FSR April 2023

LIQUID INTELLIGENCE

services stay exible enough for superior dining experiences and smart enough to sell all pours with zero product souring. “First, you can actually make money doing this, and second, if you’re not pay ing attention to the role of sustainability in trying to keep our world from burst ing into ames, you didn’t get the mes sage,” explains Gordon Drysdale, culi nary director and chef at Scoma’s in San

Chetcuti says. “We see cans as novel and as a really distinct package that kind of sells itself; we like it, and think it’s neat to play on di erent sizes and diameters of cans. I mean, Francis Coppola’s daugh ter’s been canning sparkling wine, called Sophia, for 25 years.” At The Matheson, the 88 taps on their Wine Wall are powered by high tech machines that use argon gas to

value or high-production wines; consum ers get the best quality wine tied to the restaurant’s cuisine, he adds. “Regular BTG programs, you expose yourself to a certain amount of risk because you put a shelf life on that wine as soon as you open it. It informs own ers’ choices about what they can pour that makes sense for the business; this technology helps us get around that,” explains Jon McCarthy, Wine and Bev erage Director at e Matheson. For Sixty Vines in Dallas, Texas, CEO Jeff Carcara says no matter the wine, “they’re coming out at the proper tem perature the winemaker wants always, and that one reason alone [is worth it]. It’s a competitive advantage.” Sixty Vines also ran tests on keg wines that sat for a year and found there wasn’t “a lot of rec ognizable change. And we’ve had some very prominent winemakers walk in, try wine on tap for the very rst time, and they’re blown away,” he adds. With wine on tap and cans, the qual ity is preserved to winemaker standards, and Carcara says a three to six tap pro gram with two to three wine ights can start up for “less than $5,000”—an ideal price point for smaller venues or those with lower wine orders. And if you’re larger, McCarthy says implementing 20 to 30 wine taps sees ROI and bottom line bene ts in the uptick of consumer spend on glasses of wine, and increased engagement and visits. When you open a bottle and fail to sell every drop, you’re just pouring all of your pro t down the drain, but with the tap system, every drop is perfect and pro table, explains Drysdale. And he’s “been singing praises everywhere I go for canned wine” because his pre vious restaurant didn’t have space for a tap system, but still wanted a non-stu y, approachable BTG program. There’s a dramatic savings in the switch to wine on tap and canned wine, says Chetcuti, which allows restaurants’ programs to be more cost-e ective and sharply reduce waste. “If a bottle’s not open, guess what? You open it up and now you have to sell that whole bottle, but on tap, I can

IMPLEMENTING WINE TAPS OR CANNED WINES CAN RESULT IN ROI AND BOTTOM-LINE BENEFITS, WHILE ALSO REDUCING WASTE AND CUTTING COSTS.

SIXTY VINES (2) “We’ve had some very prominent winemakers walk in, try wine on tap for the very first time, and they’re blown away.”

Francisco, California, which has about 30 wines on tap. Canned wines and wines on tap o er cost savings and reduction in waste since you can keg wines and utilize reusable packaging, says Michael Chetcuti, princi pal of Farm and Ferment, which umbrel las several restaurants experimenting with taps and cans across Michigan. “We’re always watching trends and looking at ways for not only us as restau rateurs, but other restaurateurs, too, to save money, real estate, waste, and cost,”

push wine out and preserve pours, which can be dispensed in one, two-and-a-half, and half or full glasses. When you have a wine on tap program, you have more “diamond-in-the-rough” artisanal choices and opportunities for sommelier exi bility, says Dustin Valette, chef, vintner, and owner at e Matheson in Healds burg, California. e taps show the best of a region or brand, provide customized wine pair ings, and elevate the dining experience since consumers aren’t limited to high

24

FSRMAGAZINE.COM

APRIL 2023