Wine consumption in the U.S. has been growing rapidly the past few years. Restaurants that only sold “house wine” two years ago now have extensive lists and run weekly wine features. Wine events are becoming the norm among savvy establishments. Are you being left behind?

Hosting a well-planned wine event is a great marketing tool for your restaurant or hotel and can also increase your profits. People are willing to spend money for entertainment and that’s just what a wine event is – entertainment, a night out, something worth getting a sitter for.

What type of wine event is the right one for you? Leave that to us. We specialize in planning and running wine events. We have experience planning small classes, medium-sized wine and food seminars, and large wine-focused networking events. The event we create for you will be both fun for your guests, leaving a lasting positive impression of your establishment, and profitable for you. Our wine event services include:

• Consultation with you to determine the perfect event for your establishment
• Design of the event, from creating a presentation or display materials, determining the wines to be poured, working with your chef to choose the appropriate food, and establishing required staff levels
• Assistance in marketing, including promotion on our own website, Meetup group, Facebook page
• Facilitation of the actual event to ensure things go exactly to plan

Do you want to increase profit and guest satisfaction, and improve your restaurant, or banquet/catering business? We will revitalize your wine program and train your staff to sell it!

A well planned and managed wine program will:

• Increase your profits by controlling costs and maximizing revenue
• Improve the image and reputation of your business
• Increase guest satisfaction leading to positive word of mouth and more return guests
• Allow you to spend more of your valuable time managing your business

Our consultation process:

1. Initial Meeting and Analysis Plan - Discuss your needs, review current wine list, and observe in your restaurant. There is no fee for the initial meeting or analysis plan. After the initial meeting, a contract, analysis plan, and analysis fee will be presented. If you decide to enter into contract for our analysis services, we will move to step two.
2. Analysis - Conduct a thorough analysis to determine the current and desired state of your wine program. The analysis will be conducted through interviews, surveys, and observations. An in-depth report of the findings will be provided. After you have an opportunity to review the analysis, you determine if you would like us to complete an Implementation Plan to address some or all of the issues discovered in the analysis.
3. Implementation Plan - This is a list of recommendations to bridge the gap between the current and desired state of your wine program. After you have an opportunity to review the Implementation Plan, you determine if you would like to implement the recommendations, or we can address one or more of the identified profitability solutions.
4. Execution of Profitability Solution - If you choose to have us assist in executing some or all of the plan, following is just one example of how we would work with you: Example: You want Wine Palate LLC to address the identified profitability solution for a redesigned wine list. We will design a wine list based on demographics, demand, menu, restaurant theme, and vision. We can also assist in printing the wine list and implementing a purchase system, as well as, training the staff on the wine list to further address the need.

Examples of profitability solutions we offer (list is not inclusive of all possibilities or costs):

Wine list development

We will design your wine list to be optimally compatible with your restaurant's vision and theme. Within these parameters, the list will be designed to maximize profit for your restaurant. The design will include the appearance and organization of the list, and the wine selections. We will provide you with an electronic copy of the wine list and can assist you in arranging for printing if you do not want to print in-house.

Sales and cost improvement

An analysis of your current wine sales, costs, labor, and goals is the first step in the process. We will also observe your current wine program in action, to determine lost revenue-making opportunities and areas for saving costs. By developing and implementing a plan to reduce your costs and increase your revenue, we can help you exceed your financial goals. This plan may include creating more efficient procedures, developing a marketing scheme, re-pricing and redesigning the wine list, providing areas for growth for the service, sales, and management staff, and implementing cost control measures, including serving size, inventory control, and cross marketing to reduce waste.

Training for service staff, sales staff, and management

If training is determined to be a need for your establishment, our instructional designer will analyze the specific performance improvement needs of your staff, and develop a customized package of information and/or training based on the results of the analysis. Initial on-site training may be provided to staff. Additionally, on-site training may be provided to management, so that they are able to train staff on a regular basis. We will also follow up by assessing the effectiveness of the training in increasing profits.

Complete wine program development/redevelopment

Should a comprehensive wine program need to be developed for your establishment, it will include: the design or redesign of your wine list, development and implementation of a marketing plan for food and wine promotions, creation of inventory control standards, selection of glassware and appropriate wine service accessories, determination of storage needs, initial training for your service staff and management (so that they can train your service and sales staff and manage your wine program successfully for long-term profitability). We can also provide on-going support for your wine program to include managing the wine list, providing training, and monitoring procedures, costs, and sales.