The majority of our clientele here is…sorority girls,” Petzelt said. “I was kind of looking for ideas of, ‘How can I give something back to the girls that genuinely are the backbone of our customer base?’”

For the competition, Petzelt decided to reintroduce monthly drink specials into the bar menu.

For the month of September, El Barrio served a Pretty Girl Spritz, which was their take on an aperol spritz.

During October, the bar served an Apple Cider Margarita, which was popular amongst customers, according to Petzelt.

Finally, during the last month of the competition in November, customers can try the Key Lime Dream, a rum-based riff on a key lime pie cocktail.

Elizabeth Nark, the social media manager for El Barrio and a fourth-year at UGA, said she uses Instagram to promote the competition and the monthly drink specials.

We’re marketing these monthly drinks towards people our age and towards sorority girls rather than Athens families because this is a sorority competition,”

Nark said. — While the competition may be focused toward young, college-aged sorority girls, sorority alumni can also earn points for their chapter.

We’ve seen a lot of parents here for parents weekends, and the mom was like ‘Oh I was in that sorority and now my daughter is. Can we get two points for our drinks?’” Petzelt said.

Petzelt said the answer is always yes.

Right now, there are nearly 400 tallies on the scoreboard, which is visible to customers as they order at the indoor counter. Pi Beta Phi is in the lead with the most points, but is closely followed by others.