Sweet wines are a mystery. Everybody loves them, is interested in them and after tasting them comments that why don’t we drink these more often. I have participated several times in discussion where people from restaurants complain about the amount of sweet wines they sell. Well, the true problem is already mentioned within that sentence. Restaurants are not putting enough effort in selling them. Here are few tips that I have collected when talking to people in business successfully selling sweet wines.

  1. Sweet wines must be available by glass. Nobody wants to order a bottle of wine which they only want to have few sips with the dessert.
  2. Make sure your employees are familiar with what are the perfect matches between your dessert menu and wine list. Arrange an opportunity where all the employees get a change to taste through the selection of both, desserts and wines. Help them to find their favourite dessert and wine combination and motivate them to suggest these for clients. Personal recommendations have magical power and clients love that. Having a whole staff tasting through the combinations gives confidence for those who mostly deal with customers. They could use recommendations such as “our chef’s favourite match is the Fresh Strawberry Pannacotta with Moscato Asti, he’s having that at least twice a week!”
  3. If you are afraid to lose wine (and money) by oxidation when keeping the bottles open for by-the-glass sales, list half sizes (37,5cl) when possible. Also reduce the amount of choices you have on your list to increase the rotation. I’ve even seen 18,75cl bottles available (I think that was Trockenbeerenauslese from Ernst Loosen).
  4. To further avoid risk of oxidation when having the wines available by the glass, list styles that can last longer after opening. Wines like Sweet Madeira, Tawny Port, Sherry (except Fino), and most of the wines that are based on adding spirit to unfermented grape juice are always safe choice to have available by the glass. These will keep in good condition for several weeks after opening.
  5. Do not print your full sweet wine selection into your wine list. For example, if your selection consists of 7 products, just list 5 of them. For some clients, it is tempting to have recommendation outside the wine list by mentioning that “we just got few bottles of very exclusive Sauternes that is hard to get and have it by the glass only for X€”.
  6. If clients are hesitating when recommended a wine, give them a drop to taste. It costs almost nothing to offer 1 or 2 cl but it works well. Especially if there is a couple and you give the lady to try the sweet wine (women usually can’t resist sweet wine ;o)). After seeing her face begging for more of that, the gentlemen on the other side of the table has no changes to back off from ordering it.
  7. Never ask open questions like “would you like to have some wine with your dessert”. Instead, always give direct recommendation; “Ah, that chocolate cake is my favourite and it is amazing match with the Banyuls. We have available by the glass only for X€”. The result is even better if you have the open bottle and glasses with you when going to the table.
  8. Run sales competitions with your staff. At the end, for them it is always about WIIIFM “What Is In It For Me”. Make short term targets as they tend to work better than long distant targets. Reward also from trying (offering, recommending) as that is what you want to boost, the sales will follow.

I hope you find these tips useful. I’d love to hear back if you find them useful.

Share
Delicious

Comments are closed.