I know there are a few previous and related threads, but it seemed to make sense to start this one.
I am looking to get into the wine business in NY/ Long Island. Of course, I would love to make a ton of money, but that is not really my priority. I sold my previous business which was an eCommerce auto parts distributor that I had built from very humble beginnings and I am looking to pursue areas where I have deeper interest. Wine is obviously one those things.
Any suggestions or thoughts are greatly appreciated. Anyone ITB willing to meet or get on a call is even more appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I ask this because if you are thinking about getting into restaurants and working on the floor, it’s a younger person’s game. The hours are long and stressful. You’ll need some bit of serving experience if you want to actually do anything in it like run a program. On top of that, if you want to become a certified Somm or go even further, that will take a good bit of time and you will have to start with intro (which is why I haven’t bothered with becoming a CS).
If you are somewhat older and still want to be in the industry and given where you live, then either retail or working for a winery on Long Island can be a way in. Retail is my background and I can easily tell you that making lots of money just won’t happen. But, it was a great way for me to get my foot in the industry and get to know distributors and taste a lot of wine on off days at trade tastings or when distributors come in. That said, it’s not just sitting around and chatting all day like it’s a self contained wine salon. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays are the big days and the hours won’t always be great. Especially when it’s October/November/December (aka OND).
If you go the winery route, then working as a server that eventually moves into another capacity can certainly happen. There can be a ton of turnover at wineries and during the summer, I’m sure many are looking for any live bodies they can find.
I’m just one person and there will certainly be more people that will chime in. Your greatest benefit is that you have some knowledge and are in and around one of the biggest wine markets in the world. It’s both a blessing and a curse, but much more in the blessing category.
If you have more questions, I’m more than happy to chat on Zoom or on the phone when I have some free time. I love the industry and am way too pot committed to thinking about a career change at this point.
Then restaurants are completely out and trust me, you’ll be very happy with that!
Retail or wineries will be the way to go. The bigger question is what would you want to get out of the business in the next 3-5-10 years? Retail will be the best way to get into wholesale. But, also know that wholesale can be a real slog at times and you have to have alligator skin to handle the constant rejection. Are you okay toting around 4-6 bottles and doing up to 10 account visits a day? If not, then definitely do winery or retail.
I’m at a similar age and one of my “retirement dreams” has been to own a small wine bar / shop, combining retail/sourcing with a few tables and a bar to serve wine and possibly light snacks. But the only way that could work for me is if I don’t have to make any money off of it… Too many tradeoffs otherwise…
I left my previous career at about the same age and got into the production side – working up from intern to winemaker in ~6-7 years. So its never too late! But if you are interested in jumping right in (perhaps literally), lots of wineries are still looking to fill out harvest positions. Including us. PM me if interested. Even if sales/purchasing/distribution is your ultimate goal, a little time in production can be beneficial.
I know a lot of people in retail who worked as harvest interns (and had winemaking dreams). Getting some hands-on experience in different areas of wine can give you a lot of insight, and more to bring to the table. In the same way, working on the floor and working for a distributor can give you fundamental experience to help you be a good wine buyer. As with any job, striving to do it well, paying attention, while pursuing a goal can expose you to unexpected opportunity.
more knowledge, more wines tasted, direct experience in the industry and more networking.
Retail will be the best way to get into wholesale. But, also know that wholesale can be a real slog at times and you have to have alligator skin to handle the constant rejection. Are you okay toting around 4-6 bottles and doing up to 10 account visits a day? If not, then definitely do winery or retail.
I imagined that would be the case with wholesale. Retail is the most interesting to me, but if it were with the right distributor I would be very into it.
Is it very difficult to get a job as a buyer? With my previous business I did all of the purchasing, forecasting and analytics, so it seems like it would be a good fit but I wouldn’t even know where to start to look for a position like that.
Like the automotive industry it seems to be a bit antiquated. The restrictions on shipping out of state limit the incentive to improve it though. User experience is 1 of my 3 specialties, but as I have been poking around it doesn’t seem like anyone is hiring for stuff like UX, SEO, CRO…
It’s something you’d work up to. Like I said, floor experience would give you insight. Like what customers of a particular shop are interested in, how much of what types of wine will sell and so forth. You don’t want to try to reinvent the wheel with a healthy business, and if you’re going in to a shop that’s struggling, you’d want a good breadth of experience to draw on.
It would seem like big online vendors like wine.com, benchmark, vinfolio or vivino would be the place that would really want e-commerce expertise and have the money to pay for it.
This is correct - it’s really expensive to obtain and maintain the licensing to handle the shipping in a compliant manner. Wine.com is one of the only ones with the scale who have done it for retail. Amazon is trying.
I made a career change at 38, from finance to restaurants. Sounds like you’re not looking to move into service, so my experience might not be relevant, but I’ve had a blast over the past decade. And considering your background, the industry as a whole is ripe for innovation…
