Starting a wine bar, or any type of bar is the dream of alot of punters out there.

Here are a few suggestions from very good experience which you might find useful

Most of us have frequented several kinds of drinking establishment at some time in our lives.

It all looks pretty easy and when the bar is busy the idea of making a small fortune comes into play. Add that to a passion for drinking and a partner who knows how to knock together a great meal and ...WOW! The light comes on!

Best dream of all has to go to the two or three pissed mates who want to have a crack at the title ! It sounds great at the time but its always best just kept as talk between buddies when your on the razzle and planning world domination .

Here are a few useful tips on Wine Bars. I guess the underlying theme is "Common Sense"

You may just be curious, be in the process or be trading. If I can offer any light on your business or future busines then ...well this was worthwhile after all !

Wine is usually drunk by a certain demographic. You need to assess its popularity in your chosen area in the scheme of things. Ideally you require a good sized following of wine drinking people in the vacinity of your bar. Forgive me for stating the obvious but sometimes just having a huge passion for wine is no enough...you require customers who will be into it also.

Good locations are ...

In Cities near cultural locations such as theatres and cinemas. Someone on a date going out to a cinema would probably feel comfortable in a Wine Bar. Women and groups of women feel moe comfortable in a wine bar.

Wine producing regions.Not always do they have a good wine bar. You may need out of towners to liven things up in smaller locations. I wouldn't advise too small a town unless there is another form of attraction.

Tourist towns, particularly upmarket ones.

City areas which attract tourism and or upmarket visitors.

City and Large Towns which have a Unversity. Depends on the educational estabishment but usually a very good location.

How does it sound so far ? I am sure there are exceptions but start with some good sound common sense and we will progress from there.

There will always be demand for beer but its not your market reallly..is it ? You are a Wine Bar after all.

Believe it or not having wine only does and can work.

I would suggest maybe putting in a unique draft beer that you can get exclusivity to and is a quality product. A good Belgian beer is an example of this. Serve it by the 1/2 pint or glss, but not in large glasses, and charge a PREMIUM for it! You are in this way catering for beer drinkers, and providing a unique product...doing things on your terms.

Being a Wine Bar shouldn't be compromised too much because it is what your business is about.

Pay attention to your House Wine. This is the product you will sell most of and it needs to be great stuff. The reason is that this product will have your best margins and will be the base product which your bar is judged by.

The house wine needs to be a product with the best margins, which is not available at your local corner bottle store, or at your competitors and will not intoxicate your clientelle after 3/4rs of a glass.The wine has to be universally appealing. For example a delicious well priced Gewertztramminer would not fit the bill. A Classic Dry White or Sem Sauv Blanc is great. For Reds don't go too high on the ABV% and if you have a house bubbly be sure to use the correct stoppers. Wastage can be very high on sparkling wines and champageThe oak taste shouldn't be too overwhelming. Sourcing a great house wine depends on location and also your storage space. If you can bulk buy 100 cases at a ime then you will save good money.

Own branding is an option. You build up a lot of buying power with your House Wines so use it!

Wines By the Glass Divide the bottle price by the amount of glasses and add $1 per glass. This covers wastage through pouring and spoilage. Also have half bottle caraffes available. 375ml dessert wine bottles should be soaked so the labelling is gone and used. This doubles the sale and maintains that useful margin.Many customers like this service and find it convenient.Have bottles puchased as a half bottle are not as cost effective.

Have an interesting wine by the glass list and use sturdy reds...most whites are okay. Seal all your wines at the end of the day and during trading hours. Keep all wines in the fridge at the end of the night. Reds seem to keep better this way. Your list needs to be interesting and have variety, and be affordable. Do not put your best wines on the wines by the glass list..your staff will end up consuming most of it. Depending on the size of the wine bar I think that 8 reds and 8 whites is a fair amount. Also include a sherry, a port, dessert wine, champagne and sparkling wine.

Change two of the wines around every fortnight. Place wines that you receive from your supplier on special there. If you buy 20 cases of a bin end at half price with a short life then on it goes by the glass.

A GREAT TIP FOR BIN ENDS AND NEW WINES: On the bar have space for buckets and promote 4 or 5 wines in the buckets (ice buckets and larger metal buckets are fine). Handwrite a desription on a white card, fold in half and place in the top of the bucket. People will naturally assume that these wines are on special. They are the first to go and sell extremely well. It saves people who aren't familiar with wine fumbling through a list.

HOW MANY WINES ON OUR LIST ? Depends on the size of the esatablishment once again. I would say that the more wines the more suppliers and the more paperwork. I think 50 - 100 wines is great and easily manageable. I wouldn't go past 150 until things were up and running. Anything more is usually more hastle than its worth. Stock takes, re-ordering, the embarrassment of running out of product, paperwork and importantly staff turnover...I don't mean to put anyone off about a huge wine list but unless you have a dedicated cellarperson and long term dedicated staff then I wouldn't recommend going there. .

Be sensible, have an interesting range and be careful not to put too many wines in their that can be brought at the bottleshop. "Why should I pay $9 per glass when it's $10 a bottle down the road at the bottleshop ??"

Buy certain niche products in small parcels and place them on your bin ends list. Have a bin ends page inserted into your wine list. This will have wines that are running low and have been removed from your main list. When you change your list watch out for vintage changes and unavailablity. A wine list needs to be easily changeable. If you print one once every 4 months then you will have a list covered in cross outs and looking very unappealing. Have a flat hard covered folder with the list on attractive paper. The pages should be easy to change. You can do this with style and everyone is a winner.

Dare to be different and offer something unusual. One great thing that works is sharing tables. This works well if you are located in an area with alot of passing by traffic. There is a way to make it work, basically communicate to your customers. On a table of 4 ask them how many will be sitting there. If its 1 or 2 then ask them if they would mind sharing. Its a great way to meet people and with smoking not a big issue these days then it becomes easier. You will find you attract guys who want to be seated with a couple of women ... Wine drinkers are fairly civillised so not many problems occur. You will also find that women feel safe in a Wine Bar compared with other bars. If you take up this policy then you need to consistantly enforce it. Whatever your gimmick, find one and have one !

Have a cheeses selection of around a dozen cheeses. Keep it hygenically stored in view of your customers. make sure they can order cheese at the bar. It has to be acessible, attractive, interesting and in view. One of your bar staff should do the order...NOT THE KITCHEN.Have space where you dispense food to customers. What you will find is that customers will buy a cheeseplate if they are in a hurry or just in for a quiet drink. They will buy it as a starter or to share. they will buy it when they see how quick it omes out and the people on the table they are sharing with are devouring theirs.

Also have marinated olives in large jars available. These can be served into ramikens by bar staff. Make sure there is a clear proceeedure behind the bar so that any food comes from  area and is served by a designated person. That staff member may allso serve wine but it is their responsibilty to serve the food.. 

Respect your staff. Get them involved. Leave it to your staff to select a wine of the month and provide a description.

Get the kitchen involved. A coomon MISTAKE...keep the kitchen as a separate department from the front of house in a small to medium bar. Its one team.

If you arrange tastings know that their will be times that are difficult for everyone to be there, but include everyone. Get the kitchen to put together a tasting to work in on the same day, even if its a cheese selection or range of olives.

Make proceedures simple for your staff and run the business so that they give their best and are rewarded accordingly.

Offer wine discounts and get freebies from reps. You will be inundated with samples...why hoard them ? Every two weeks offer a tasting of submitted samples and make it a social event.

Theft in bars and restaurants is a big deal. Prevention is the best form of cure ! Staff turnover is expensive and inconvenient. Also, its great for customers to have regualr staff members that they see when they enter.

GREETING - ALWYS make sure 1 person acknowledges the customer when they enter. Informal is best.

ALWAYS ensure that a customer is said "goodbye", "thanks" or "goodnight" to by at least 1 staff member. 

It can be the difference between seeing the customer again or not.

They look great and they are easily changeable. I think that they are far preferable to menus in a wine bar environment.

If you have blackboards then ensure that they are legible. Develop your own font which everyone needs to adhere to as best they can. Printing with capitals is best.

Soak the chalk in soda water first. Wipe the boards using coca cola.If they look tired then buy some blackboard paint and repaint them.

Keep all black boards up to date and check them before service.

 Please contact me through HUBPAGES if you have any questions I might be able to help with.