Increasing wine sales through customised wine service training – a quasi-experiment

Abstract

Purpose The selling of wines is usually performed by a sommelier in the context of an upmarket restaurant. However, many restaurants cannot afford to employ a sommelier and must rely on the food and beverage service personnel to assist customers with the selection of wine. The food and beverage service personnel are generally not qualified to do this. Restaurants usually do not provide training with regard to wine knowledge, wine service skills and wine selling skills. The purpose of this paper was to establish whether wine service training had an influence on the wine sales of a restaurant. Design/methodology/approach A quasi-experimental research design used two restaurants from the same franchise. One restaurant was the control group while the other was the experimental group. Wine sales were monitored and recorded for a period of three months, the second month being used for the training intervention of the experimental group. Findings Although the results were not statistically significant, the results indicated that wine service training increased the wine sales in the restaurant of the experimental group. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature in the South African hospitality sector and establishes that wine service training is a necessity for wine sales to explore further in the restaurant industry.