Bar managers failing to train staff in wine

A quarter of bar managers are not doing enough to train their staff to encourage consumers to trade-up within the wine category, according to a new report.

The findings from ViVAS follow this week’s admission by Grand Union managing director Adam Marshall that he does not believe it is the job of bartenders to encourage customers to trade-up or drive experimentation. 

The ViVAS research showed that some managers are failing to improve their staff’s understanding of wine and their ability to make recomendations to customers.

According to the findings, pub managers are the least likely to invest in training, with one third saying they did not train staff, while hotel managers were best at training staff, with jut 3% saying they did not do any training.

Less than half of the operators interviewed made any effort to cross-sell wines against food menus.

Henry John, marketing manager at ViVAS, said: "The average customer is hugely risk averse when it comes to choosing a wine; they’re looking for comfort and support to ensure that they don’t make the wrong choice.

"Genuine advice is generally greatly appreciated, as long as it’s considered and not simply pushing the most expensive bottle on the list," he added.

Alan Lodge, 16.02.2011