If you run a food and beverage operation, you might want to consider incorporating local wines and beers into your menu. Not only can this help you support local producers and reduce your environmental impact, but it can also attract customers who are looking for authentic and unique experiences. Here are some tips on how to do it successfully.
Before you start adding local wines and beers to your menu, you need to do some research and tasting. Find out what kinds of grapes, hops, and other ingredients are grown in your area, and how they affect the flavor, aroma, and quality of the drinks. Learn about the history and culture behind the local brands, and how they match with different cuisines and dishes. You can also visit the wineries and breweries, or invite the producers to your venue, to get a firsthand insight into their stories and processes.
Please carry your local spirits, beer and wine. This shows you care about your community. Every time I sit in a restaurant, from fine dining to a mom and pop, I ask them "What do you have that is local". The answer is the same every time. They don't carry anything local. It's really embarrassing for the industry. These local places are churning out great products and their customers love them, but they can't get them in their local restaurants. Please get up to speed on this. Most can and do self-distribute. Please just reach out to them! It's a bit of work to set them up as their own distributor, but in the end, it's a database entry, and it's done. It's a small purchase each month, but it will pay off in the end!
Reach out to your vendors. Enlist them in researching the wines and beers available. Many producers are looking for restaurants and catering companies for partners. Create an event that introduces your customers to the new wines, and beers. A successful pairing creates a romance between the food, the wine, and the palate and all play an important part in enhancing the dining experience. Create menus that incorporate wine or beer into the recipes. Customers want to know more about the history and nuances of wines, beers, and food ingredients than just the labeling. Add dishes to your menus with a narrative suggestion of the wine or beer to pair it with. Create a mailing list, for special nights, and pairings. Keep the momentum going.
Understanding your region's offerings is crucial before incorporating local wines and beers into your menu. Investigate and sample to discern how local grape varietals, hops, and adjuncts influence taste, bouquet, and caliber. Delve into the heritage and cultural narratives of area producers to appreciate how their beverages pair with diverse foods. Consider touring nearby wineries and breweries, or hosting local vintners and brewers at your establishment for direct perspectives on their crafts and traditions. This knowledge enriches the dining experience and supports community purveyors.
First and foremost, educate your staff!! This is one of the biggest failure points in service and hospitality. Servers and bartenders (nearly all) only know what they drink. You can have the most delightful local beer or the best new batch of bourbon, but if your staff don’t know anything about it, it’s just a big paperweight in your inventory.
The best presenters are those who build trust and can and do take THEIR crowd in any direction.. Like a DJ of wine and food!
Once you have a good understanding of your local products, you can start creating a menu that showcases them. You don't have to replace your entire wine and beer list, but you should aim for a balanced and diverse selection that covers different styles, prices, and occasions. For example, you can offer a range of sparkling, white, red, and rosé wines, and a variety of lagers, ales, stouts, and sours. You can also highlight seasonal and limited-edition products, or create special offers and promotions to encourage customers to try them.
My experience is to play to your audience or an honored guest’s reception. Beaming with pride hosts and guest’s affiliation with producers or local breweries / vineyards always sets the tone. Or have a collaboration between pastry and sommelier to do something homey yet unexpected for a special guest of honor. To wit: a Soy bean curd, 74% chocolate mousse (Espresso enhanced chocolate, silken tofu pudding with a Cacao nib jacket, no diary) paired with 6 ounces Old Rasputin ?Never Say Die? Russian Imperial Stout accompany 2 ounces 10 year old tawny port. Magical
A balanced a diverse selection is a difficult task to perform. You don’t want too short a list to distract from the elegance a voluminous list has, but at the same time not overwhelm your buyer and accountant with too many suppliers. Certainly you need a few examples of each category you want to sell; each wine in a category at a different price point. Maybe you have a few more selections of popular varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and less of more obscure grapes. It is a balance between giving the client what they want and what you want to show.
Why reinvent the wheel? Most of the places you are buying from (distilleries, wineries, and breweries) are serving their product. Ask them what their customers ' faves are. You are done. No thinking is required. They have already done the legwork. You can always tweak things (if you have time). You can always add more diversity later. As the bars are always telling ME, it's really about the BOTTOM LINE. And they need to see the money rolling in first! Most of the answers I am reading are just in general about what is available from your normal distributors, not necessarily about local liquor products. Local liquor products are not represented at all in restaurants unless you are in a big city in my experience. They need you.
One of the best ways to enhance the appeal of your local wines and beers is to pair them with your food. You can create a menu that suggests the best combinations, or train your staff to make recommendations based on the customers' preferences and orders. You can also design dishes that use local wines and beers as ingredients, or create tasting menus that feature multiple courses and drinks. By pairing your local products with your food, you can create a memorable and satisfying dining experience for your customers.
Elevate your dining experience by expertly pairing your food with local wines and beers. Craft a menu that highlights recommended pairings, or empower your staff to suggest the perfect match based on customer choices and tastes. Additionally, incorporate these local beverages into your recipes, or curate a multi-course tasting menu that showcases a harmonious blend of food and drink. Such thoughtful pairings not only delight the palate but also celebrate the synergy between your cuisine and the local terroir, offering guests a truly unique and gratifying culinary adventure.
You might not think liquor can be paired, but any trained chef will tell you, it's the ultimate. From dark rum-glazed osso bucco to dark rum-sauced beef, and on to agave rum-soaked bread pudding and so on, we have had all of these at our special dinners. I'll bet chefs only have to ask these small local companies what they have done in the past and it would take them a year to get through all the ideas of special food pairings. Again, you don't have to reinvent the wheel, unless they are brand new, and don't know their product yet.
Another important aspect of incorporating local wines and beers into your menu is to educate your customers and staff about them. You can use your menu, website, social media, and signage to inform your customers about the origin, characteristics, and benefits of your local products. You can also organize events, such as tastings, workshops, or tours, to engage your customers and let them sample and learn more about your local products. Additionally, you should train your staff to be knowledgeable and enthusiastic about your local products, so that they can answer questions, provide suggestions, and upsell effectively.
Training is of the utmost importance for staff. The customers have to feel confident in the recommendations of staff and confidence must come staff knowledge. Weekly tastings and conversations of the list and food pairings not only provided knowledge to the staff, but also creates a camaraderie among staff. These meetings also stimulate story telling; who knows how that story might make its way to a purchase.
Educating customers of staff can be done in cooperation with the local venues you are supporting. If we are supported in this way, we always offer our services for training (we know our product the best, and it's nothing like what the bars are used to). We always offer special presentations so the venues can offer up special dinner tickets to meet the maker. We offer "how it's made" presentations and our recipes from our bar. We have made the process quite easy, but it doesn't mean that certain corporate accounts want it to be easy. They do love to do their own thing, and then WE copy them. It's a fun experience.
Helping the team understand flavours and nuances across beer, wine and food is crucial. Along with education of flavours comes education of the industries as a whole, from why prices are what they are to where the brewery/winery is located, plus any fun facts. People truly want to support local industry however they can, and by educating the staff who can then help teach the consumer, everyone gains a wider understanding of what is made locally and why that's important. Education is also a great way to explain why a good beer, even locally made, is "expensive" compared to the mainstream offerings. Teach people to appreciate beer like they do wine.
Finally, you should monitor and evaluate the results of incorporating local wines and beers into your menu. You can use feedback forms, online reviews, sales data, and inventory reports to measure the impact of your local products on your customer satisfaction, loyalty, revenue, and costs. You can also ask for input from your staff, suppliers, and partners, to identify any challenges or opportunities for improvement. By tracking and analyzing your results, you can adjust your menu, pricing, marketing, and training strategies accordingly.
Please don't tell customers that wine is nuanced and subtle and beer is all the same. From a beer background, I can assure you this is not the case. Some will disparage those who spend $40 on a 750ml bottle of 12% beer, but not bat an eyelid if a guest spends $150 on a 750ml bottle of 14% wine. There are differences, there are reasons, there are many layers - if you are unaware of them, it continues to perpetuate the idea that wine is "fancy" and beer is for the plebs.
Highlighting local wines on the menu is crucial, and a simple Virginia state icon does wonders in grabbing attention. This subtle cue directs customers to the local offerings they might be seeking. To boost the appeal of these nearby wines, consider capitalizing on their accessibility. Unlike representatives from larger wine regions, local winemakers are often more open to engagement. Imagine having a local winemaker drop by for a tasting or dinner pairing, sharing insights about their wines. It not only enhances the customer experience but also gives your restaurant valuable exposure. Showcasing local wines can also paint your restaurant as a vibrant part of the local community, fosters loyalty, and sets you apart from your competition.
You'll be surprised at how many people love a 'local' angle. The rarer the better, but it doesn't have to be so. We have a local whisky company and are the only bar commercially with a bottle of theirs. It attracts a lot of interest and is almost finished, after a couple of weeks. Work with the brands to get their placement right and ideas on what else can be achieved with their product. Currently we're working on a couple of entries for a local competition promoted by the local business agency. If you have one of these, try to innovate and get involved.