Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

I'm specifically looking for a source for glassware, but all my
commercial supplies are coming out with prices from $2-6 per glass,
which seems expensive to me.

Does anyone know of a good source of quality wine glasses that would
come in under $2? I'm in San Antonio, Texas, by the way.

Thanks,
James

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

> skrev i melding
oups.com...
> I'm specifically looking for a source for glassware, but all my
> commercial supplies are coming out with prices from $2-6 per glass,
> which seems expensive to me.
>
> Does anyone know of a good source of quality wine glasses that would
> come in under $2? I'm in San Antonio, Texas, by the way.
>
2USD for a quality wine glass?
I guess you may want to try IKEA and their 'Svalka' series - perfectly
acceptable for tastings I've heard from professionals.
hth
Anders

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Mark is quite correct in my opinion when it comes to glasses.

I will not go back to a place that does not have decent wine glasses. And
I am only part wine geek.

Good luck.


"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
news:_TA9f.530743$xm3.47234@attbi_s21...
> wrote:
>> I'm specifically looking for a source for glassware, but all my
>> commercial supplies are coming out with prices from $2-6 per glass,
>> which seems expensive to me.
>>
>> Does anyone know of a good source of quality wine glasses that would
>> come in under $2? I'm in San Antonio, Texas, by the way.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> James
>>
>
> $2 per stem sounds pretty reasonable to me as a consumer. My INAO
> glasses from St. George (now defunct, I'm told) came in for just about
> that retail. If you're starting a wine bar, don't skimp on the glasses.
> To do so would turn away the wine geek crowd, who will otherwise be
> your best client base. Make sure that your glasses are good *enough* to
> attract repeat business. Keep in mind that unless your wine bar
> dispenses 2 Buck Chuck by the gallon, you're not going to see a lot of
> broken glasses on a per night basis, so you can afford a slightly pricey
> glass -- it'll pay dividends.
>
> My $0.02,
> Mark Lipton

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

These are all useful replies, as I definitely understand where you're
coming from on the consumer side. The problem is that in the bar/wine
business the level of breakage runs at around 20% per year, so trying
to strike a balance between quality and practicality is a problem.

My family has always had bar businesses, but I'm the first one starting
one in the States. I know the European cost models but not the US ones.


-- James

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

> The problem is that in the bar/wine
> business the level of breakage runs at around 20% per year, so trying
> to strike a balance between quality and practicality is a problem.

Amortized over the number of glasses of (presumably expensive) wine
you'll be serving and charging for, how much does that really come to?

I know, every little bit adds up, but if you sold the wine for a nickel
more per glass, you'd be ahead, vs. using a cheaper thicker glass that
might turn people off. I know I sometimes choose where to go based on
the wine glasses they use, and I look forward to the experience.

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Sadly the economics of the wine biz are similar to the restaurant biz,
so even when you put down $50 on a dinner, the restaurant is only
making 2-5% profit after all the costs. Which of course raises the
question about why I don't just stick my money in a savings account!

The other problem is that in Texas, you have to pay a 14% tax on all
alcohol sold if you have a full liquor licence, and consumers aren't
aware as it's an inclusive tax (not added on like regular sales tax).

But I take everyone's points in this thread - it's certainly how I feel
as a customer, so I will make sure that my glasses are up to standard!

Thanks,
James

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

A friend of mine worked at a wine bar many years ago. He designed and
welded on an adapter for Vacu-Vin stoppers to the tube for a vacuum
cleaner. He then attached a foot pedal to the power line. To pour a glass
of wine just open the bottle or remove the stopper, pour the wine, stopper
the bottle, put the adapter on the stopper and step on the power control.
The excess air was removed from the bottle. I thought it was quite clever.

Fred.

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Yes, there's a professional version of fthe same idea (probably after
he dreamt up his approach) that uses Nitrogen. The only problem is that
every study shows a wine degrades once it's opened, pretty much however
it's treated afterwards. But otherwise, his idea (and Nitrogen) can
definitely a couple of days of life to almost any bottle.

As an aside, Andrea Immer has a fantastic wine buyers guide where she
tests the life of a wine after it's open. Amazingly, even without
complex treatment, wines last anything from a day to three weeks,
depending on the wine.

- James
http://www.drinktexas.com

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Good Shottweisel (sp) glasses run $5 each. Does not seem like much
cost to me.

If you buy twice as many glasses, your breakage is down to 10%



>> The problem is that in the bar/wine
>> business the level of breakage runs at around 20% per year, so trying
>> to strike a balance between quality and practicality is a problem.
>

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

In article >, teacherjh@aol.
nojunk.com says...
>
>> The problem is that in the bar/wine
>> business the level of breakage runs at around 20% per year, so trying
>> to strike a balance between quality and practicality is a problem.
>
>Amortized over the number of glasses of (presumably expensive) wine
>you'll be serving and charging for, how much does that really come to?
>
>I know, every little bit adds up, but if you sold the wine for a nickel
>more per glass, you'd be ahead, vs. using a cheaper thicker glass that
>might turn people off. I know I sometimes choose where to go based on
>the wine glasses they use, and I look forward to the experience.
>
>Jose

Jose,

To echo yours, Mark's and Richard's sentiments, not long ago, we were hosting
a board dinner in Newport Beach, CA/US and had gotten the concierge to make
reservations for the event. I dined at the restaurant (a very nice one on at
the marina), and was amazed at the low-end stems. While walking around the
hotel property, I spotted a small dining room, off of the main restaurant
area. The tables were all set with Riedel Sommelier Series glasses. Wow, in
the dimly lit area it was quite an impression. I inquired, and found that it
was the "chef's table" for the resort's higher-end restaurant. I immediately
booked it, instead, and we had one of the most exquisite board dinners yet!
Now, the chef, the sommelier, the waitstaff, and the food went a very, very
long way toward that, but the glassware for our "wine dinner" was the final
touch!!! I'm NOT advocating US$50/stem settings, but to usher the board
members into this small dining area, with pinspots hitting just the place
settings was a real treat for me. As we served about 8 wines that night, the
settings were a photographer's dream. I have to admit that I got a bit lucky,
however, if the place settings had included "jelly jars," I would not have
changed the reservations - the glasses sold me on the spot.

Hunt

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Anders Tørneskog wrote:
> > skrev i melding
> oups.com...
> > I'm specifically looking for a source for glassware, but all my
> > commercial supplies are coming out with prices from $2-6 per glass,
> > which seems expensive to me.
> >
> > Does anyone know of a good source of quality wine glasses that would
> > come in under $2? I'm in San Antonio, Texas, by the way.
> >
> 2USD for a quality wine glass?
> I guess you may want to try IKEA and their 'Svalka' series - perfectly
> acceptable for tastings I've heard from professionals.
> hth
> Anders


I agree entirely with the IKEA recommendation. The Svalka comes in
both red and white glasses that cost around .50 per glass here in the
Northeast. ($3.00 for six). The IKEA website has them listed at 6
for $4.50. IMO, it's still a great value. The glasses hold 10 oz.

I've used these as my daily wine glasses for over 4 years and so far
only 2 glasses have been broken.

I'm not sure if there is an IKEA store near you in Texas, but it may be
worth a drive for you to stock up on the glasses.

They also have a glass that holds 19 oz, OPTIMAL, the cost for those is
around $2.00 each.

Here's the links to them on the IKEA website, with shortened URLs for
ease.
Link to red wine glasses: http://tinyurl.com/as65w
white glasses : http://tinyurl.com/dkc5v

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

I took a look at IKEA's glasses, but am puzzled. What is a "wine
tester's glass"?

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...32*10333*10335

Jose
--
Money: what you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

"Jose" > skrev i melding
...
>I took a look at IKEA's glasses, but am puzzled. What is a "wine tester's
>glass"?
>
Hi
I understand that professionals tend to use standardized glasses in order to
be consistent in their judgings. (Of course, other factors like light and
temperature must be within limits too)
Now, there is an international standard, INAO, if I remember correctly.

These Svalka glasses are close to that, I understand, and I use the red wine
ones myself for my whites at the summer cottage...

The Optima series are big glasses and I've found them very good too, using
the white wine glasses for my reds...! :-) They are expensiver, however (a
whopping 2$ each... and much more fragile than the Svalka so I handle them
with care)
Anders

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

I used the Ikea glasses in England and they were very cheap there (one
of the few items that's cheap in England). Thanks for the links - I'll
definitely check them out.

-- James

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

gerald > wrote:

> Good Shottweisel (sp) glasses

I really liked that one! "Schott Zwiesel".

M.

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:

> I guess you may want to try IKEA and their 'Svalka' series -
> perfectly acceptable for tastings I've heard from professionals.

Absolutely. SVALKA red wine is our standard multi-purpose glass at
home, and also when I have smaller (professional) tastings at
home. (By "professional" I simply mean that they are tastings I
report on in one of the magazines I write for.)

M.

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

Jose > wrote:

> I took a look at IKEA's glasses, but am puzzled. What is a
> "wine tester's glass"?
>
> http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...ctDisplay?cata
> logId=10101&storeId=12&productId=12152&langId=-1&parentCats=10118
> *10332*10333*10335

Simply *my* favourite wine glass in the whole IKEA range. Works as
a multy-purpose glass from anything from sparkling to red.

M.

Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies
 

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote:

>> I took a look at IKEA's glasses, but am puzzled. What is a
>> "wine tester's glass"?

> I understand that professionals tend to use standardized glasses
> in order to be consistent in their judgings. (Of course, other
> factors like light and temperature must be within limits too)
> Now, there is an international standard, INAO, if I remember
> correctly.

Yes. But most professional tasters I know find it *much* too small
(21.5 cl):

<http://www.diwinetaste.com/html/dwt200211/images/CaliceISOdim.gif>

It's a good brandy glass, however.

> These Svalka glasses are close to that, I understand, and I use
> the red wine ones myself for my whites at the summer cottage...

No, the "wine taser" ghlass (30 cl) is not, as you easily can see
he

<http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...tPopUpView?pro
ductId=12152&storeId=12&langId=-1&variantNum=1>

or

<http://snipurl.com/jix2>

I guess it's simply a name coined by IKEA to this glass form.

M.