How Wine Consignment Works for Restaurants
Wine consignment can give restaurants access to rare and back-vintage bottles without the same upfront capital commitment as a traditional purchase. We break down how we’ve seen these relationships work, why collectors participate, and where the operational complexity begins.
Good Wine List Curation and List Performance Are Not the Same Thing.
Café Zaffri has a wine director with a genuine point of view, honest prices, and a list full of serious producers. Brad Nugent and Patrick Wert walk through it and land on a verdict the industry rarely says out loud: a well-curated list is not the same thing as a list that makes money. The gaps are specific, the fixes are clear, and the lesson applies to every restaurant carrying wines that require a story before they sell.
Wine List Value Hunting | Commander’s Palace New Orleans
Patrick Wert of Innovative Beverage Strategies went value hunting through the Commander's Palace wine list ahead of a group lunch in New Orleans. Six people, $500, four bottles, and a masterclass in how a century-old wine program is quietly built to sell.
Wine List Critique: Uchi Austin
Uchi Austin has the buying relationships, the producer credibility, and the room to run a serious wine program. What’s missing is the middle. Brad Nugent and Patrick Wert walk through the list and show exactly where the structure breaks down, and what a bell curve pricing approach to wine list design would unlock.
Wine List Critique: Callie, San Diego
This week's wine list critique features Callie in San Diego, a Michelin-recognized restaurant with careful menu engineering and a few costly gaps. A real wine list analysis asks hard questions: is this list designed to sell, and is it doing its job for guests and staff every night?
Why Pricing Dom Pérignon for $375 Does More Than $600 for Restaurants
Most restaurants price Dom Pérignon at three times cost and never think about it again. That's not a pricing strategy. That's a calculator.
Why Zinfandel Belongs on Your Restaurant’s Wine List
If you're not carrying Zinfandel on your restaurant wine list, you're missing one of the most practical revenue tools available to a domestic program.