Orders sent at half past midnight
The head sommelier finishes service, counts what is left, and texts your rep: 'Need 2 cs house red, 6 of the Gavi, whatever Chablis you have'. A second restaurant leaves a voicemail at the shop. A third emails a photo of a scribbled list. Your rep is on holiday next week and nobody else has his phone.
In the morning someone turns all of that into orders, rings back about 'whatever Chablis you have', and misses the delivery cut-off for one of them.
Trade ordering has no front door
Restaurants are busy at exactly the hours your office is closed, so they use whatever channel is fastest for them. Nothing gives them a better option. The information they need to order properly (their prices, what is in stock, which vintage, when the next delivery is) is not visible to them, so they send loose requests and leave you to fill the gaps.
- Orders go to individual staff phones rather than the business.
- Accounts do not know what is in stock or which vintage is current.
- Delivery days and cut-offs are known to regulars and guessed by new accounts.
- Repeat orders are retyped every week.
- Substitutions are made without the restaurant agreeing, and cause wine list problems.
What scattered trade orders cost
Missed orders mean a restaurant runs out of its house wine on a Saturday, which is the kind of thing that makes an account look for another supplier. Staff time goes on transcribing and ringing back. Orders that depend on one rep's phone are a risk whenever that rep is away. And unapproved substitutions, however well meant, leave a restaurant listing a wine it does not have.
The trade portal we build
- Each trade account gets a login to a simple ordering page showing its agreed list, its own prices and current stock by vintage.
- The page shows the next delivery day and the cut-off for it, based on the account's route.
- Last order and 'usual order' buttons let a sommelier reorder in a few taps at the end of service.
- Out-of-stock wines suggest alternatives you have approved, which the account can accept or decline.
- Orders arriving by text or email to a shared trade address are logged into the same queue by staff, so every order is in one place whatever the channel.
- Confirmed orders reserve stock, go onto the delivery plan and produce invoices through your accounts package, such as Xero or Sage.
| Old way | With the portal |
|---|---|
| Text to the rep's phone | Order placed on the account's own page |
| 'Whatever Chablis you have' | Choice from current stock and vintages |
| Guessing the cut-off | Next delivery and cut-off shown |
| Same order retyped weekly | One-tap reorder |
| Unagreed substitution | Alternative offered, account chooses |
Accounts that prefer to keep texting can. Staff log those orders in the same queue, and many accounts move to the portal once they see it is quicker.
A trade morning that starts clean
When the office opens, overnight orders are already in the queue, matched to stock and to the right delivery run. Only the exceptions need a phone call. When the rep is away, nothing depends on his phone. And each restaurant gets what it ordered, in the vintage it expects, on the day it was promised.
The portal also gives you a place to show new listings to trade customers, which is a quieter way to sell than a rep's visit.
Signs your trade orders need a home
- Restaurants order by text to individual staff.
- Morning starts with transcribing overnight orders.
- Accounts do not know your stock or current vintages.
- Delivery cut-offs are missed because accounts do not know them.
- Repeat orders are keyed in from scratch every week.