The exclusive Hyperion Guide to Wine, Drinks & Food Jobs

Have you ever wondered about the range of wine and drinks jobs and what they actually entail? Here Michael Fabian provides a short at-a-glance guide to some of the more widely used terms in the wine, drinks & food sectors. Remember this is designed to be a guide only – these roles may mean different things to different drinks and food merchants, so always establish with the company you are dealing with exactly what might be expected of you.

Copyright Michael Fabian 2016

Job titles:

Office based client advisor sales and support

This is very often the role that you get when starting out on your career in wine & drinks, and moving, say, from an off-licence role to joining a wine merchant for the first time. The notion of office based client sales might put some candidates off to begin with – however it is an excellent way to start your career. Also a great opportunity to learn how t o deal with clients and what they require. The successful and established wine merchants all have some form of an outbound sales section. Generally speaking candidates benefit from a great deal of support in the form of training, being given an existing list of customers and the chance to do further WSET courses for free. Plus you are surrounded by like minded people. It is the ideal environment to hone your business skills, learn about the marketplace and build up your contacts in the business. After at least a year you might be ready to move on, either internally or with a new firm, and it will look good on your CV.

On trade sales

The term on-trade refers to retail outlets which are only licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages which must be consumed off the licensed premises. So a sales person working in this field will be selling directly to shops, chains of supermarkets (both big and small), multiples of and boutique drinks outlets. This sector covers a very large variety of outlets and always makes up a substantial part of any wine & drinks merchants’ activities. It is nearly always dealt with in clearly defined geographical areas. The employer will therefore be looking for experience in a specific field with a proven track record of sales. Ideally you will have built up a list of contacts and have a very good working knowledge of a particular area. Obviously these skills are transferable to other geographical areas. It is the sort of role that you build towards and possibly specialise in.

Off trade sales

Here off-trade refers to bars, public houses, restaurants and clubs where a licence has been granted for the consumption of alcoholic beverages on the premises to which the license applies. So working in this area will mean conducting business with a huge range of diverse establishments including, for example small, large and famous and not so famous restaurants, chains of restaurants, clubs and pubs, sports clubs and military officers clubs up and down the country. For the right person this is fascinating role as you build up long term contacts with some very well established and high profile customers. This is very much a ‘customer facing’ role where you will often be required to meet busy proprietors on the premises. You will be representing your employer and his reputation will be in your hands!

Prestige sales

This is a slightly catch-all category used to denote any clients considered to be high net worth – it means that the person holding this job title is trusted enough to conduct business with some of the wine & drinks merchants’ most valued customers  – be they banks, law firms, top end restaurants and other corporate entities. In most instances you will have to have a proven track record in this field to land this sort of role.

Private client sales/ drinks portfolio investment

This means that you will be selling to individual private clients with enough means and interest to buy from you as their wine buyer rather going through a retail outlet. The aim is for you to build up a strong personal relationship with a growing portfolio of private clients. If you are successful these clients will trust you to make purchasing decisions on their behalf and give you repeat business. This sort of work could also involve you in dealing with private clients who want to build up their own portfolio of wines for investment purposes – here you will have to establish a reputation for being able to ‘read’ the wine market. Some wine merchants specialise in wine investment and run clever software designed for this purpose. The reputation of the wine merchant and your own abilities to build strong customer relationships are critical. You may be required to organise tastings and run ‘bin clubs’.

Field sales

This is a very important role where the wine merchant basically trusts you to manage yourself by dealing with important clients in the field. With some firms you will be home based and only visit the office, say, once a month for a meeting with the regional sales director. All else will be done on the move via laptop and car. It is therefore imperative that you show maturity, forward planning and a pro-active self starter type of approach. At the lower end of the scale you might be cold calling new clients, but more often than not you will be given an established region with all the marketing and promotional back up that a reputable wine merchant offers.

Sales assistant

As this implies you will be assisting a sales individual or operation by probably processing and managing orders and dealing with any problems. You can use this to go to learn all about the business and then decide whether to move into a customer facing role – eg sales – or perform backroom tasks such as, eventually, the crucial role of logistics. It’s an opportunity to decide on your career path – but remember – as with all roles, you must commit yourself to at least a year before considering a move.

Trainee Sales

As above but here there is a presumption that you have decided on a career in wine sales and therefore you must take every opportunity to learn from those more experienced than you, establish a working knowledge of all the different types of wine sales roles (see above) and start thinking about which you might like to eventually specialise in.

Reputation, reliability and a pleasant demeanour coupled with the ability to conduct business with individuals is what it is all about.

Account manager

In this role you will be managing a customer which generally means not having any sales involvement. You will be expected to work as a liaison between all the people concerned and departments with the express aim of making sure that the customer is happy and that any problems are swiftly nipped in the bud.

Marketing

The ‘dark arts’ as some like to say – this is an absolutely critical department for any wine merchant or wine producer – especially as nowadays markets are being squeezed and often the only way to distinguish one product or service form another is via marketing. This can be a ‘do-or-die’ department. Individuals coming into this role will have to have serious qualifications and proven experience. You will be dealing with every single department in the company, both historically and in terms of planning a long time ahead. You will have to consider presentation, logistics, budgets, on-line media activity, shows, profit and loss spreadsheets and so forth. You will often report directly to the chief executive. Not for the faint hearted.

Marketing assistant

As above except that you are a mere junior being thrown into the fray with fewer qualifications  – much learning to be done with long hours. Ensure that this is the correct career path for you before embarking upon this.

Promotions

To some extent this department works very closely with the marketing people. It is probably a little more immediate involving planning and executing special promotions with selected on-trade and off-trade customers and mounting and running a presence at the variety of wine and food shows that occur all over Europe and the rest of the world. This role may well come as part of another job definition within many companies – so do check carefully.

Promotions assistant

All as above except that you are starting out. Make yourself as helpful and visible as you can.

Food notes writer

As part of marketing and promotions operations wine merchants need experienced and confident wine writers to produce descriptions of wines for the mass of printed and on-line publicity that all companies have to produce nowadays. In a smaller firm the role might be bundled together with other responsibilities – in the larger outfit it can be full time job. This role also opens up the possibility of working for a wine magazine or website.

Logistics/Shipping

Logistics and shipping is a fundamental part of any wine merchants’ operation – ensuring that customers get what they have paid for. If this department doesn’t function swiftly and efficiently the entire business crumbles. If something goes wrong then sales departments can’t do their jobs and clients will leave in droves. Therefore you will have to be an extremely well organised individual with a clear understanding of schedules, bonded warehouses, (Octavian, City Vaults), VAT payments, international deliveries and despatch. Many wine merchants are prepared to train up logistics people so long as they show an aptitude for the role. What annoys them most is when candidates view a logistics simply as quick stepping stone to another role. There is a lot of career progression in logistics and the role can command very handsome salaries.

Retail sector:

Retail Management

Retail Sales

Retail trainee

All of the three roles above generally involve the known chains of off licences, and to a lesser extent, small specialist boutique outlets or wine and food retail outlets in the larger stores. Very many of our candidates who decide early on to pursue a career in the wine & drinks sector will get a job with one of the larger chains of off-licences – sometimes during a degree course or immediately afterwards. This is an excellent way to start your career. You will learn about the drinks on sale, how to deal with customers, mount special promotions and sometimes organise tastings. In some branches you might even deal with top end private clients and corporate accounts. Very often you will be given the opportunity to gain a basic Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) qualification – with your employer paying. Push for this and grab the opportunity when it arises – it will do you a power of good.

Copyright Michael Fabian 2008