Publication date: January 2006
Case studies of world class international food and wine tourism operations, commissioned by the New Zealand Food and Wine Tourism Network in partnership with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, developed by the University of Otago.
>>Hillebrand Winery case study (PDF, 650KB)
Hillebrand Winery is proud to be in the ‘wine experience business’ and their philosophy is to provide the best ‘experience’ possible. Hillebrand is located near Niagara-on-the-Lake (Ontario): the small cousin of Niagara Falls, receiving 3 million visitors per annum (less than 25% of Niagara Falls). Hillebrand itself receives around 200,000 visitors a year and 30% of their revenue comes from sales at the winery.
1. A Research Focus
Overspending on research and planning has paid off – market segmentation has moved away from demographics to a focus on level of involvement with wine. Quarterly research focuses on ‘wine lovers’ – visitors who spend more than $100 on their visit. Research showed that ‘wine lovers’ purchased more wine than they expected not because of the quality of the wine but the quality of the staff/service.
2. The ‘Wine-lover’ Rules
Staff are trained to spot ‘wine lovers’ and, when identified, they are presented with an invitation to the ‘Executive Tasting Lounge.’ Sometimes this invitation is a written invitation from staff in the wine boutique (cellar door) or restaurant.
3. Passionate Staff
They attract mature, semi-retired staff rather than younger students. They have a ‘passion checker’ that sits in on interviews to find the ‘great people’. This allows them to develop a wine culture within the staff and this is reinforced by operating a monthly matching event using wines from around the world, matching with foods and comparing to their own wines.
4. The FIT is King
Hillebrand don’t allow weddings and want fewer corporate groups (e.g. conferences) so they can focus on providing the best experience to independent visitors.
5. A Retail Design Focus
The Retail design of the wine boutique (cellar door) has been upgraded to move the current conversion rate from 55% towards the 100% mark enjoyed by stores like Wal-Mart! Wine is king in the Restaurant: they use lots of wine in the cooking and match wine with local produce and famed head chef Tony de Luca has even launched a cookbook with chapters that are based on wine varieties that include recipes for each of the four seasons.
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>>Inniskillin Winery case study (PDF, 702KB)
Inniskillin Winery is located near Niagara-on-the-Lake (Ontario): the small cousin of Niagara Falls, receiving 3 million visitors per annum (less than 25% of Niagara Falls). Inniskillin itself receives around 300,000 visitors a year and 20% of their revenue comes from sales at the winery.
1. Off-Peak Events
Promoting off-peak events including the Icewine Festival in January - traditionally slowest month of the year. Working together with other wineries to build off-peak business (i.e. no body comes to visit just one winery).
2. Promoting Winter
Developing marketing collateral that promotes winter only i.e. a snowy image on their brochure. Visitors want to come in summer anyway - so why promote this season further?
3. Japanese Market
Building significant Japanese business (up to 35,000 p.a prior to SARS and now building back to this level) with JTB who now have tours stopping for 23 minutes maximum! A separate tasting area has been established with Japanese speaking staff. Japanese visitors often stock up on lots of Icewine!
4. Informal but structured experience
Staff training is designed to reinforce the informal but highly organised service ethic. Recent training including improvisational acting so that staff were given the opportunity to practice hypothetical situations in order to be able to act more confidently with visitors.
5. They Wrote the Book
Not many businesses can say they wrote the book - this one can (Donald Ziraldo wrote "Anatomy of a Winery" which is sold at the winery and used as a training resource at Inniskillin and other wineries in the area).
6. Self-Guided Tour
In order to educate visitors (i.e. provide more visitors with a greater appreciation for wine from this region) Inniskillin has developed a very user friendly self guided tour of the winery and vineyard. Visitors walk past the self guided tour area prior to entering the main wine boutique and tasting areas so they can decide then if they'd like a free self guided tour or wait until the designated times for a guided tour (one morning and one afternoon guided tour is offered daily) . The above book is also used as the base for the self guided tour of the winery.
7. Environmental Efforts
Donald Ziraldo, co-founder of the Inniskillin, has been instrumental in establishing a "green belt" in the remaining agricultural areas of the Niagara Peninsula / Escarpment. So the area is now zoned agricultural only effectively halting the urban and industrial sprawl of the major population centres to the North West (i.e. Toronto and Hamilton).
8. Commitment to the Canadian Wine Industry
In November 1999 Inniskillin co-founder Donald Ziraldo was acknowledged as one of Canada’s Top 25 CEO’s of the Century by the National Post Magazine. Challenged by the need to compete on the world stage, Ziraldo pioneered the estate winery movement in Canada. As part of his ongoing efforts to promote quality wines produced in Canada, Donald is founding Chairman of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) an organisation responsible for maintaining the highest standards in viticulture and winemaking. Inniskillin has prided itself on being a leader in the industry and has made a commitment to Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI). In recognition of this commitment the facility is called Inniskillin Hall. It will support future generations of winemakers and viticulturists with advanced research and education.
A DVD case study is also available. Please contact Craig Wilson craig-wilson@xtra.co.nz
>>Lake House case study (PDF, 1.6MB)
Lake House presents a case of best practice with many lessons for the New Zealand food and wine tourism sector. This is reinforced by the fact that the situation that Lake House has faced during the development of their business has many parallels in New Zealand. The following will have a strong resonance with much of the New Zealand industry:
Lake House has had to develop best practice business operations in order to overcome these difficulties. These have included the following:
1. Knowing the True Meaning of Hospitality
The focus here is not just on good service, but on ‘generosity of spirit that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg’. It is the little things that make the Lake House experience special and, as their systems are superb, they have time to concentrate on getting them right.
2. Commitment to Staff Well-Being and Development
Delivering true hospitality is impossible if you do not have a dedicated team of staff that believe in the company philosophy and have pride in their work. Lake House, like all food and beverage operations the world over, were faced with a chronic shortage of skilled and reliable staff (made worse by their isolation). The only way forward was to develop a culture that nurtured and encouraged staff, creating loyalty, passion and commitment. Lake House invest in staff, rather than writing staff off as a cost.
3. They Know Their Market
Lake House have, what seems to be, an innate ability to provide what the market wants and to see trends before they emerge. However, this knowledge has built up over two decades and has resulted from a heavy commitment to the tourism industry, both locally and at a State level.
4. Engagement with the Tourism Industry
Alla and Allan Wolf-Tasker have always known that they are part of the tourism industry and they soon established that they needed to become familiar with how tourism operated. They became heavily involved in committees and attending tourism trade events. Early on they realised that to grow their own business, they first need to grow tourism in their region and they need to convince the community of its value. Ultimately Alla has achieved a lot for her region, not just Lake House.
5. Involvement in the Local Community
Alla and Allan also realised that it was important to become part of the community and to involve themselves as much as possible. In a community where tourism was a four letter word, it was vital that the community were involved in their vision. Now Daylesford thrives on tourism and there are few detractors.
6. Passion for Food and Wine
Alla’s passion for food is infectious, her staff have caught it, local growers have caught it and her guests have caught it. Of course this is a critical ingredient in the success of Lake House, but without all of the other areas of commitment, savvy and sheer determination listed above, all of the passion in the world could not have got Lake House to where it is today.
>>Yering Station case study (PDF, 683KB)
Yering Station is a winery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley that is poised to enter the Australian Tourism Awards’ Hall of Fame. Having won the Victorian and Australian Best Tourism Winery Award for the last two years running, it will only take one more win and they will enter a very elite group of winners in the Hall of Fame. It is no accident that Yering Station has increased its visitor numbers 671% since opening the cellar door in 1996 and their situation is not too dissimilar to that facing much of the New Zealand industry:
Yering Station has had to develop best practice to achieve their success and these have included the following:
1. High Degree of Engagement with Tourism Industry.
They have been proactive in engaging the tourism industry at all levels including local tourism organisations, Tourism Victoria and, perhaps more importantly, the wholesale travel market. They have a manager who is dedicated to managing the tourism and hospitality component of the business and a significant part of her role is to develop and maintain relationships with the tourism industry.
2. Conference and Incentives Market.
With at least three dedicated multi-functional conferencing spaces, Yering Station sees the conference and incentives market as a key part of their business. This has meant actively promoting to the corporate market, working with professional conference organisers (PCOs) and local accommodation providers and they develop incentives packages either on their own or with other tourism providers in the Yarra Valley. This segment is vital for their mid-week business, as these facilities are mainly booked at the weekends for private functions such as weddings (in fact they are booked every Saturday evening for the 11 or 12 months in advance)
3. Different Levels of Experience.
A visitor to Yering Station can have one of several experiences when visiting. From the informal cellar door facility, to the produce shop, to the small informal café (‘Matt’s Bar’) and the larger, slightly more sophisticated restaurant, Yering provides an experience for everyone. The cellar door and Matt’s Bar, for example, provides an experience for both the more experienced winery visitor and those new to the experience (i.e. it is non-threatening). There is also a range of options available for conferences and functions.
4. Investment in Staff Professional Development.
Yering Station invests in a high degree of professional development for their staff. They provide access to training and education at public institutions, they have regular and frequent in-house training and they provide career options within the business.
5. Local Produce.
Local produce is important to Yering Station and this is apparent in the tourism products they offer. There is the produce store that has more than 95% local content, the restaurant which promotes and uses local produce wherever possible and the Yarra Valley Farmers’ Market (itself a tourism award winner) that is held in the Barn once a month. Yering Station is also actively involved in several local producers’ groups.
6. Market Research is an Important Part of Their Success.
Yering Station regularly takes part in Tourism Victoria’s extensive wine tourism research, but, more importantly, they run their own simple, yet highly effective market research. Four times a year (once a season) they survey their visitors for a month to gain an understanding of where their visitors are coming from, how they found out about Yering and their age group. This provides direct feedback on where to promote Yering Station (both in terms of geographic location and type of publication) and to whom. The secret to this research is that it is regular, systematic and easy to analyse.
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