Sell More, Save More: Into battle with wine

Sell More, Save More​ is the category-led project that sees leading suppliers working with pubs to grow their sales - with their story told in the pages of The Publican​.

One month into year three of the project and the first visits have been made to our three pubs:

• The Stanley Arms​ in Portslade, near Brighton - representing community pubs

• Woody's​ bar in Northwood Hills, North London - representing high-street venues

• The Wheel Inn​ in Pennington, near Lymington in Hampshire, representing rural pubs.

Wine champion ViVAS was one of the first of our team of category experts out of the blocks. After meeting with each of the pubs, the company - a joint venture between food wholesaler 3663 and wine experts Bibendum - is convinced that their experiences will illustrate how wine offers a tremendous opportunity for high street, rural and community pubs to improve wet sales.

"The presentation might be different in each," says ViVAS marketing manager Henry John, "but when you look at opportunities that exist in each outlet we are certainly excited about partnering with the publicans to create winning wine solutions."

John says the company, which is partnering on Sell More, Save More for a second year, has taken a team approach to advising the outlets, with both a marketing and a wine business development manager visiting each pub - looking at the offer and how it can be sold to customers.

"Our sales team has taken the time to sit down and listen to each customer's challenges, understand their unique position and then create solutions that deliver results," he continues.

"We are very proud of the work our team does and last year we were able to help the Sell More, Save More participants overcome issues and deliver good sales results."

Focus on training at Woody's

ViVAS marketing manager Isabelle Davis and business development manager Elaine Horne visited Woody's bar in North London to spend time with owner Natalie Coleshill and get a better understanding of her vision for the bar.

"Natalie has been in the pub business for a number of years with her family," reports Davis. "Woody's is her first independently owned bar and she has many plans and concepts that she'd like to try.

"A few companies have been in to present her with wine lists but she hasn't taken any of these on board yet because she feels they haven't met the needs of the outlet.

"We are going to work with her to make the wine list reflect her vision for Woody's.

"There is a definite opportunity to introduce wines that will appeal to a female market and, due to the pub's location on the way to Northwood Hills tube station, Natalie is in an excellent position to capture the trade passing by between 4pm and 8pm.

"The ViVAS team will also be spending time with Natalie's staff to do some wine training."

Natalie is especially excited about the staff training and a bespoke wine launch later.

"I think it is very important that the Woody's team knows about the wines they will be selling to customers," she says.

"ViVAS is going to do some training when the new wine list has been agreed and we also discussed a wine launch to introduce the new range to our customers."

Davis continues: "We've set the bar for Woody's and during the Sell More, Save More programme ViVAS is going to help Natalie with:

• a new wine list that Woody's staff and customers will be comfortable with

• wine training to help staff upsell to customers

• marketing advice to capture the transit trade

• offers to local businesses to encourage lunch-time trade."

New inspiration for the Stanley

The Stanley Arms in Portslade is famous for its cask ale and has won a string of CAMRA awards since licensees Steve and Barbara Bennett moved in seven years ago.

The challenge for the category champions is to help the pub broaden its offer into other areas, so that it is less reliant on its beer trade for its profits.

The couple met with ViVAS marketing manager Henry John and business development manager Julie Fontaine to establish the exact needs of the pub when it comes to wine.

"Right from the get-go it was very clear that Steve and Barbara know exactly what they want to achieve," says Davis.

"They sat down with Julie and once she understood the nature of the business and what they wanted, ViVAS was able to recommend a range of wines to suit the pub's current trade as well as the future prospects of the pub.

"They've already agreed a design for the wine list and Julie will be feeding back to them shortly on the other areas where she will be supporting them.

"Like Woody's, we will also be focusing on wine training but there are also a number of other opportunities for the outlet that ViVAS can assist with, such as:

• merchandising advice

• special events, including wine launch activity, meal deals, etc

• marketing opportunities including Wine of the Month activity.

"We're very ambitious," says Steve. "We want to double our turnover and we believe a new wine menu and inspiration can help us achieve this.

"We have wanted to make changes for a long time and in talking to the ViVAS team we're convinced now is the right time to do it."

Reinventing the Wheel's wine sales

At the Wheel Inn in Pennington, the challenge is to bring in a stronger wine selection to sit alongside its growing food business - and to communicate it to customers at the pub, which sits on the edge of the New Forest.

"Owners Marie Richards and Pete Walters are really passionate about their pub and are open to suggestions on how to improve the consumer experience," says John.

"I spent some time getting to know the couple and we are going back to present them with a new wine list shortly.

"We are very excited about the opportunities this pub presents. I think Marie and Pete are open to developing new offers and ViVAS will work with them on areas including:

• training

• merchandising

• promotions."

Walters says he is looking forward to seeing a recommended wine list for the pub.

"We definitely want to look at some activity on the promotional side too," he says.

"We currently have the traditional three reds, three whites, two rosés and a sparkling wine, so it will be good to see what ViVAS changes to make our wines sell better."

Watch this space to see if they are successful.