6 MUST TRY Ideas to Market Your "Wine-by-the-Glass".

Researchers have found that when diners scan a menu, their eyes tend to gravitate first toward the upper right-hand corner of a menu.

If you want your (more expensive) wines by the glass selection to get more attention, place it in the upper right or upper left portion of your menu, known in the industry as the “sweet spot”. You can also highlight your most cost-effective wine selection using box or frame.

However, be strategic with emphasizing menu items and don’t overdo it otherwise the impact will be lessen.

Place wines by the glass beside food items that they would compliment. Customers usually don’t know which wine to pair with their food so they either spend a lot of time asking for suggestion or they skip the wine altogether. Therefore, by pairing the wine by the glass option next to the food item, the customers will feel more convinced to go for the suggested pairing.

However, make sure to research and test out your wine pairing options before placing it on the menu otherwise you may lose your customers’ trust.

For unsure customers and novice wine drinkers, a detailed description of the wine will make them feel more familiar and comfortable with the wine selection, thus, they will be more likely to try the wine.

Moreover, a study conducted at Cornell University found that descriptive menu labels (such as “succulent Italian seafood filet” vs. “seafood filet”) resulted in customers feeling more satisfied with their meal. The study also showed that sales will go up by almost 30 percent when they have a good description.

Here are some details that you can include on your wine menu: brand name of the wine, the grape or varietal used, the wine region, flavor and aromas (e.g. oak or grapefruit), and taste (e.g. fruity or crisp)

Table tent is an inexpensive yet highly profitable marketing strategy. In 2007, Cornell Hospitality School’s table tent study indicated that table tented wine promotions boosted sales up to 50%!

You can feature all of the wines on the table tent or just highlight some of the more profitable choices. However, according to the paradox of choice, the optimum number of items listed should be seven, the golden number. Any number higher than seven will cause guests to be overwhelmed and confused, thus they will default to an item they’ve had before.

Who doesn’t like happy hours? Offer happy hour to attract customers and promote your wine by the glass program at the same time. You can also give discounted price during the slow days of the week–usually Monday and Wednesday.

A well-conceived happy hour program can drive new trial, frequency, check average, party size, and reinforce important brand attributes. So even though you’re selling at a lower price, the higher sale volume compensates for the discounted price and brings more revenue. For example, the customers will be more likely to try out multiple different wines when offering discount.

Another more popular trend for bar and restaurant promotion is Late Night Happy Hour (LNHH). Offering Late night happy hour attracts more young people-students, young business people, and couples. LNHH allow students to extend their fun and gives them opportunity to taste some new beverage from your menu. Students also make very effective word-to-mouth marketing for your business since they are always bringing friends to the party.

Whether your wine by the glass program is fresh from the oven or has been around for a while, wine tasting events is a fun way to raise interest in wine and networking with potential customers.

Here’s a tip: smaller and more intimate events are more effective and profitable than larger ones (20 guests versus 50). By keeping the number small, the customers get more face time with the representative, and thus they will feel valued and will be more open to make a purchase.

It is also helpful to use a wine dispenser machine like that of Wineemotion dispenser for these kind of wine tasting events so that spoilage, over-pouring, and waste are avoided, and profit is optimized.