The Top 5 Tips to Develop an Amazing Wine Program and List

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Building an Engaging, Profitable, and Fun Wine Program from Scratch Requires Some Inside Information. Here’s 5 Tips from Our Pros to Get You Going!

What is the Restaurant Concept?

The restaurant concept is the most obvious place to start. Just as the food and decor should have a strong theme, so should the wine and beverage programs. You would be surprised or (maybe not) how many openings get this completely wrong.

Italian Concept

For example, an easy one is an Italian restaurant concept. In wine pairing terms, there’s a saying, “what grows together goes together.” None is more accurate than with Italian cuisine and wines. If you are opening an Italian concept is good to consider at least covering the basic Italian wine categories. Start by picking out a few well-known by the glass and bottle selections such as Prosecco, Pinot Grigio, Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Barolo, and Amarone della Valpolicella to name a few.

A starting list like this gives your list an identity with some Italian wine options. Chances are, though, your guests may not be familiar with some of the more unique Italian wines out there (there are 100’s of grapes and regions to choose from). You’ll want to find a few more familiar wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet, which all grow in Italy and can be sourced through your vendors.

If you can’t find these, it’s ok to steer off the map a bit as long as your guests and staff are happy.

French or Spanish Concept

The same goes for a French or Spanish restaurant. The best course of action is to start the list with the most well-known regions and grapes and build the list from there.

For France, you’ll want to cover the action with a few Champagnes, Sancerre, White and Red Burgundies, Bordeaux, Rhône Valley, a few fun Loire Valley wines, and some Provencal Rosés. Voila, you are off to the races!

For Spain, you’ll want to search for some Cava’s, a range of Rioja’s (Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva), Ribera del Duero, Toro, Navarra, some crisp whites from Galicia such as Albariño, and a couple of fun styles of Sherry. You are now ready to rock your Spanish-loving dinners.

Steakhouse Concept

If you are opening a Steakhouse concept, you’ll want to bring out the big gun reds. You don’t have to necessarily make a list of all Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot-based wines, but they should have a heavy presence. There should be a good base of New World Reds wines from Califonia, Washington State, and Oregon, but great wines are coming out of places such as Arizona, Texas, and Virginia, to name a few. You can also offer fantastic big gun value with Chile, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa wines.

Also, don’t forget the classics here, such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Rhône Valley from France, Brunello di Montalcino and Barolo from Italy, and Rioja’s from Spain.

Global Concept

If the concept happens to a Global menu, you can have tons of fun here by offering a list of some of the classics a few crowd-pleasing favorites and go off the beaten path with some wines from lesser-known countries such as Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. Also, check out some emerging varieties growing in the New World, such as Grenache, Mourvedre, and Albariño.

The most important thing to remember is to make sure the wines and beverages are cohesive to the concept, cuisine, and price points. Your guests and staff will love you for it!

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What is the Budget and What are the Storage Conditions?

Budget and Storage are often the most overlooked pieces of building a wine program

A new restaurant only has a limited budget to build out (the rule of thumb is to add three months to build and 30% + to the budget), and storage can be minimal, especially in major cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. 

It’s essential to consult with the investors and ownership to determine a proper budget that fits the restaurant’s concept. Once this is determined, the next step is to work transparently with the General Manager to ensure both of you are on the same page and that everything is going according to the budgeted plan.

The budget should consider a range of price points for the wines to ensure that guests can purchase wines at different price points that suit their budget. There should also be a spreadsheet that determines COGS or the Cost of Goods Sold in the budget. Building this with the budget before opening will create a road map of the fiscal health of the wine program. 

The budget can only be as big or small as the storage. Consider the circumstances in which the restaurant is being built, for example

  • Will you be able to have a proper cellar?
  • Is there a show cellar that guests can see that needs to be stocked? 
  • Is there limited storage that doesn’t allow for a large selection?
  • Will you need to buy Wine Cooling units? 
  • Are there spaces that are too hot to store wine?
  • What is the ease of the staff accessing the wines for guest expediency? 

These should all be considerations before starting to write a wine program. 

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What is the Neighborhood and Target Audience?

Ultimately the guest will determine what they want to spend on their dining experience and wine. Consider the neighborhood the restaurant is in and do some market research of what the surrounding restaurant’s price points are. This is huge for your success! 

Be a Good Neighbor

If you are in a more rural area or modest neighborhood, the wines on the list should reflect those areas’ customers want to spend. In this case, the wines can start around $30 and max out at $100 for a few special bottles, with most wines between $30 and $60. You’ll make a lot of friends this way and have repeat business. 

In more affluent areas and neighborhoods, it’s still nice to offer a good smattering of value. Still, here you can start at $50 a bottle and go up to wherever the threshold is, especially for Blue Chip wines such as Napa Cabernet, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Cult Producers. It’s always recommended to have a healthy percentage of wines between $50 and $100. Even if you think you are selling expensive wines and making the restaurant money, some guests won’t return if they feel they aren’t getting value. 

Pro tip: It is better to sell two bottles of $75 wine than one bottle of $100 wine. This is what we call the Nordstrom Rack Effect! 

Let’s make our guests happy, get great reviews, and crush our bottom line! 

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Choosing the Right Vendors, Distributors, and Importers!

Choosing the right vendors seems like a no-brainer, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. The vendors, distributors, and importers you decide to work with should be your business partners, not just a transactional spoke in the wheel. 

The More You Meet the More Power You Create

It’s essential to be open and work with your vendors to help them service your restaurant in the best way possible. There are dozens of vendors to invite in every market to work with you. 

This will take a bit of research and plenty of meetings, but in the end, if you are diligent, make appointments, and discuss the restaurants and your needs, it will help them better understand how to help you succeed.

When considering who to work with, it’s good to consider vendors that come and support your business by having lunch or dinner in your establishment, hosting wine events, and recommending to their friends. 

It’s also essential that you have a good relationship with your sales rep/consultant. If you don’t get along well with your rep or they are pushy, speak up to the management and request a new representative if possible. Don’t be a jerk; express your concern and say it’s not working and you’d like to do business and need a change. 

We recommend working with a mix of the following type of companies

  • Larger Distributors – They sell some of the most well-known and popular wines. These companies will often also have the essential spirits and often offer considerable support. 
  • Medium-Sized Distributors – Which sell wines that are benchmarks of their country, region, and grape variety. Often these size companies have some of the most highly allocated wines and excellent customer service. 
  • Small/Independent Distributors/Importers – These will offer wines that they are most often directly in contact with and have hand-picked the book’s wines. These are incredibly passionate vendors where you can find some killer wines and create new trends in your restaurants. 
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Building a Solid Staff Training Program

Wine Training, Wine Education, WIne List, Wine Program, Restaurant Consulting, Staff Training, Wine Importer, Wine Distributor

Just Do It!

Staff Training is the first thing that often gets thrown out the window. Staff training often sinks into the abyss when the stress of getting open and daily service starts to bear its weight. 

The truth of the matter, though, is staff training on wine and beverage specifically will boost morale, the guest experience, and ultimately the bottom line. 

There are many ways to incorporate staff training into the fabric of your establishment. The more creative you can get, and the more you reach out to your vendors and work internally with the ownership, chef, and management team, the richer and evolved the training can become. 

Build the Lifeline

It’s vital to train the staff every day on the core wines and beverages that drive the machine and that guests are familiar with. The more they know about the core items, the more comfortable your guests will feel and return for more! 

The key thing is to show them the new wines you are thinking about and get them excited to sell. Nothing feels better than lighting up your staff at the daily meeting with a new wine they can go out and sell with pride as if they own it. If you can create a competition to win a bottle as an incentive deal with the vendor, that is a surefire way to get your staff pumped, sell some juice, and make guests happy! 

A Couple of Key Staff Training Ninja Tricks to Take Away

  • Engage your staff with knowledge, don’t hold it from them.
  • Ask them what they like and how you can make the program better.
  • Offer them extra training if they have the time and are interested in learning more.
  • Incentivize them where and when possible by linking with your vendors to create targeted programming.
  • Use your vendors to come and do training with the products they sell. 
  • Change things up a little to keep your staff on their feet.
  • Find the staff interested in wine and beverage and ask them to lead a meeting or tasting with something they are interested in speaking about. Empowerment rules! 
  • Take your critical players to any local tastings or events that are appropriate and help them get an edge.
  • Always show you are they to help them make money too, be a team player! 

We hope these tips help you and your restaurant develop and manage the best wine and beverage program possible! 

To your success…We are here to help!

Wine Consulting

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