Browsing by Subject "Wine service -- Instruction and study"
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Item A multi-attribute survey of restaurateurs' attitudes toward wine training, local wines and wine suppliers(Texas Tech University, 2003-12) Gultek, Hasan MuratWine production in Texas has increased substantially in recent years. Wines produced in the state have begun winning awards at national and international events. Despite these factors, many wineries have considerable difficulty selling wine through distribution channels or getting restaurants to include local wines on their menus. Restaurants represent a significant sales potential for the wine industry since the two industries use their products to complement each other. The two industries can increase their sales by helping increase the sales of each other. Selling wine to restaurants constitutes a significant portion of wine sales. Wine producers can benefit from direct selling to restaurants because the process of direct selling can help wineries, especially newly developing local wineries, promote their wines and establish brand recognition. Therefore, it is particularly important for wineries to target restaurants as part of their sales efforts. The success of wine sales at restaurants, however, depends on the knowledge level of the employees. In other words, in order to effectively purchase and market wine, the restaurant employees and the managers have to possess the necessary knowledge. For this reason, wine instruction is an important part of the entire process of marketing wine to and at restaurants. Also, the issue of buyer-supplier relationship is an important component of marketing local wines to restaurants. Service attributes that are important when restaurateurs make their purchasing decisions is an issue worth investigating. There is little or no research on restaurateurs' attitudes towards wine training, local wines, and wine suppliers based on the investigation of the training, product and service attributes. If winery managers, wine distributors, and wine marketing associations that promote regional wines can better understand the importance of these various attributes on restaurateurs attitudes, then these individuals can focus on those attributes to develop wine sales in the restaurant market. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the influences of various attributes affecting restaurateurs' attitudes toward wine training, local wines, and wine suppliers. This research empirically examined the following questions: (1) Which training attributes influence restaurateurs' attitudes toward wine training? (2) Which product attributes influence restaurateurs' attitudes toward local wines? (3) Which service attributes influence restaurateurs attitudes toward wine suppliers? (4) Does the attitude toward local wines have any effect on the actual amount of local wines purchased? (5) What types of restaurants offer better opportunities for local wines? Multi attribute analysis of attitudes toward all three categories, wine training, local wines and wine suppliers were positive. Attitude toward wine suppliers was the strongest positive attitude that was followed by wine training and local wines. Factor analysis was performed that compared training attributes to overall attitude toward wine training, product attributes to overall attitude toward local wines and service attributes to overall attitude toward wine suppliers. The results revealed that location, flexibility and outcome attributes were most significantly related to attitude toward wine training, taste, design and brand attributes were most significantly related to attitude toward local wines and friendliness, product availability and reliability attributes were most significantly related to attitude toward wine suppliers. A linear regression model was used to predict the amount of local wines purchased from attitude toward local wines. The results revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between attitude toward local wines and the amount of local wines purchased. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to compare attitude toward local wines among 27 different restaurant types to see whether a particular restaurant type(s) offered better opportunities for local wines. The results of this analysis revealed that medium-casual-independent and medium-fine dining-independent restaurant type categories offered the most significant opportunities for local wineries to target. Based on the overall results of the study, it was concluded that attitudes had a significant impact on local wine purchases, and investigation of these attitudes revealed that some attributes were more important than others and some restaurant types offered better opportunities for local wines than others. Replication of this study in other new wine growing regions of the country is recommended. Further research is needed that will take attitude determination a step further and predict behavior from attitude so that we can better understand the purchasing behavior of restaurateurs by linking the two concepts together. More attributes may have to be determined and tested to better understand the attitudes toward wine training. Incentives need to be implemented in future research to increase the response rate, and other means of data collection besides mail and telephone surveys, need to be considered.Item A quasi-experimental study in wine instruction(Texas Tech University, 1989-12) Granucci, Penelope RWine is being produced in 47 states in the U.S. Texas has been successfully growing grapes and making wines for over 12 years. Although the industry is relatively young, the wines, in general, are considered quality products. The per capita consumption of wine in the U.S. is 3.1 gallons per person per year. However, in Texas the consumption of wine is only 1.9 gallons per year. Vintners and grapegrowers grapple with the problem of expanding the base of consumers. The Winegrowers of California (vintners, grapegrowers) expended considerable resources in investigating how people become wine consumers. Marketing research has indicated that product knowledge is critical to the purchase of wines. Further research indicated the majority of the persons who became wine consumers began through the suggestion of food servers in restaurants. They developed a program to expand consumption of wine through restaurateur (and server) and retailer training which proved successful in increasing consumption and customer-base. The current study was similar to the Winegrowers of California program, however with stricter control of variables and curriculum. Sixty-two food servers in two restaurants served as subjects for the experimental and control groups. An average baseline of wine sales per customer was established for each subject in both groups. The subjects in both groups were administered pre- and posttests on product knowledge. In addition, the subjects' sales of wine were tracked for a four-week period after baselines were established. The experimental group participated in wine instruction, which consisted of two training sessions, two hours per session. The instruction was based on product knowledge, components tastings, wine tastings, selling skills and service techniques. A multiple regression analysis was performed on the change in sales of wine per food server. Independent variables included age, gender, education, major in college, wine instruction (said study), previous wine training, hours of wine training, experience as a food server, personal consumption of wine, and increase in knowledge. An increase in wine sales (average .08 per food server, overall 44% increase) was reported with gender. Females increased their wine sales significantly greater (.05 level) than males in this study. None of the other variables in the multiple regression analysis were found to be significant at the .05 level. In order to determine the effect of the wine instruction on knowledge, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed using the change in knowledge (difference between pre- and post-test scores) of both groups. The results indicated a significant difference in the change in knowledge at the .05 level, with the experimental group showing a greater increase than the control group. Generalization of the findings is limited due to the small number of subjects and regional influences. Replication of this study in other regions of the country is recommended. Variables for further study include variations in the wine instruction, such as male instructors and/or male and female co-instructors, the season of the year for training, and incentive programs. Other variables may include longer tracking periods of food server sales, use of different types of restaurants and wine programs.