If you’re looking for the next big craft beer trend for your restaurant, you might want to consider increasing your prices. Yes, you read that right, I just said you should increase your prices. Worried your customers will go on strike and your restaurant will be blacklisted on Yelp? Trust me, you’ll be fine—if you’re selling estate beers. Here’s how to increase your beer prices up to $20 a pint, and keep your customers coming back for more.
Beer-barrel sanitization is a thing of the past. For years, breweries have been religiously following the antibacterial mandates set forth by Louis Pasteur—but now some breweries actually welcome bacteria in their beer. Don’t believe me? Obviously you haven’t heard about the new trend of sour beer. Today’s post will get you up to speed on the methods and madnesses of the sour beer movement.
With New Year’s Eve only 2 weeks away, we figured it’s time we set some resolutions for 2015. Rather than stick with the traditional (go to the gym, learn a language, eat more cookies…. wait, what?), we’re proud to present our official Wine Resolutions for 2015.
Last week, we posted “How to Profit Off the Top Wine Trends for 2014 (Part 1)“. If you missed the last post, you should read it. It talked about three of the main wine trends for 2014, as reported by a study commissioned by E. & J. Gallo Winery. Gallo promises to make their wine trends study a yearly event, and with their interesting findings and easy-to-read infographics, the study is definitely worth a read for restaurant professionals.
Here are the two last tips to leverage the information in the wine trends survey to increase the profits in your restaurant. (Get items 1-3 here.) Read more
Have your wine sales been lagging? That’s a clear sign you should change your wine sales strategy in 2015. America’s Millennials are a wine-loving crowd, and if you’re marketing and selling your wines properly, your sales should be through the roof. After all, 81% of wine drinkers agree that wine is not just for special occasions anymore.
But what should you do if your wine sales are in a slump? How can you tell what will bring in the business? I have great news for you. Determining what to sell to wine drinkers under 40 is no longer a guessing game. This is because E. & J. Gallo Winery, the winery that sells Apothic, Columbia, Barefoot, and New Amsterdam spirits (and, of course, Gallo), has commissioned a new study about wine trends. They surveyed 1,001 frequent wine drinkers between the ages of 25-64 in the US, and they’ve now published their findings. But what good is a list of trends without advice on how to use it? That’s where I come in. Without further ado, here is part one of the top wine trends for 2014—and how to make those trends work for your restaurant. Read more
Technology use among restaurants is seeing fast paced growth, and restaurant operators are beginning to understand the importance of mobile and tablet technology to improve their top and bottom line. According to Hudson Riehle, Senior Vice President of Research for the National Restaurant Association, use of technology is expanding among all age groups. No, it’s not just teens who want to use the latest technology for their dining experience. Our customers report even consumers in the 65+ age bracket enjoy using iPad menus to choose a wine or beverage for their meal.
The last post in this series named the first fourteen of the twenty-eight terms that make you sound like a sommelier, including descriptions of the wine’s color and scent. At the end of this post, you’ll see how you can put all these terms together to create an awesome wine menu or wine tasting, or to just sell more wines. Here are the last fourteen wine-expert terms you need to know in order to increase your wine revenues. (Part 1 contains numbers 1-14).
Want to describe your wines really well (or, um, understand wine descriptions really well)? Using these twenty-eight sommelier terms will have you 86-ing your wines like mad, and it will even help when you purchase new wines. Ready to sound like an expert? Here are the first fourteen terms you need to know. (Check out “28 Terms that Make You Sound Like a Sommelier (Part 2)” for the rest of the terms.)
Craft beer, like wine, can be intimidating. Similar to wine, craft beer has its own jargon… and craft beer menus typically assume that the reader is knowledgeable about a range of beer-centric acronyms: IBU (International Bittering Units), ABV (Alcohol by Volume), IPA (India Pale Ale), ESB (Extra Special Bitter), etc. Not only are the acronyms hard, beer classifications can be confusing to the uninitiated… again, much like wine. Do you remember a time before you knew the difference between a pilsner, a kölsch, a doppelbock, a maibock, and a saison? Today we’re going back to the basics, so that you can make craft beer less intimidating for your customers. Here are the three questions your servers should ask to make sure that your guests love their craft beer. (Want more tips? Check out the wine version of this guide.)
What do you know about the top 3 wine-producing regions of the world? This article offers a quick introduction to the differences between French, Italian, and Spanish wines—how much do you already know?