Curated by Adrian Marquez, Sommelier, Anthropologist.
Here I’ll share fun links to resources I’ve found. Keep in mind this will be a living document, updated from time to time. The idea is that there is a lot of information out there that can help you work better and easier, but finding it is half the art.
SURVEY : HOW TO RECOVER FROM A BAD REVIEW??
CLICK HERE TO ANSWER (THANK YOU!)
TOP YOUR TIPS
This is a living document too, where I have put together what I have learned over 20 years of working in hospitality. Covers everything from setup to how to unwind after work without drugs or alcohol. Check it out, it’s free, and made with much love, its time for me to give back what I have learned.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yaxNC6JEpMVtlg8WiVOk4B0CSagOCv8pDpZuJlcl3x0/edit?usp=sharing
WHAT IS GOOD SERVICE?
A handy PDF reminder of what can we consider to be good service:
HANDY SERVICE MEMES
Here is an easy way to remember some quick thoughts of the best practices at work.
This is not the gospel, but they made my work life much easier.
- MAKE IT NICE
- LEARN THE DANCE – BE A BALLERINA
- ALWAYS BE LEARNING
- STAY FLEX AND FLY
- DO UNTO OTHERS
- KEEP BUSY
- GOSSIP SINKS SHIPS
- BIGGER IS NOT BETTER
- WRITE IT DOWN
- SINGLES FIRST, DEUCES SECOND, THREES 3RD, 4+ & UP LAST
- SAVE IT, GIVE IT, TAKEAWAY
- ANTICIPATE TO WIN
- THINK OF THE PERSON AFTER YOU
- ORGANIZATION WINS BATTLES
- DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY
All of these are bite sized, think of them as shortcuts that will make work easier. Follow this link for the breakdown and explanation:
https://www.agaru.me/en/blog/3/
Follow this link to download a PDF:
STORIES OF GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE
Like podcasts? me too! Hear this one out from CBC radio Canada. Has GREAT stories of amazing customer service and why is it so important. You won’t hesitate to go above and beyond after hearing these stories. (Hint: customers do notice!)
Under the Influence: Tales of Customer Service (click for podcast)
LOVE SPANISH WINE? NEED GOOD MAPS? FREE MAPS HERE
From the Wine Guild, super high quality, and hey, the price is right!
https://www.winescholarguild.org/wine-maps/spanish-wine-maps.html?utm_source=newsletter_2610&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=template
WHATS COOL IN THE WINE WORLD THESE DAYS?
Coming back from @wine2wine, finally organizing my thoughts on the whirlwind that is that event. Kudos again for the team for putting together a great show with very interesting perspectives and speakers.
Some of the cool things out there now: appointment maker for wineries winearound.com; blockchain for wine authenticity; wine tour operator with a native
Winearound.com
Very interesting idea, helping wineries sort out the mutual headache of scheduling appointments and sorting out the staff needed for their tasting rooms. Free tip from them: seems that one-on-one is the best way to sale, and visitors appreciate the extra personalized service touch. So have staff on hand when you need them!
With appointments secured, wineries can schedule the staff they need, when you need it. As a winery it’s also a great value add to the website, saving the potential visitors time and effort when they want to taste and buy in a winery.
Lots of wineries are onboard, with more coming soon. I would highly recommend to use them, the team is dedicated and very committed to helping wineries thrive. I’d be happy to get anyone in touch with the principals, I believe in what they are doing.
Acatena.io
Super interesting project, solving an age-old problem in wine: provenance and fraud.
Where they are different is that they are tagging wine bottles with smart NFC tags into a database, so that consumers can verify the wine all along the chain and prevent fraud (or even know if the bottles have been opened!).
WIth this project the risk of the wine is real or fake is reduced, no more guesswork, it’s super simple to use, and very powerful.
If you make or sell wine, you wanna get on this platform, consumers want to know the provenance of their wines, and it can only help to increase the resale value of fine wines. Coming down the road they will have futures contracts and a trading platform, very exciting, the time has come to innovate wine.
Again, I’d be happy to put in touch those who need a simple solution to a complex problem.
(I am not paid to post this, I am not an affiliate, no attachments, just believe in what they do)
One of the Gems that I found through a mutual friend is Martina Doglio. She is a Sommelier based in Asti, in the heartland of Piemonte. Super friendly and speaks perfectly good English. An incredible source of local knowledge and connections. If you wanna organize any kind of event or outing in Italy, she should be your go-to.
SUMMARY
Overall, there are lots of projects coming out that focus on blending technology and wine, most of them on marketing, UX, e-commerce and fashion.
Italy seems that it will always be a collection of very strongly opinionated folks, and I don’t expect that technology will change that at all, if anything it will help the differences be celebrated and appreciated. Let us hope that the variety and diversity of Italian wines can survive the technology wave coming up ahead.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 🙁
Here are more resources (mostly for our US brethren) that further break down into regional or company specific groups. There are a lot of resources if you know how to reach them, so hopefully this can be useful for someone in these crazy times we live in:
https://vinepair.com/articles/how-give-back-drinks-industry/
This is another new initiative, also based and for USA companies.
https://rocunited.org/relief/
NEW RESOURCE! SALES TRAINING FROM THE BEST IN THE BIZ
Have some time? Do some kind of sales? (everything in life is sales…) Invest in yourself! Here is a FREE link (no commissioned) to 15 hours of training on audio, in easy to digest bites. Learn from the greats about marketing, referrals, sales processes, etc. All the cycle. Totally worth it. You can listen while you do the dishes, laundry or cooking. Make the most of the downtime.
Hope it helps everyone.
“Sales Revelation: Best of 45 Master Courses Reveals the Final Word in Sales”. Free, if it’s your first time accepting an Audible book from a friend.
You can get it here: https://adbl.co/3bJVW0e or click the image above
WANNA LEARN ABOUT SPIRITS? OF COURSE YOU DO!
Here is another FREE great resource, from Pernord Ricard. Im not affiliated, great content, to the point, informative.
You can learn about spirits and distilates, their stories, background and why are there so many types of distilled alcohol out there.
A little too precious sometimes, but hey, its FREE. And you get also a certificate of sorts.
https://barsmarts.com/home.html
Use code TRYBARSMARTS and the price should drop down to zero.
FREE WINE TRAINING! Are you in the trade? BOOST YOUR WINE SKILLS! superstar @cristienorman_somm is donating access to her wine course for those interested FREE. Now you have time, why not learn more? The course is a very no-nonsense, humorous and to the point series. DM her for free access. This is a trying time and we may as well make the most of it. By the time we get back to the floor you could be a beast on the floor (GGGRRR!!), if YOU CHOOSE to better yourself.
She also has a page for relief and help of Sommeliers based in the USA (opens in new tab)
https://www.unitedsommeliersfoundation.org/social-info
THANK YOU CRISTINA! You are doing a solid for a lot of people that you may never meet. Thats awesome. Big props. Pretty amazing to see nice people doing nice things
️
https://www.instagram.com/cristienorman_somm/tagged/
READY FOR MORE WINE LEARNING?
LEARN FROM JANCIS ROBINSON, MASTER OF WINE ! 😀
THE Jancis Robinson, MW, is opening her site to trade for FREE info and quality learning material. What an Absolute Unit. If you don’t know her, you should. She is one of the OG’s of wine tasting and education. Her content is top notch and brings a different perspective than the mostly male, North American take on wine.️
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/special-offer-hospitality-professionals?fbclid=IwAR0RZEG8fWFhqczP2BBxUTMYu6U4ty6j6-zRIZUbdk52KzIknCsMkD3VkfA
THE UNITED NATIONS TOURISM ORGANIZATION NEEDS YOU
Do you have creative solutions for the rebuilding of hospitality once things go back to normal? the UN World Tourism Organization is looking for proposals and solutions. Worth trying, great ideas can come from unexpected places (we are not affiliated, not commissioned, just wanna help people). deadline is April 22.
https://www.unwto.org/healing-solutions-tourism-challenge
MASSIVE LIST OF OTHER LEARNING RESOURCES !
So you wanna learn something else besides wine and booze? No problem, we got ya! here is a MASSIVE list of online classes, seminars, and resources to learn just about anything (languages!, coding!, musical instruments!). Wanna find a job in a different field and work remotely? these guys have the hookups. Mostly for the USA, but now and then there are positions for Canadians too. Shoutout to @dynamite_jobs for putting together this great list !Not affiliated, not making a commission out of this.
https://dynamitejobs.co/free-online-learning-resources/?ck_subscriber_id=426971717
GOOD NEWS ! MONEYS WILL BE OUT THERE SOON !
So seems to be that the US government will use Paypal, Intuit and Square as brokers to distribute the stimulus moneys. This should help small enterprises access the loans much easier and faster.
For more info:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/13/paypal-intuit-square-approved-to-offer-loans-to-small-businesses-through-coronavirus-relief-program/
NEW SECTION: VETERAN INSIGHTS
Here we will explore the experiences and tips that people who have been in the business for a long time have learned. We hope this can be useful to the new generations. Hospitality is hard work, but as you will see, there is definitely a silver lining: perspective in life is everything.
Click here for our first guest: Kyle Burch
HONG KONG LEADS THE WAY TO REOPENING RESTAURANTS AND BARS. CLICK HERE TO READ ON PAGE 2
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