Unrestricted.2016-11-142011-02-182016-11-142003-12http://hdl.handle.net/2346/18061Wine 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.application/pdfengWine and wine making -- Texas -- LubbockRestaurant managementWine service -- Instruction and studyDissertation