4. Wine training an important issue
To develop revenue
According to Dewal and Jones «Wine training has been shown
to increase wine sales in fine dining restaurants like the Disneyland Resort's
Napa Rose. Michael Jordan, who has led the operations at Napa Rose, has
undertaken an ambitious wine training programme for his staff. Currently, 34 of
the restaurant's 75 staff members are certified as sommeliers (Wine Spectator,
2004). Jordan believes that this training translates in increased wine sales
and a growing local customer base. Because of this personal wine training their
staff turnover is virtually nonexistent».
«Sommeliers play an important role in influencing the sale
of wine in restaurants, in particular, in smaller restaurants and in fine
dining restaurants. Focusing on value for money, winery reputation, type of
variety and tracking customer preference are all critical factors that
respondents considered when selecting wines and when recommending wines to
customers» (Dewal, Jones. 2006).
Selling wine in restaurants can undoubtedly help to
significantly increase revenue. Employing a sommelier could have good impact on
wine sales and generates a great return on investment (Passot, 2011). It could
increase the revenue from fifteen to twenty eight per cent. Wine sales in
restaurants in France represent about forty per cent of the total revenue and
generate about seventy per cent of the total margin. Antoine Petrus (best young
French sommelier) considers that revenue could be much higher with good selling
techniques.
In USA in 2008 (Veseth 2008), trends significantly showed that
wine sales became more and more important in restaurants as 70% of restaurants
reported that wine was a larger percentage of their total sales in 2007
compared to 2006 and more and more restaurants were aware about wine.
«Smart restaurateurs and their sommeliers take advantage of the wine boom
by offering interesting and hard-to-find wines, which attract wine enthusiast
diners and generate higher revenues.
All traditional restaurants do not obviously need a sommelier;
waiters can also have good wine selling techniques. It is important to notice
that there is a return on investment when the waiters are able to promote wines
and that the customers unless eating in a fine dining restaurant do not
necessarily expect a sommelier in all restaurants. With a few
recommendations on wine and food pairing for example, based on
the wine list and the menu, customers are more likely to order wine.
«Using a twelve week field experiment in a restaurant, Wansink et al.
(2006) estimated that wine food pairing recommendations increased wine sales of
the targeted wines by 44.5%» (Sirieix, Remaud 2010)
In France some restaurants owners tend to undervalue the benefit
of wine selling as they don't have any or have poor wine education. Traditional
restaurants are sometimes unaware of the wine issue and have a wine list only
because it is probably necessary to offer few wines to their customers.
Restaurant chains sometimes offer only a limited wine list and moreover often
don't suggest local wines even if the restaurant is situated in a wine
producing region.
For staff confidence
The main problem when speaking with young students learning at
the hospitality school (regardless of sommelier courses) is that they are
sometimes as shy as their customers to speak about wine, considering that their
knowledge is not good enough to advise the guests. There is a strong trend in
France which consists of saying that you have to be an expert to speak about
wine. With a minimum of training and a good knowledge of the wine list,
everyone can be able to say at least if the wine is strong, light, or dry and
give some clues to the wine and food pairing. If training is carried out on
wine selling techniques and focuses on the wine list attributes, staffs become
more confident and help to increase wine sales. According to Ben Salisbury
(Dewald, Jones 2006) Vice President of Global Account Development Stimson Lane
Vineyards & Estates, most wine training fails because there is too much
emphasis on «wine knowledge» that no one remembers. Simple wine
selling techniques can be taught by anyone, regardless of their knowledge.
Restaurants owners sometimes want to highlight wine lists with
too many wine references without thinking about their staff's skills,
therefore, wine knowledge should be proportional to the wine list.
«The success of wine sales in restaurants partly depends on
the knowledge level of employees and managers. In order to effectively purchase
and market wine, the restaurant employees and the managers need to possess the
necessary knowledge about their products. For this reason, wine-service
training is an important part of the entire process of purchasing and marketing
wine at restaurants» (Gultek, Dodd, 2006)
On the contrary staff who have poor wine knowledge may
sometimes communicate wrong information about wine and also on wine and food
pairing, resulting in complaining guests. Qualified staff really helps to
highlight the restaurant's attributes for the guests. Employee attitude,
behavior, and work effort has a high impact on service quality, satisfaction,
and
customer retention in the service industry (Stamper, Van Dyne,
2003; Davidson, 2003; Schneider, Bowen, 1993).
Restaurant owners should consider that continuous training helps
to improve wine sales and moreover can help to avoid staff turnover.
Good wine instruction can have a good impact on the waiter's
career. Restaurant owners are more likely to employ a waiter who has great
competencies in wine service and wine knowledge. «Wine training is a
career enhancement activity and therefore can be considered as continuing
education. Career enhancement activities can help employees with their career
transitions, such as entering a new organization or transferring within an
organization» (Gultek 2003).
A well trained staff can also help to draw up the wine list and
therefore be involved in the wine purchase process. Giving responsibilities to
the staff is an important aspect of the corporate culture and allows them to
share the company values and goals.
Everyone is able to bring a plate to the guest. Giving
recommendations about wine and food pairing and serving the wine with good
technique is a little bit more complicated but not impossible. When the staffs
are well trained and are knowledgeable about wine it helps them to view the job
differently and also helps to put special emphasis on their career. Guest
attitude towards waiters is quite different if the staffs are knowledgeable or
not about wine. Wine service technique can also improve the quality of the
wine. As an example, pouring a wine in carafe takes no more than three minutes
but can have a dramatic impact on the perception of the wine by the
customers.
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