Do you still buy bottles of wine? Have you considered the benefits of wine on tap?
To stay relevant and in business, bars and restaurants must adapt to changing customer needs while keeping an eye on their bottom line. This means researching current market trends, updating technology, and improving the consumer’s experience. One way to stay ahead and keep your customers, and your wallet, happy is to offer wine on tap.
Today’s post-pandemic customer is all about convenience, comfort, and cost. Market research shows these consumers want meliorations like to-go cocktails, roomy seating, and more bang for their buck. While you may have changed your business model and furniture arrangements, did you know the booming business of wine on tap offers better service with lower costs and increased sustainability?
Like hot water is essential to a kitchen, a modest wine menu is necessary for any bar, pub, or eatery. Most restaurants have a generous selection of wine kept in bottles on display or on a rack in the back. Yet wine bottles also have several well-known associated problems:
- Wine will go bad once a bottle is opened within a day or two, and the remaining product must be discarded.
- Bottles of wine take up a lot of space.
- Packaging wine in bottles is costly and produces a lot of waste, including cork and glass, not to mention the energy and pollution associated with production, transportation, and delivery.
However, wine-on-tap systems do not have these pitfalls. Wine on tap works much like beer on tap. Wine is produced, poured in stainless steel kegs instead of bottles, and shipped to retailers globally. Demand for kegged wine has steadily grown since Gotham Project, one of the first major wine draft producers, started offering it in 2010. From pubs to tasting rooms, the benefits of tapped wine can’t be ignored.
8 Benefits of Wine on Tap
We’ve seen the drawbacks of traditional wine bottles. Now, let’s look at the benefits of a wine draft system in your establishment.
1. Increased Sales
Wine sales are a massive part of a restaurant’s revenue. General wine sales in the US reached $107 billion in 2023, up 46% since 2018. Through wine events and marketing, you have the potential to increase your profit by offering wine-on-tap options. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2024 State of the Restaurant Industry report, “Demand for alcohol beverages in house and off premises, along with alcohol-focused events, such as wine tastings, clubs, and food/wine pairings, continue to garner popularity and grow sales.”
2. Reduced Cost
A wine draft system is easy to install since it takes up little space. With a bit of reorganization, areas for at least a couple of lines can be added to virtually any bar—especially when reducing the number of wine bottles needed on hand.
Consider all the money that goes down the drain every time a bottle of wine is opened but not sold within a day or two. A wine keg lasts longer than bottled wine and can save thousands of dollars in delivery and shipping costs. Here are a few key facts about the wine-on-tap keg system:
- Wine kegs equal huge financial savings.
- Each wine keg put in service saves two years’ worth of regular delivery driving expenses.
- Each keg is worth about 24 to 26 bottles of wine (or 2 cases) and is significantly cheaper than buying two cases of bottled wine.
Although setting up a wine-on-tap draft system may have initial costs varying from $800 to $5,000, this investment could save you considerable money. Switching from wine bottles to casked wine may pay for itself in a relatively short period. Keep in mind more wine companies are incorporating wine kegs for wine taps, and many of the wineries and wine tap installation companies offer incentives and discounts for getting in on this business model shift.
3. Cheaper by the Glass, Too
Wine on tap allows you to pass the savings on to your patrons by offering your tap wine at more attractive and competitive prices. People are more likely to spend $6 to $8 on a glass of wine instead of $10 and up. The more people buy, the easier it is to sell.
4. Wine Events
You can easily plan pairings and tastings without much upfront wine costs since you don’t have to open multiple bottles. You can also provide samples to those who want to try wine but aren’t sure what to get without cracking open expensive bottles.
5. Efficiency
As a bar or restaurant owner, you know that serving wine from a bottle can take time. From removing the foil to pulling out the cork, these minutes can add up during a server’s shift. Eliminate these inconveniences and inconsistent pouring volumes with wine on tap.
6. Better Taste
There are 6 main reasons wine in kegs offer great flavor:
- Longevity: Keg wines can last indefinitely without a loss in taste and can last three months once opened. On top of that, the wine stays fresh from the first to the very last glass poured. Open wine bottles go bad in a day or two and must be discarded.
- No corks: Kegs don’t have corks, so you avoid trichloroanisole contamination (TCA), also known as “cork taint.” You also don’t have to worry about corks splitting, leaking, chipping, or finding a corkscrew!
- No uncontrolled oxidation: Uncontrolled or over-oxidation is the enemy of wine drinkers and bar owners. It can create a wine that tastes flat or has a vinegar flavor. It ruins open bottles of wine, creating a tremendous amount of waste. Kegged wine never sees an uncontrolled oxygen influx due to the airtight sealed kegs, which prevents oxidation. You won’t be wasting money and products due to oxidation again.
- Bottle Service: For wines that “need to breathe” a little before drinking (controlled oxidation), you can still offer bottle service by using carafes filled from wine casks.
- Availability: Wine on tap is not a small market. You can find kegs available from major wineries around the world. Cask wines range from premium names to handcrafted local offerings.
- Consistency: Wine kegs offer consistent flavor, unlike bottled wines of the same type.
These six factors are essential because many patrons can tell when wine has gone bad. If your bartenders serve a bad-tasting glass of wine, the customer is less likely to order a second… and they may never order another glass of wine from your establishment again.
NOTE: Make sure your customers understand that keg wine is very different from boxed wine. It is not cheap wine, and people won’t be disappointed by the flavor.
7. Eco-Friendly
Wines on tap are about as green as you can get! People are more environmentally conscious than ever and make many decisions based on sustainability. Customers will support a business because of their green efforts. A few critical eco-friendly facts about kegged wine include:
- Kegs are reusable, reducing your carbon footprint by over 90% (vs. bottled wine).
- Reduces CO2 emissions in production and shipping.
- No more corks, bottle production, bottling, and labeling waste.
- Less deforestation, harm to the ozone layer during production, manufacturing, and recycling stages.
- Kegged wine is close to being 100% waste-free.
Inform the public of these cool wine-on-tap facts and explain why your bar decided to upgrade. Your customers are sure to find it exciting and appreciate your efforts.
8. Refocused Marketing
Use your wine draft system as a central advertising focus for those excited to try the “next new thing.” Since the word “keg” is more often associated with beer, appeal to wine enthusiasts with creative phrases like “cask wine” or “poured from the cask.”
Wine on tap is more than a trend – it is becoming the new way to provide an environmentally friendly, reduced-cost, better-tasting customer experience.
We encourage you to research wine on tap before deciding whether or not it’s best for your fine-dining or fast-casual restaurant or bar. Look up neighborhood reviews about nearby bars offering wine on tap to see how much the locals love it.
If you want to learn more about wine kegs and wine-on-tap systems, visit:
Part of customer satisfaction is paying attention to health and safety. In the bar and restaurant industry, hot water is crucial to the well-being of your staff, customers, and bottom line. Reliable Water Services offers 24/7 professional attention to your water heaters when you need it, from questions to emergency repairs. If your water heater is insufficient and doesn’t meet the codes for sanitation, or if you have any other concerns, contact us today at 1-800-356-1444.
