Bernie Keaveney, Beverage and Wine Director at La Morra, a Northern Italian restaurant in Boston, Massachusetts, insists there are no foolish questions when it comes to wine. She makes a point to get her servers to understand that true industry professionals don’t just sell wine, they know why they’re selling wine: to enhance guest enjoyment.
Helping diners select a bottle (or bottles) of wine to pair with their meal is about making them happy, and ensuring they have the best experience possible. Sure, if a table splurges on an expensive bottle of Champagne to start the meal and then moves into a three-figure bottle of red from Piedmont, it’s good for the restaurant, and it’s good for the staff, but it has to be good for the guests too or none of the rest matters.
Start a Conversation
When Rennie Coleman is on the floor at the Los Angeles Italian restaurant where he’s worked since 2014, he likes to bring a sense of humor to his tables.
Coleman, a singer and songwriter by day, transforms into server extraordinaire at night. His goal each shift is to engage with guests of the high-volume restaurant — not just serve them. To do so, Coleman takes a whimsical approach to navigating questions about the extensive wine list.
“People don’t always admit what they want to spend,” he says. After years of reading tables, he can often figure out whether they’re the type to spring for a four-figure bottle, or if their comfort level hovers around $60. But for the occasional hard-to-read guests, he’s crafted a line to get the conversation going (and it really is a conversation, he stresses). “So, you’re comfortable starting at $70 [a bottle] and going up to $5,000?” Coleman will ask. This typically generates laughs all around, and then the guests find it easy to say what they want and how much they’re willing to spend.
But of course, he says, you don’t have to be that ‘weird’ salesperson. Find a way to connect with your guests and the conversation will flow naturally.
Be Resourceful
You need to know your menu inside and out to make suggestions that will earn the trust of your guests, especially when they want something outside their budget.
It’s not uncommon for a guest to ask for something like a Barolo, a bottle that typically cannot be had at a restaurant for less than $100, after clearly stating that they only want to spend $50 or so. Maybe they had a bottle of Barolo at a friend’s house, but aren’t familiar with the retail value Keaveney muses. Still, she does not scoff; instead, Keaveney will suggest a younger Nebbiolo from a different region, something closer to their intended price point.
Matt Everett, Floor Sommelier at Severance Wine Bar in Los Angeles, does the same. “If a guest requests Barolo, but wants to keep it under $70, it is a tough situation,” Everett says. He manages the situation — and guests’ expectations — by suggesting a similar wine, along with what they actually requested. This allows the guest to make an informed decision, without feeling pressured or taken advantage of.
Know Your Audience
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to selling wine, and that’s the beauty of it when you get right down to it. Being able to inject some of your personality into the sale allows you to be creative.
With lengthy wine lists, it can be difficult to know about every single bottle on the list, but Everett sees it as worth it in the long run. At minimum, he believes staff should “have a great one liner about every wine on the list that is succinct and to the point.”
“Obviously for larger lists this becomes very difficult, but for bottle lists under 300, it is a minor inconvenience that pays dividends when it comes to sales,” Everett notes.
As to the one-liner approach, Evan Charest, Severance’s Beverage Director and Owner, says not to “over-complicate the sale by adding knowledge the guest doesn’t necessarily need.”
Charest says that while a sommelier’s job is to educate, this should never be done at the expense of the guest experience. “There are times to geek out table side and there are times to simply bring the wine that is ordered off the list.”
Keaveney has found that guests appreciate when there’s a story to go along with the wine, and she incorporates this into her staff training and wine education. People are interested in hearing about the winemaker, or the vineyard, and it’s a nice way for staff to talk to guests about the wine without getting too technical, or sounding pretentious.
Keep experimenting until you find the right approach for you and your guests.
Splurge, Within Reason
It should go without saying that nobody wants to be pushed beyond their budget. But it can be challenging when guests give a price range, and then request something far beyond that.
When the type of bottle guests describe doesn’t align with their budget, a good server becomes resourceful, and draws on their knowledge of the wine list. While Coleman won’t suggest a wine that’s quadruple the amount of the stated spend, he is comfortable suggesting something a bit outside of their price range. “I’m obviously not trying to rip anyone off,” Coleman says. In this situation, he might say, “If they’re willing to spend a little more, I think you’d be very happy with this wine,” leading them to a wine that, if not exactly in line with their description, is still likely to please them.
Likewise, Keaveney is interested in enhancing the overall experience. In selecting a bottle of wine, that means getting people to trust her. “We never ever take advantage of that [trust],” a notion she relays in training staff. To that end, Keaveney will never suggest a bottle off the restaurant’s reserve page unless she has been given explicit cues, or a specific request.
“Our wine list is only as good as the server or the newest server [on the floor],” she says, a mantra all operators can take back to their venues.
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