I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Advanced Tasting Room Management

2. Course Prefix & Number:
VITI 1276

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

This course expands on winery tasting room management, delving deeper into the “front of the house success”, focusing on tasting room design and start-up, legal and compliance issues, budgeting, finance and profitability metrics. The students will explore destination marketing, in-house and on-the-road sales practices, as well as wine club and e-commerce success. Staff training and development, leadership in the tasting room and staff retention will also be discussed. This course is designed for winery tasting room owners, managers and key sales staff who desire to expand their knowledge about the interplay of customer service, marketing and winery sales.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

No placement tests required

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

7. Other Prerequisites
VITI 1130, VITI 1132

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

Missouri State University, VIN 276, 3 credits
Highland Community College, VIN 276, 3 credits

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

The Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA)

3. Prior Learning - the following prior learning methods are acceptable for this course:

• Military Experience
• Specialty Schools
• CLEP
• Written
• Oral
• Demonstration
• Portfolio

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course fulfills a requirement for the following program(s):

Wine Business and Entrepreneurship, AAS and Certificate

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate interpersonal communication skills	Demonstrate an understanding of staff training and development.
Analyze and follow a sequence of operations	Demonstrate an understanding of tasting room operations.
Apply ethical principles in decision-making	Recognize the importance of legal and compliance issues.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Demonstrate an understanding of tasting room operations;
• Recognize the importance of legal and compliance issues;
• Demonstrate an understanding of destination marketing;
• Demonstrate an understanding of successful sales practices;
• Understand the importance of non-wine merchandise;
• Describe considerations for on and off site event coordination;
• Demonstrate an understanding of staff training and development;
• Demonstrate an understanding of effective leadership in the tasting room;
• Demonstrate an understanding of budgeting and finance; and
• Demonstrate and understand the importance of metrics to determine profitability.

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Tasting room operations
• Describe the definition of customer experience
• Explain the culture of and reason for great service
• Describe successful layout and logistics of tasting room considering customer traffic flow
2. Legal and compliance issues
• Identify resources for guidance on local, state, and federal regulations
• Analyze legal beverage service principles
• Describe and implement company policies and standards
• ASCAP and BMI relations (music, video)
3. Destination marketing
• Explain brand differentiation and the primary marketing message
• Develop a destination marketing outline which may include events, promotions, wine trails, and community interactions
• Explain the importance of digital marketing and its impact
4. Successful sales practices
• Explain how merchandising generates sales
• Explain the importance of customer relationships and marketing tools available
• Explain and demonstrate successful sales techniques
• Describe the elements of a successful wine club strategy
• Describe the elements of a successful e-commerce strategy
5. Non-wine merchandise
• Describe non-wine product lines and their importance to business sustainability
• Describe branded merchandise
• Describe packaged or prepared food items
• Describe vendor relations
6. On and off site event coordination
• Describe events and entertainment options for diverse ages and audiences
• Describe options and issues regarding off site tasting and sales
7. Staff training and development
• List the characteristics of a successful tasting room employee
• Identify key areas for staff training and operations (i.e. winery tours, serving wine, wine terminology, proper wine storage, etc.)  
• Identify job-specific training areas to improve sales
• Identify the key elements of a customer service training plan
• Develop an incentive program for tasting room staff
8. Effective leadership in the tasting room
• Describe the qualities of an effective leader including analysis of corporate culture
• List the implications of including tasting room staff in decision making processes
• Discuss team building and employee empowerment strategies
• Develop an evaluation and improvement plan
9. Budgeting and finance
• Identify the budget categories for the tasting room
• Perform a financial analysis of a tasting room
• Develop a profit and loss statement for an event
10. Metrics to determine profitability
• Create a promotion pricing worksheet
• Develop measurable objectives for wine clubs, events, promotions, customer service, and sales performance
• Investigate methods to measure sales productivity
• Track and capture customer data