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How to Create the Ideal Startup Wine List
The famous wine magazines celebrate certain wine lists for their depth and breadth of selection. They announce this with awards championing these voluminous lists. Trouble is, only a handful of America's restaurants can afford to create such lists.
For many folks, a great wine list is a huge wine list. If possible, the wine list should be large enough to prop open the front door.
Ironically, nothing could be further from the truth when you examine how people choose wines in restaurants. A great wine list -- i.e., one that communicates well, that makes servers and customers comfortable, and that sells lots of wines -- doesn't need to be big, nor should it require a sommelier or dedicated wine steward to explain it.
The Goals of a Wine List
A first-rate wine list achieves the highest possible wine sales for a given restaurant concept. For some fine-dining concepts, that may mean that 20 percent of sales derive from wine sales. In a handful of destination-type restaurants, 30 percent of sales or more might be produced by the wine program. But for most, 20 represents a more realistic but nonetheless attainable goal.
How that 20 percent is achieved will vary from place to place. There can be no single template for wine lists for all restaurant concepts any more than one menu can serve all concepts. Indeed the wine lists should mirror, as much as possible, the menu in its layout, pricing, font and general look. In the best establishments, everything is chosen to mirror and even enlarge the concept. Great restaurateurs know that nothing should seem out of place to the guests.
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