Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 4:36 PM
Subject: Wine at Orangewood Consulting - 31
To our Wine Aficionados,
Introduction
January has been a little
quiet after a hectic and record breaking December. Our analysis is that
stores bought wine in December because December is usually a big wine buying
month. December tends to be a big wine buying month because people and
firms buy wine and liquor as holiday gifts. However, Christmas 2002 was a
back to basics Christmas, as people and firms hunkered down to wait out the
economy. So, there is still wine on the shelves to be sold in January.
Summary (Box Score)
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House of Tricks event is upon us
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2003 sales off to a slow start
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Event at Epicurean on Thursday, February 20
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New restaurant – Uptown 713
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New outlet at AJ’s in Chandler
Content
Outline for the remainder of this
newsletter
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Event Update and Reminder – House of Tricks, February 4
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Epicurean Wine hosts Marinda Park owner – February 20
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Another new event – Chateau Benoit introduction – March 10
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New restaurant – Uptown 713
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New outlet – AJ’s in Chandler
§
Rambling Business Man
Event Update and Reminder – House of Tricks, February 4,
2003
We mentioned the Tricks event (5:30 – 7:00 PM on the evening
of February 4) in the last newsletter. What’s new is that Jim Gullett
will be there. Jim and his wife, Suzy, are the owners and spiritual leaders of
the Vino Noceto winery. Who better to speak at a wine tasting with the
title “Sangiovesi di Vino Noceto”. Tricks provides nuts and cheese for
the event. Cost is $15 and you will need to call for a reservation.
(House of Tricks - 480-968-1114). It would be a good idea to reserve your
place now – they sold out 3 weeks ahead of time for the charity tasting in
December.
Epicurean Wine hosts Marinda Park owner
Epicurean Wine, at 7101 East Thunderbird Road, has been
gradually evolving its strategy. They have long had a tasting bar, but
the focus has been on selling bottles of wine. Recently, Nick, formerly
one of the bar guys at AZ Wine, has joined the staff as bon vivant. With
his addition and expansion of the bar area, Epicurean is poised to become more
of a neighborhood gathering place in parallel with the wine sales
operation. It is here that Mark Rodman, one of the owners of the Marinda
Park winery, will be talking about his wines on February 20. The $15
event starts at 6:30 PM. We will take the wines one at a time, with
everyone having the same wine at the same time. Mark will talk about each
wine while everyone swirls and gurgles. The full complement of Marinda
Park wines will be there: the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that have been
available so far; the Sauvignon Blanc that we hope will be available for sale
by then and, finally, the Merlot that still needs time but is showing promise –
you can order futures! Some fruit, Brie and crackers will be available
and more substantial fare can be ordered. I am hoping to have Mark
pouring wine at additional locations during his visit - I will send a short
newsletter prior to his arrival in February
Chateau Benoit Introduction Event
Yesterday the first shipment of Chateau Benoit wines arrived
in Arizona. Initially we have 4 wines: Muller Thurgau, White Riesling,
Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. I had promised information on style and
pronunciation, but that will wait until the next newsletter. Deliveries are
going out this week to Epicurean Wine and to sister restaurants Tarbell’s and
Barmouche. These are the pre-sold locations. Now Dick and I have to
continue with the selling process. For you however, an introductory event
is scheduled for Mario Day (March 10). The event starts at 5:00 PM and
runs until you leave or get thrown out. In addition to cheese hunks, I am
thinking about some fruit for the white wines. It may be beyond my
competency level, but we’ll see.
New Restaurant – Uptown 713
One day I was throwing away junk that purports to be mail
when I saw a flier for a new restaurant that had just opened on Palo Verde,
close to 7th Street and Bethany Home Road. Later that day I
was heading north on 7th Street and couldn’t find the road.
Next day, after examining the flier more carefully, I went back and spotted
Palo Verde. I turned in and looked for a restaurant. I found a kind
of office style building – square and with a courtyard inside. I parked
the car. Walking in past the barber shop and the ballet studio, I was
tempted to head back to the car, but intrepid wine sales people are not
discouraged by such disquieting surroundings. Inside the restaurant I
ordered a beer and had started drinking it before Phil politely alluded to the
fact that they really didn’t open for another half an hour. Phil is the
owner of the restaurant. When I saw several people with guitar cases
walking by I asked if they were looking to get a gig here. No, says Phil,
they are going to lessons in jazz guitar – the teacher will be playing here on
Friday’s and Saturday’s. It was around this time that I mentioned that I
was in the wine business and did he want some. Sure, bring some
samples. So Laurie and I took some samples back at dinner time. We
stayed for dinner, too, which was good. Good enough that we went back the
following Saturday for dinner and jazz. Phil must be a good marketing guy
because, in addition to the fliers, he has had a few column inches in the
Arizona Repulsive and a spot on FOX 10. The Saturday jazz night was
packed – a good job we made reservations. Phil is still experimenting
with his wine list. So far he has the Noceto Sangiovese, Marinda Park
Chardonnay and RustRidge Zinfandel.
Directions. Heading North on 7th
Street, look out for the Apollo sign on your right. Turn right just past
it onto Palo Verde. Uptown 713 is in the next building on the right
(Number 713, duh). Heading South, look out for the Apollo sign
also. If possible turn just before it - but if you miss the turn all is
not lost. Turn left anyway and zip through the parking lot behind to the
south and east of Apollo’s. This route has the benefit of giving you a
view of the mural on the entire west wall of the 713 building. Don’t try
to enter through the painted archway. Enjoy.
New outlet - AJ’s, 7141 West Ray
Road, Chandler
I didn’t write too much about Dick in the last
newsletter. This isn’t because he hasn’t been selling. He has been
working a number of accounts where persistence is needed. The first of
these has succumbed to Dick’s charm. Clyde, at AJ’s in Chandler, has
taken delivery of the Noceto Normale and the Marinda Park Chardonnay. If
you are in the Chandler area this may be your opportunity to score a couple of bottles.
Rambling Business Man
Looking back to an early (December 2000) business plan, I
saw that we had expected to be profitable by 2002. So looking at the
numbers, why didn’t we actually make a profit? We had identified the
various cost categories pretty accurately. Staring at a negative number
at the bottom of the sheet was not very helpful. It did lead to the
overall conclusion that our “sample to sales” ratio was too high.
Expressed differently, we currently view what happens to each bottle in one of
four ways:
1.
Sales (Deliver wine, get money)
2.
Tasting prospective clients (restaurant owners, retail outlets)
3.
Sampling non-trade people (priming the pump by tasting the general
public, including you guys). This also includes the wine we provide for
tasting events.
4.
Consuming it ourselves (quality control!)
When we look at the number of bottles in categories 2 - 4
compared to the total, it’s about 20% for 2002. Our business plan had
called for under 10%. Aha, we have to drink less! Where’s the fun
in that? In search of more palatable answers, we started slicing and
dicing the numbers differently. A couple of ways were helpful:
By product line showed
that several of the product lines are actually profitable. Generally the
profitable ones are established in several outlets and sell at finite, as
opposed to infinitesimal, rates. The unprofitable lines are ones we have
sampled with limited success or we were successful only in places that sell
very little. It’s OK to do more sampling of the wine in the early “start
up” stage. When should that stage be completed?
By customer we see
that profitability comes primarily from places that were able to decide quickly
that they liked the wine and began stocking and selling it.
Some questions we need to ask are: Can we figure out where
we are on the “start up” curves for products and customers? Should we be
able to spot when a wine is not going to “move”? Should we be able
to spot when a customer is going to let the wine sit on the shelf? Does
anyone know what happened to my favorite corkscrew?
Meanwhile, I’ve got to get out and deliver a case of wine.
Feedback
Thank you for the feedback on the last Newsletter, most of
it complimentary (thank you Frank).
Cin-cin, alla salute!
Richard and Laurie
Richard (newsletter writer) and Laurie Corles
(editor)
Orangewood Consulting LLC
602.906.9566 or 602.410.3774