Wine lovers are a restaurant’s best customers. Unfortunately, most restaurateurs in Jamaica have not yet learnt that lesson. A wine lover will visit and spend good money in an establishment over and over again, if there is a good selection of wines, and the food is decent — notice, the food does not have to be orgasmic.

The complaints…

The complaints are many; I will name a few: (1) The wines are too basic, same choice as the supermarket (2) the mark-ups are way too high, so even if we will suffer with the supermarket wines, the price is prohibitive (3) the stemware is awful (4) the staff has had absolutely no wine or wine service training (5) the service temperature for the wine is wrong — red wine too hot.

Wine product segmentation

Most of our discussion is usually centred on wine style; let’s look at the major segments of the wine market. Basic/everyday wines (J$500-J$1,600) — the lowest end of this spectrum are jug wines (below J$700), usually in large format. This represents about 50% of the national wine market and almost 80% of what is on most of our supermarket shelves and on the nation’s wine lists. These wines typically have very little linkage to specific vineyards and wine regions; they are mainly “brand” wines.

The other two segments include (a) Premium (J$1,600-J$5,000) — about 30% of the international market and (b) ultra Premium/Luxury (J$5,000 and above) — which consists of a range of subcategories capping to high-end 20% of the international markets, less than 5% here for obvious reasons.

Solution/Challenge

Restaurateurs might wish to respond to their customers’ needs by balancing out the portfolio. A further suggestion is to not only offer the cheapest wines. Offer a few premium wines and depending on your type of restaurant or style of food, you might be able to sell a few ultra-premium and some luxury brands.

Cost, storage and the inability of staff to sell these wines are indeed some of the major challenges, but it’s imperative to innovate in order to compete. Observe the movement of your customers. A few are going elsewhere and spending big money on wines, the same wines that you are afraid to offer them.

I offered a suggestion to a small café owner recently, doing my usual plea to upgrade the wine list. Thankfully this time the plea was heeded — indeed, the owner admitted that sales were brisk for the more expensive wines I had asked him to place on offer.

A tiny café or bistro can get away with up to three reds and three whites, two rosés and a couple of sparkling wines, a total of 10 wines spreading across the price points — low, medium or high. A larger restaurant should have a minimum of 25 to 30 wines on offer if they wish to be taken seriously. Nobody is suggesting stocking cases of each product — 2 to 3 bottles will suffice as most distributors can deliver the product within 24 hours.

That said, I do live in this country; I do live in the real world, so I know that things are getting tight for some people. However, some are not complaining at all, because they have decided to look on the bright side: they look out for the opportunities and they make hay while the sun shines. You should too!

Christopher Reckord — businessman, entrepreneur & wine enthusiast. Send your questions and comments to creckord@gmail.com. Follow us on twitter: @Reckord