Wine in restaurants, Wine Cellars-Fipe Observatory to revive consumption (with an eye on price mark-ups)
The market suffers from changing habits and prices that are sometimes considered excessive. Out-of-home sales (12 billion) are four times that of supermarkets
That between wine and catering is a virtuous pair. The turnover of wine in the horeca sector in fact amounts to 12 billion euro (against 3.2 in large-scale distribution), a number that represents a significant slice of the added value of the wine sector, which totals 59.3 billion.
Bars and restaurants are therefore, by far, the best performing sales channel for wine producers. But wine is also very important in the restaurant business, since sales account for more than a fifth of total turnover. The weight of wine on the average restaurant receipt amounts to 21% with peaks of over 30%. Figures of great importance and which illustrate better than words how the relationship between wine and catering cannot do without a coordinated direction.
This is the reasoning behind the Protocol of Understanding signed at Vinitaly by the Italian Wine Union and FIPE (Italian Federation of Public Premises) and that as a first step envisages the launch of a FIPE-UIV Observatory on "Wine & Catering".
"The world of Italia wine," commented the president of the Italian Wine Union, Lamberto Frescobaldi, "lacked a tool that would allow us to better explore the dynamics with the restaurant industry, a combination that has made the fortune of Italian cuisine and wine in the world. Now is the time to leverage this synergy to make our sectors grow, starting with mutual understanding. In this first report, the need to work to better transfer the product innovation that wine expresses has already emerged,' he concluded, 'but we can and must certainly work as a team to really listen to consumers.
"Wine is a strategic element of the Italian catering offer," added the president of Fipe-Confcommercio, Lino Enrico Stoppani, "both economically and culturally, because it contributes to defining the identity and quality of the customer experience. Indeed, there is no full conviviality without accompanying the meal with a good wine. However, the Observatory's data highlight the need to invest more in training and communication, starting with the wine lists to be improved in the assortments on offer'.
