Cheers to beverage director for top-shelf marketing

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 23, 1998

Andrea Immer, beverage director for New York's Baum-Emil Group, recently was named On-Premise Wine Marketer of the Year by Restaurant Wine, the industry newsletter I publish. Immer, one of 35 Master Sommeliers in the United States, has been the company's beverage director since 1996.

Baum-Emil Group operates The Rainbow Room and Windows on the World in New York and will shortly open Copperfield Magic Underground, a large, magic-themed restaurant near Times Square, in conjunction with LateNight Magic.

Immer was singled out as an exemplary wine marketer primarily for her efforts at Windows on the World, where she has re-established the restaurant as one of New York's, and the country's, leading wine destinations.

Her wine-training efforts, which she credits for the 30-percent jump in wine sales per customer during the past year, are particularly noteworthy. Despite the fact that the restaurant employs a full-time wine steward, Immer insists on regular wine training for all front-of-the-house staff. She admits: "The dining room is fast-paced. Our sommelier cannot visit every table, so much of the wine service is done by the service staff, especially the captains."

Consequently, Immer ensures that all servers and bartenders receive basic initial wine training immediately upon hiring. That introduction is supplemented by frequent premeal wine meetings and several full-scale wine classes every few months.

The restaurant's captains, though, are provided even more intensive training. Each is required to attend a 10-week wine certification course, which covers topics that range from wine-and-food pairing to the wines of Australia. Up to eight wines are tasted in each class.

At the end of the course, a 100-question written exam is given. To pass, captains must receive a score of 80 percent or more. Passing the exam, Immer notes, brings several rewards: recognition by peers, management and customers as well as increased self-esteem. Immer also provides "certified" captains with a lapel pin, which is worn during service hours. The presence of the pin elicits guest questions, and when guests learn what the pin means, they feel more confident in the captains' capabilities and suggestions, which translates into enhanced guest satisfaction and, presumably, increased repeat business.

Immer has been able to implement even more cutting-edge marketing efforts at Windows' very upscale restaurant-within-a-restaurant, Cellar the Sky. Here, she offers, three different series of wines served by the glass with various courses in the restaurant's fixed-price dinner. Chef Michael Lomonaco normally prepares the menu based on the wine selections. The wine flights, offered as an option at $35, $55 and $75 per group, include three different wines each.

Each series of wines has a theme, Immer explains. The lowest-priced group is the "Discover" flight, wines that Immer describes as "lost classics" as well as wines from emerging regions. The $55 set of wines goes under the theme of "Cellar Selections" and features traditional and cutting-edge wines from top producers. The $75 set of wines are "Rarities," higher-priced wines which are rare, very limited in production or from great vineyards or producers.