Wine sales account for a large portion of your restaurant’s revenue. So finding different means of improving this revenue is vital for the survival of your business.
This isn’t always the easiest task, so we’ve together a list of 5 Great Ways to Increase your Restaurant Wine Sales.
1. Use the Right Words on Your Wine List
Instead of merely stating where the wine is from and what the vintage is, use enticing words to draw customers to the wine. Yes, the origin and the vintage is important, but you want to sell your wine by stirring some emotion and interest.
Use descriptive words like bold, elegant, crisp, fruity, herbaceous, smooth, creamy, etc. Not only will these words help customers better understand what they can expect, but it’s more likely that they’ll be able to narrow down the style that they prefer. This automatically leads to a better overall experience in your establishment.
You can also include other important features about the wine, including whether the wine is vegan, biodynamic, or certified-organic.
The modern world has put great emphasis on these environmentally-conscious products and will generate plenty of interest with certain customers
By emphasizing the words you use on your menu, you improve the probability of the customer buying a decently priced bottle of wine on your list. These customers won’t mind paying a little extra, as long as they know what they can expect and enjoy their choice.
2. Occasionally Have a Featured Wine
The featured wine should go hand-in-hand with a featured or signature dishes. The focus on this particular pairing will add to the wine’s value and appeal more to the customers. Just ensure that the actual pairing is flawless and that the two complement each other well.
The duration of this featured wine is entirely up to you, but make sure you change it before it becomes tired. And to ensure you get the message out to all your customers, promote it on your social media channels and your mailing list.
The idea behind the featured wine is that you can use a high profit-margin wine and significantly increase the revenue from this featured wine pairing.
3. Introduce New Wines Once a Month
Changing your wine list regularly is vital in today’s wine-drinking world. With customers continually looking to try new and exciting wine, it’s crucial to change it up every so often.
The idea is not to change out every bottle but rather keep an eye on your slowest moving wines. These slow-moving wines should be replaced by new wines, which allows for a greater variety for your regular visitors.
You can use this addition of new wines as a great way to attract more customers too, by promoting these new wines on your social media platforms.
You aren’t just attracting customers to your restaurant with your dishes, but you can also do it with a unique and exciting wine list.
If you’re not using social media to promote your business, be sure to read up on the lessons learnt in 2020, regarding sales and social media.
4. Train Your Staff to Increase Restaurant Wine Sales
In one of our previous articles, we talk about how important it is to have well-trained staff members. Many restaurant owners underestimate the trust that customers put in their servers’ hands for good recommendations and guidance.
The key with well-trained staff is to ensure they understand the basics of each wine and what the customer can expect. It is also crucial for them to make informed recommendations on how the wine pairs with each of your dishes.
So, ensure that the staff is knowledgeable and confident about the wines and food to allow them to dramatically increase restaurant wine sales.
5. Increase your Restaurant Wine Sales with a Loyalty Program
Although it is essential to attract new customers to your establishment, it is important to have customer-retention.
One of the best ways to do that is by serving excellent food, offering great service, and adding a loyalty program to the establishment.
One of the most common ways to do this is simply by offering a card that can be stamped with each visit to your restaurant. Once the card is stamped a certain number of times, you can offer a discounted or free product to the customer.
The importance here is offering a discounted product that won’t cost you more than it should. Depending on your restaurant, you can provide a free drink, dessert, or appetizer. The reason that so many businesses and restaurants offer a loyalty program is because it works!
Whether you choose to incorporate one or all of these above-mentioned tools, you will be sure to see some wine sales increase. It is worth trying out each of these methods and finding the one that works best for your business. You can also read about how wineries can improve their bottom line and implement some of these tactics in your restaurant.
