Direct To Consumer Tasting Room and Event Manager – winebusiness.com

Big Basin Vineyards

Santa Cruz, CA

As a small production, artisanal winery, we believe great wines are made in the vineyard. So we farm organically, pick by hand, ferment with native yeast, avoid fining and filtration, and use minimal sulfur.

By handcrafting our wines as naturally as possible, we feel we can best capture the exceptional character of the ocean influenced, mountain vineyards of the Santa Cruz and Gabilan Mountains. Founder and owner Bradley Brown along with Winemaker Blake Yarger have evolved Big Basins wines to evoke the energy, intensity and dimension that speak clearly of their mountain origins.

Big Basin Vineyards was selected by Wine & Spirits Magazine as one of the Top 100 Wineries in World in 2018, and by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the 52 Must Visit wineries in N. California in 2018. Each year the wines continue to receive accolades from top critics.

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Big Basin Vineyards is searching for a Tasting Room and Event Manager, responsible for our new Santa Cruz tasting room with patio (opening July) and our Estate Vineyard and Winery tasting room and patio just outside Boulder Creek. Both locations are open to the public and offer a range of private tasting experiences (when Covid-19 restrictions are loosened) as well as extensive and unique event spaces.

DTC sales channels provide three quarters of our revenue and our tasting rooms, and in particular our new, larger downtown Santa Cruz tasting room, play a crucial role in our growth plans in the coming years.

We are looking for an energetic, hands-on, self-starter with a passion for wine, a customer-oriented sales disposition and fire-in-the belly desire to help us manage and grow the two tasting rooms as if they were your own business.

In addition to looking for a creative and outgoing team player, we are looking for someone who brings experience in:

1) Hiring, training and managing a sales staff,

2) Developing and growing a business,

3) Setting up and using planning and reporting systems to manage performance (financial, staff, quality and customer engagement/satisfaction).

4) Planning, promoting and managing events,

5) Managing quality control and hygiene in a food/beverage service environment, and

6) Selling wine.

Role and Responsibilities:

•  Oversee and manage all aspects of the tasting room experience affecting profitability (sales, expenses and wine club signups) and customer satisfaction at both tasting room locations.

•  Recruit, hire, train, schedule, motivate, and review TR staff, including establishing policies, procedures and programs for customer service skills, product knowledge, wine education, and sales training.

•  Create an authentic and amazing customer experience for visitors that reflects the quality and personality of our brand and establishes/builds customer relationships. Create an atmosphere where staff wants to work and customers want to learn and buy.

•  Develop strategies and implement plans to grow the business, improve profitability, increase wine club signups and ensure visitor data collection. Create and manage reports to analyze the business and identify areas for improvement.

•  Set goals for business and staff, plans for achieving them and processes for monitoring progress.

•  Engage with local businesses and other potential partners to bring more of our targeted customer groups into the tasting room and to increase sales.

•  Be an ambassador for the Big Basin Vineyards story with respect to our wines, people and environment.

•  Master use of our POS and customer database (VineSpring) using Mac, iPads and laptops.

•  Oversee the planning, budgeting and managing of winery events including staffing, entertainment and catering, at both locations.

•  Represent Big Basin Vineyards at outside events as needed.

•  Collect qualitative and quantitative customer data to improve customer communication and retention as well as inform longer term product planning.

•  Work well within a small team and family ownership and be flexible in accommodating seasonal and event-driven busy times.

This position will interface closely with our Internet Sales and Wine Club Manager (the other half of the DTC business) on social media, promotions, customer communications and shipping logistics.

In addition to your leadership role, you will be an active part of the TR sales team as needed.

Qualifications:

•  A knowledge of and passion for wine (ideally food as well) and an ability to verbally demonstrate this passion in an engaging manner. Formal wine education and/or winery experience is a must.

•  Customer service and sales skills. Genuinely enjoys customer contact.

•  Analytical skills to determine efficiency and effectiveness of tasting room staffing, promotions, and events.

•  Organizational skills for planning and coordinating events and projects.

•  Strong verbal and written communication skills – articulate, empathetic and concise.

•  Strong interpersonal skills with a proven track record in hiring, managing and motivating employees/team members

•  Working knowledge of Excel/Numbers spreadsheet, Word/Pages word processing. Computer/Internet proficiency, including Dropbox, Slack, social media and other communication and coordination tools. Graphics skills a plus (for creating menus, TR handouts and training tools).

Physical / Time Requirements:

•  Thursday through Monday work week. Typically 40 hours per week, including coverage during events and some holiday presence.

•  Stand for prolonged periods, daily.

•  Ability to lift a case of wine (50 lbs)

Reports to: Founder and Owner

Wage/Benefits: Base Salary dependent on experience + yearly bonus

Additional benefits including Health and Vacation time.