Domestic Rules
Ten operators share secrets that build wine sales.
By Margaret Sheridan, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 6/15/2005
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Selling more of anything—including wines—begins with knowing an operation’s customers, then tailoring ideas for that audience. Who can resist a free sample taste, a 50% discount, the impulse of immediate indulgence or a tableside visit from the restaurateur? Such strategies work with drink as well as food and prove their worth with higher beverage checks.
Social Services. When couples order wines by the glass at Mercy Wine Bar, Addison, Texas, each drink arrives in a six-ounce carafe with two glasses.
“One is for drinking, the other for sharing,” says owner Glen Agritelley. “We sell 25% more wine at that table because one of the guests usually ends up ordering a bottle,” says Agritelley.
Carafes also speed aeration of wine and the crystal containers become conversation starters.
Deals on Wheels. Tending to guests at Cyrus Restaurant in Les Mars Hotel, Healdsburg, Calif., means watching the clock. As soon as diners are seated, chefs send out complimentary canapés. Thirty seconds later, a cart arrives with four bottles of champagne, each in a silver bucket, and four choices of caviar.
“It’s an impulse buy, an excuse to indulge,” says Executive Chef and Co-owner Douglas Keane. “The cart arrives so fast that there’s no time to think about cocktails.”
Keane reports 90% of the operation’s guests order champagne by the glass, in 21/2 ounce or five-ounce pours, and 40% order caviar.
Comparison Shop. When guests ask Todd McGraw for a wine recommendation, the owner of McGraw’s Steak Chop & Fish House in West Lafayette, Ind., hosts a mini-tasting at the table. He offers a house wine, at $22 a bottle, and another selection costing $28 or more. “If customers don’t like either, I buy,” says McGraw.
But his sales technique has proven effective. Once he opens the bottles, offers the corks and invites people to sniff, inhale and swirl, they are hooked on the aroma and taste of the higher-quality choice. “The only extra cost is a few dirty glasses. So far the technique has worked 100% of the time.”
Bag of Tricks. Thursdays are Brown Bag Flight Nights at Purple Cafe & Wine Bar in Kirkland, Wash. The event starts at 4 p.m. and challenges wine-savvy customers to identify each of four regional wines hidden by paper bags. The customer who correctly names the most wines is eligible for a drawing of gift certificates, discounts on meals and concert tickets. Up to 20 guests participate, says owner Larry Kurofsky, with 75% staying on for more drinks and dinner.
Sweet Talk. Dessert wines used to be a hard sell at Southpark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar in Portland, Ore. The operation stirred sales with a new dessert menu featuring eight treats, each paired with one of 40 sweet wines the restaurant keeps on hand.
Local Color. Staffers at Annie Gunn’s in Chesterfield, Mo., take pride in their ability to promote Missouri wines, 20 of which are included in the 800-bottle cellar. “Tourists think we’re joking when we recommend Midwestern varietals,” says Wine Director Glenn Bardgett.
Servers offer samples, use third-party endorsements and provide descriptions of the European-style flavor characteristics of the Norton grape, a variety common in Missouri wines. Marketing continues with wine dinners and port tastings.
Today, the restaurant sells five cases of local vintages per week. “Five years ago, we had nothing from Missouri in stock,” says Bardgett.
Half Chances. At Bacar Restaurant in San Francisco, Debbie Zachareas hosts a monthly Inventory Day when wines are marked down to half their usual menu prices.
“Regulars return with friends. We add names to our e-mail list and notify them of wine specials and events,” says the co-owner and wine director. On average, 200 bottles are sold on the discount day.
Traffic Control. Sundays are hit or miss for beachfront restaurants in Miami Beach. Locals often stay home and tourists are in transit, says Frank Randazzo, chef-co-owner of Talula Restaurant. To encourage guest traffic, he introduced Slash Sundays, with prices on selected bottles reduced up to 50%.
“It brings out the locals and moves inventory. I do 70 covers instead of 30 and sell two cases of wine instead of two dozen glasses,” he says.
Tag Sales. At Bin 36, a two-unit Chicago restaurant/wine bar with retail shop, hang tags serve as memory joggers and impulse-sales tools. Tags profile each bottle with name, producer, region, grape, price and food-pairing suggestions. If a diner likes the wine, the server offers a tag at the end of the meal for future reference.
“Having the tag in hand triggers the impulse to pick up an extra bottle on the way out,” says Wine Director Brian Duncan. “Some customers order a case on the spot.”
Four of 10 customers will make an extra purchase before they leave for home. “Guests like the convenience of one-stop shopping,” he says.
Pie Power. At Sauce, a three-location pizza concept owned by Fox Restaurant Concepts (FRC), Scottsdale, Ariz., a menu special offered from June through August increases wine sales. It features a 12-inch pizza, salad and two glasses of wine (six-ounce pours) for $20.
Business slows during the heat of summer and a bargain draws people to the restaurant, according to FRC spokesperson Robin Lybarger. Eighty percent of customers usually order a second glass or bottle.
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