How to Run a Successful Beverage Program at a Members' Club

Any restaurant manager can tell you that a good beverage program is a crucial profit center. A clever wine list, an eye-catching cocktail selection, and a finger on the pulse of craft trends can build a restaurant brand. It engages repeat customers, upsells beverage choices, and creates serious buzz. Consider the Manhattan, invented a century ago at the club by the same name, or the Frozen Negroni that’s got NYC’s Alta Linea in the current spotlight.

For private members’ clubs, the stakes are high. A limited, repeat clientele that pays a membership fee and a monthly F&B minimum presents distinctive challenges: 

1. Keeping an inventory of off-menu items in case of special requests or past menu items that members remember
2. Stocking a solid collection of top-shelf spirits and classic wine styles to suit the gin-and-tonic, Napa Cab set
3. Always having something new, creative, or seemingly spontaneous at the ready to engage more intrepid sippers
4. Offering items that are unavailable elsewhere, whether rare, old vintages or secret-recipe cocktails

Does a dedicated, repeat clientele mean clubs can take more risks with introducing new cocktails, wine styles, and craft beers - or fewer? When members have a choice to go to their clubs or to any number of public restaurants, how does a successful beverage program help retain and attract members?

New York and London both have members’ clubs in spades, from staid suburban country clubs to edgy urban drinking dens. To read tips from beverage directors from across the Atlantic, read the full article at Foodable Web TV.

J.C. Mejia with Aspetuck Valley Country Club’s house-aged bourbon cask and cocktail

Wine Dinner at The Greek

Nemea (Greece) hopped over to Tribeca (NYC) this week with a wine dinner co-hosted by The Greek and 24 Hubert Wines. Both companies are young (about two years old) and both are led by young, visionary beverage managers pushing the boundaries of customer experience while giving extreme focus to rather obscure taste elements. In this case, it was four wines, all 100% Agiorgitiko, paired with four preparations of rabbit. Even within those categories, a focused and seasonal range of flavors and preparations drove our group of 10 enthusiastic consumers and restaurant owners to really delve into nuance to discover what the wines of Nemea (a region in the north of Greece where Agiorgitiko flourishes) can do to make a well-prepared rabbit leg – all savory flavor and tender texture – nearly jump off the plate.

The wines included:

Driopi Estate Nemea 2012*

Papaioannou Microclima 2005

Parparoussis Nemea Reserve 2012*

Gaia Estate, Estate Red 2007

*available for sale through 24 Hubert Wines

Don't Pass the Wine List

Tonight 24 Hubert Wines hosted a group of women business leaders for a Don’t Pass the Wine List seminar. Manager Rose Balderson and Erica Nonni of Nonni Strategic Marketing shared some tips for ordering wine with confidence:

1.      Prepare. Arrive at the restaurant a few minutes early, glance at the list, and introduce yourself to the sommelier so s/he knows that you are the host.

2.      If you’re looking for a particular style but want a more interesting talking point, look for classic grape varieties made in similar conditions or with the same production method as their famous counterparts, e.g. cabernet sauvignon from an unusual place, or English sparkling wine made in the champagne method.

3.      Choose wine with which you have a personal connection or experience: you will naturally have more to say.

4.      Get into the habit of reading a straightforward wine column like the New York Times’ The Pour by Eric Asimov. You will learn about wine style trends and find real recommendations

5.      Pace yourself, order wine in two stages - start with a good sparkling or still white or rosé for the first course, and don’t worry too much about the food pairings. This way you buy time and order the red wine(s) after everyone has placed their entrée orders.

6.     Choose syrah – people generally like syrah but don’t necessarily know it.

7.      Look beyond big-names like Napa Valley Cabernet and consider similar styles from emerging regions, like the Central Coast of California and Chile.

Wines tasted:

1. Ridgeview Estate Cavendish 2011 (Sussex, England)
2. Moreau Naudet Petit Chablis 2013 (Chablis, France)
3. Terrebrune Bandol 2014 rosé (Provence, France)
4. Loimer Langenlois 2012 Pinot Noir (Austria)
5. Qupé Edna Valley Syrah 2010 (Central Coast, California)
6. Concha y Toro Don Melchor 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon (Puente Alto, Chile)