Wine promotions in restaurants: Do beverage sales contribute or cannibalize?

Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly

Volumn 47, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 327-336

  Wansink, Brian ^a   Cordua, Glenn ^b   Blair, Ed ^b   Payne, Collin ^a   Geiger, Stephanie ^b  

^a Department of Obstetrics Gynecology   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON   (United States)

Author keywords

Beverage sales; Menu pairing; Recommendations; Restaurants; Sampling; Wine promotions; Wine sales

Indexed keywords

EID: 33750057358     PISSN: 00108804     EISSN: 15523853     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0010880406294656     Document Type: Article

References (14)

1. M. H. Criqui and B. L. Ringel, "Does Diet or Alcohol Explain the French Paradox?" Lancet 344 (1994): 1719-1723; and D. McGregor, R. P. Murray, and G. E. Barnes, "Personality Differences between Users of Wine, Beer, and Spirits in a Community Sample: The Winnipeg Health and Drinking Survey," Journal of Studies on Alcohol 64 (2003): 634-640.
2. "Consumer Insights," Restaurant Business, July 2004, pp. 28-30; and "Libation Liberation," Restaurants & Institutions, August 2005, pp. 43-50.
3. "Restaurateurs Enjoy Higher Sales with Lower Markups on Bottled Wine," Nation's Restaurant News, November 2005, pp. 4-4, 82-82.
4. See V. W. Mitchel and M. Greatorex, "Risk Reducing Strategies Used in the Purchase of Wine in the UK," European Journal of Marketing 23 (1988): 31-46; and T. Spawton, "Of Wine and Live Asses: An Introduction to the Wine Economy and State of Wine Marketing," European Journal of Wine Marketing 25 (1991): 1-48.
5. R. F. Pohl, S. Schwarz, S. Sczesney, and D. Stanhbert, "Hindsight Bias in Gustatory Judgments," Experimental Psychology 50 (2003): 107-115.
6. "CIA at Greystone Helps Operators Uncork Higher Wine Sales," Nation's Restaurant News, April 2005, pp. 30-31.
7. P. Chandon, B. Wansink, and G. Laurent, "A Benefit Congruency Framework of Sales Promotion Effectiveness," Journal of Marketing 64 (2000): 65-81.
8. The wines paired with food were also the wines featured alone. The wines and pairings were as follows: (1) RM Coastal Chardonnay SC with Maryland Crab Cakes, (2) Hogue Riesling with Santa Fe Fish Tacos, (3) Rancho Zabaco "Dancing Bull" Zinfandel with Shrimp Parmigiana, (4) Ecco Domini Pinot Grigio with Rockfish Combo, and (5) Sterling "Vintner's Collection" Cabernet Sauvignon with Steak.
9. To be able to statistically test these wine and food promotional results, a two-way contingency table analysis was conducted on the individual sale figures shown in Exhibit 3 (6 Wine Promotions × 7 Wine-and-Food Categories). The overall chi-square for this contingency table was significant, p <. 001. This result suggests that the wine promotions had a significant effect on sales.
10. See D. Whitlark and S. M. Smith, "Using Correspondence Analysis to Map Relationships," Marketing Research 13:22-28. To further examine the statistical significance of individual sale figures within the aforementioned contingency table, we computed adjusted standardized chi-square residual scores, which are akin to " z-scores." The " z-scores" pertaining to the five-wine promotion results for the promoted wines, total wine purchases, and total restaurant sales were all significantly different from what was expected from the corresponding baseline sale figures (p <. 05 in all cases).
11. Both p-values related to adjusted chi-square residual "z-scores" for the decrease in sales of target wines and all other wines were less than. 05.
12. The single target wine was RM Coastal Chardonnay SC.
13. This comparison was also conducted with three promoted wines, but an inventory stock-out made this condition noncomparable. This situation also did not allow us to make global evaluations of the effect of "tasting" promotions on total wine purchasing nor total sales of the restaurant.
14. "Pouring on Profits: Global Glut, By-the-Glass Boom Boosts Wine Sales," Nation's Restaurant News, November 2004, pp. 46-48, 50-50.