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Monday, July 27, 2009
Wine label nymph a tad too naked for Alabama regulators
Check out this USAToday.com story entitled “Alabama liquor agency says no to nude nymph on wine label”.
And of course, as a public service, you can view the label itself on this cyclesgladiator.com page.
I’ve seen the label before, probably on local wine shelves, and didn’t give it a second thought. Silly me.
Isn’t it refreshing to find a state other than Ohio serving as the laughingstock of the nation when it comes to prudish, quasi-wacko behavior?
So is it “offensive,” or is it “immodest,” or both?
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These 4 tactics can help restaurants sell more wine
Check out this press release from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration Center for Hospitality Research that details four strategies restaurants can use to sell more wine, and tell me what you think. You can click here to view the executive summary of the report and to find a link to download the entire study entitled “Wine List Characteristics Associated with Greater Wine Sales”.
Here’s an excerpt from the Cornell press release:
The research found that the following four wine-list tactics were involved in higher wine sales: (1) Including the wine list on the food menu; (2) Listing prices without a dollar sign; (3) Listing wines from certain wineries known for their quality; and (4) Including “reserve” wines or another special section. A fifth tactic, however, was connected with lower sales, namely, using wine style as an organizational category on the list (e.g., sweet, bold, dry).
Listing prices without a dollar sign makes a discernible difference? Really? The human mind works in mysterious ways … .
The executive summary of the report by Sybil S. Yang and Michael Lynn notes that the study was “based on design and content attributes extracted from 270 wine lists from restaurants in several major metropolitan areas across the United States.” Among its findings: “For casual dining restaurants specifically, higher wine sales were related to extensive wine lists that have a length of approximately 150 bottles of wine as compared to lists with fewer or more bottles, and with wine lists that offer more low-cost wines. Neither of these factors showed any effect in fine-dining restaurants.”
Any theories about why researchers found meaningful impact of wine-list length on diners at casual restaurants but not at fine-dining restaurants? And why could grouping wines by styles be a turnoff, or at least be associated with lower wine sales?
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