 |
Importers of Fine Wines Since 1919 | Resources for the Trade |
|
Why sell wine?
Every time you glide by the table you can do a quick wine-level check. You can top up the glasses, or if you are in the weeds, the host can top up the glasses and no harm is done. Everybody is coddled and cared for. If the table is drinking other beverages and cocktails—everyone will empty their glass at a different pace and each drink order will require a trip to the service bar. This slows down your ability to service ALL of your tables—and this impacts your tips. What are tips? Tips are monies To Insure Prompt Service. A bottle of wine on every table will make it very easy for you to provide prompt service. Wine makes absolute dollars and sense. How Do Wine Sales Figure Up?By moving a customer from ice tea to house wine, there is a total increase in income of $3,240.00! By moving a customer from ice tea to premium wine-by-the-glass, there is a total increase in income of $5,940.00! By moving a customer from house wine to premium-wine-by-the-glass, there is a total increase in income of $2,700.00 By moving a customer from premium wine-by-the-glass to a bottle sale, there is a total increase in income of $14,040! Cha Ching!
|
Here is the scenario: A host orders one bottle of wine for his table of eight. You know that this will not be enough wine for everyone. What do you do? First, never assume that everyone will be drinking wine. After the host samples the wine and gives the nod, ask. If all eight say “yes”, then pour judiciously. Make sure that you pour no more than two ounces in each glass so that you can make it all the way round the table, serving everyone. What happens if the cork breaks while it is being removed? Don’t panic. If the cork has broken in half horizontally, remove the broken portion from the corkscrew. Then, reinsert the corkscrew into the remaining half of the cork inside the neck of the bottle and pull it out carefully. Usually, this solves the problem. If the cork falls into the bottle, start over with another bottle. “Everyone lives by selling something.” “Wine improves with age—the older I get, the better I like it.” What if a guest rejects a bottle after tasting it? Although every restaurant maintains its own policy and protocol with regard to the rejected bottle, most agree that it is not in anyone’s interest to argue with the guest. Politely inquire about the nature of the problem. The goal here is fact-finding. When a guest rejects a bottle of wine, either the wine really IS bad, or the wine is sound but just not to his or her liking. In either case, most restaurants take back the wine and invite the guest to select another bottle from the wine list. 
|
Many servers are of the opinion that wine sales and service is a lot of work. Oh, to be sure, there is a cork to pop and pour protocol to follow, BUT, think about it—on a busy night, how easy is it to keep those glasses full when the bottle is already on the table? Very.