Comments on: Olive Garden and the Future of American Wine http://wineeconomist.com/2009/09/13/olive-garden-and-the-future-of-american-wine/ An Economist Uncorks the World of Wine Thu, 17 May 2012 16:36:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: VineSleuth (@vinesleuth) http://wineeconomist.com/2009/09/13/olive-garden-and-the-future-of-american-wine/#comment-3817 Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:49:18 +0000 http://wineeconomist.com/?p=940#comment-3817 Back when I waited tables at Outback Steakhouse, one of the locations where I worked was very focused on wine sales.

Before our shift, the manager would pour tastes of a wine for the waitstaff and read the tasting notes to us as we tasted it ourselves. She would also suggest pairings to go with that wine.

Thanks to her, I sold a lot of wine and began a journey of wine discovery, trying new things, myself.

I think Olive Garden has got the right game plan!

]]> By: Edward Plowman http://wineeconomist.com/2009/09/13/olive-garden-and-the-future-of-american-wine/#comment-3179 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:07:27 +0000 http://wineeconomist.com/?p=940#comment-3179 Dear Mr. City Snob – please do not make New Jersey sound like an uneducated, uncultured sea of chain restaurants. There are many, many great dining options as well as many great destinations for wine lovers. You very much seemed to be beating down New Jersey as a whole in your effort to praise Olive Garden, and that sir, is just not fair.

]]> By: no wine for you http://wineeconomist.com/2009/09/13/olive-garden-and-the-future-of-american-wine/#comment-3164 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:50:41 +0000 http://wineeconomist.com/?p=940#comment-3164 Just trying to make sense out of the math:

100 000.00 ( one hundred thousand ) hours of training / per year??
691 locations = 145 hours of training per location / per year
Each location provides: about 3 hours of training / week
Each location provides: about 25 minutes of daily wine training!

Please double check my math…or yours maybe?

]]> By: Eric Hope http://wineeconomist.com/2009/09/13/olive-garden-and-the-future-of-american-wine/#comment-1205 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:20:31 +0000 http://wineeconomist.com/?p=940#comment-1205 Great article. I live in San Francisco, where we “City Snobs” tend to turn our noses up at Olive Garden (myself included). But I’m from New Jersey, and every time I visit, I take my folks out, and they are all too happy to go to Olive Garden, despite the many other suggestions I offer them (it’s really the best option in their area). So I go, and “subject myself” to the endless salad & tasty breadsticks. I’m always pleased that Olive Garden is a place in New Jersey where I can AT LEAST get a halfway decent glass of wine, and reading your article, I am very impressed with their strategy. I must admit to having a soft spot for smart marketers, and Olive Garden sounds like they’ve got their head on straight; their heart in the right place. They’re putting their money where their mouth is, and are investing in the idea of EDUCATING consumers, and bringing something of value to them. I can only respect that. We can’t bring about change if we don’t embody that change, and they seem to be doing that. So my hat is off to them. I will continue taking my folks there until they decide they want something else. I hope they are successful in their endeavor to educate the masses, and bring a certain degree of “Wine Culture” to mainstream America.

]]> By: Shawn Denkler http://wineeconomist.com/2009/09/13/olive-garden-and-the-future-of-american-wine/#comment-520 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:08:08 +0000 http://wineeconomist.com/?p=940#comment-520 well thought out important article, thanks

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