Women Want "Equal Treatment" When Buying Wine in Restaurants - Read Our Survey Results

It’s pretty obvious to all of us that our budgets for eating out in restaurants will be less this year than in 2008, but when we do eat out, will we continue to order wine? That’s a topic of interest to restaurants, winery owners and importers alike who compete for the more than $12 billion dollars spent on wine in restaurants. 

Women & Wine www.womenwine.com, the lifestyle community for lovers of wine, food and travel, jointly with Full Glass Research www.fullglassresearch.com  completed a survey of wine lovers - 78% women, 22% men, ages ranging predominantly from 29-44 year old - about their wine buying habits in restaurants.

Women & Wine CEO Julie Brosterman approached Christian Miller of Full Glass Research about facilitating a survey on wine buying habits in restaurants in order to shed light on women's wine buying habits and wine experiences in restaurants. Brosterman wanted to take it a step further and confirm or refute anecdotal perception that women receive second-rate service at restaurants despite accounting for the majority of wine purchases in the U.S.

To conduct this survey, Brosterman reached out to her constituency of 40,000 who receive the Women & Wine bi-monthly newsletter, as well as her networks on LinkedIn, Wine 2.0, Twitter and Facebook, to identify a core group of wine lovers as participants.Full Glass Research hosted the survey and tabulated the data.

“This was an interesting group,” says Miller. “They skewed a bit younger than they typical core involved wine drinker, which is attributable to the fact that the primary source of the recruiting of participants was social networks. Yet not only was this group confident and comfortable in their abilities to choose wine in restaurants, but 72% order wine always or almost always at a sit-down dinner.”

Here’s what they found out...

Sticker Shock Over the Wine List

We constantly hear through the media, the internet or just casual chatter that wine prices in restaurants have just gotten too expensive.  Our survey overwhelmingly confirmed this perception, with 70% of those surveyed indicating that bottle prices were too high. Although 59% said that ordering by the glass was a “good, inexpensive” alternative for enjoying wine in a restaurant, the leading reasons for ordering by glass were because they didn’t want a larger quantity or because their dining companions each wanted a different wine. 32% said they would scale back on their overall wine purchases in restaurants because of the economy.  In light of this, 55% stated that they are comfortable bringing their own bottle and paying a corkage fee - an obvious strategy to cut costs. Wine prices have an undeniable impact on a consumer’s wine experience at a restaurant and as discussed below, will be a strong influence in the future on a wine lovers decision to continue patronizing a restaurant.

When you’re dining out at a restaurant, your first decision when it comes to wine is this - “Do we go by the glass or do we order a bottle?” Shockingly, when ordering by the glass, only 17.1% of respondents said that the server actually told them the name of the wines by the glass or offered assistance on the selection. More typical was the 32% stating that in most cases the server provided just the name of the varietal (i.e. we have a chardonnay, a pinot grigio, etc.). And while 71% stated that familiarity with the brand or varietal was an important factor in determining their choice of wine by the glass, 47% were interested in choosing a varietal that complimented what they were ordering, and 43% made their selection based on an interest in trying a particular wine or varietal.  Having said that, in the cases when three or more people chose glasses of the same varietal, 82% said that servers rarely suggested to buy by the bottle! When it comes down to it, only 1 in 4 said that the recommendation of the server influenced their wine by the glass choice. And choice matters.  74% indicated that they would return to a restaurant with a large selection by the glass, especially in the high-end price range, thus confirming the wine lovers’ credo that if you want to try an expensive wine before you buy it, the best place to do that is at a restaurant or wine bar if it’s available by the glass

So you want a bottle? 82% of those surveyed said they are presented with the wine list only 50% of the time, even though 25% said that the mere presentation of the list usually triggered an ordering decision. Less than 1 in 5 usually engaged the server or sommelier in making their selection and yet when they did engage the sommelier, less than 1 in 10 were usually dissatisfied with the wine choice. When choosing wines, the leading strategy was to look first to a category or varietal when choosing wine from a wine list, rather than within a specific price range. The second most popular method was to choose based on the food that was ordered. More of them were inclined to to try new, unknown wines than searched the list for brands they with which they were familiar. (Thereby supporting other research demonstrating that wine drinkers have become more confident and experimental.) And savvy enthusiasts demand good, knowledgeable service... 78% of men and 72% of women said they would “make an effort” to patronize restaurants where they receive satisfactory wine service. To take it further, 33% of those surveyed would actually stop going to restaurants where they had received poor wine service.

Women as Second Class Citizens!?!

And what about wine service when it comes to women in particular?  A majority of them stated that when a man is seated with them in the restaurant, the man is usually presented with the wine list. Even more remarkable, 61% of women surveyed noted that even when they had taken charge of ordering the wine, at least half the time the wait staff presented the bottle to the male at the table,. Thankfully the men agree... they too would like to see the women on a level playing field and receive better treatment when it comes to wine service at a restaurant. Small wonder that 72% of them said they would like to see women get the same treatment as men (i.e. more attentive and better service).

Final Thoughts

So what can we conclude? While this economy presents challenges to all of us, there is a real opportunity for restaurants to gain loyalty from customers by listening to their requests: more diverse wines by the glass; an educated wait staff on wines and the etiquette of service (and engages the customer); and the opportunity for loyal customers to bring their own bottle if they so choose.  If restaurants continue to offer what is perceived by wine enthusiasts as “over-priced” selections on their wine list, they will definitely get push-back and perhaps even lose potential diners who understand the math and madness of pricing, but who have little sympathy for the restaurant unwilling to modify its list to let them enjoy good wines that don’t break the bank!

More about Full Glass Research

Full Glass Research is a research firm that specializes in food and beverage, primarily in the wine industry. Recent projects by Full Glass Research include supply and demand analysis for California wine grapes, a survey of consumer opinions and beliefs regarding organic and sustainable wines, a review of data and academic literature on the impact of macroeconomic conditions on wine consumption and an analysis of the Zinfandel market. Christian Miller, proprietor of Full Glass Research has over twenty years experience in the wine business. He holds an MBA from Cornell University, helped found both the Wine Market Council research committee and the Wine Opinions consumer panel, has taught seminars at U.C. Davis and California Polytechnic and is a frequently requested speaker at industry forums. For further information, visit www.fullglassresearch.com

About W&W

Women & Wine provides creates multi-media opportunities for companies seeking to reach savvy women interested in wine, food and travel - online and offline. Please contact julie@womenwine.com for additional information.

Editor's note: Additional information from this survey which should be of interest to restaurants, sommeliers, wine and restaurant consultants is available from Women & Wine or Full Glass Research. Please contact us for more details.