Board Retreat- Aug. 2021

Laying the Foundation

Wine & Food Affair
- 40 wineries agreed to host based on survey
Website updated with 2022 event dates
Assessments have gone out
- 80 wineries | 19 lodgings – renewed to date
- 26 wineries | 7 lodgings – outstanding
- 7 wineries not renewing
Visitor Survey – information on ticket prices, preferences etc.
- 1,300 responses interested in special offers
$12K sponsor from Healdsburg Tourism – social media posts, event tickets, podcast guests, consumer newsletter
Perks and Privileges – re-evaluated; looking at application with subscription option and special offers
Wine Road special newsletter – Road Runner. Consider re-starting?
- Mobile Up – member subscription service, customized by Wine Road
- Another option is a Sebastopol business offering an app that can be managed by wineries and Wine Road

Wine Road Subscription Plan

Next Steps

Beth will meet with a couple board members to plan out the approach

We are bringing the Wine Road to you
Quarterly wine shipments plus a monthly fee for membership
Top tier – One bottle wine/week + event tickets
Messaging/Podcasts talk about wines from quarterly shipments
Special events held in certain regional areas
Could create wines you can only get through Wine Road
Reach out to Bottle Barn about interest in partnership
Need to address the compliance issues [Wine Connect]. Shipping? Customer service?
Partner needs to be a quality organization
Core issue is dealing with customer experience. It is a Wine Road process and service.
Need to keep DTC wines protected by wineries. Specific products for the Wine Road offering.
How to continue to bring in new customers
- Variety of shipment will bring in new customers plus retain them
Need to look at varietals offered in each shipment

Corporate Connections

Make corporate connections with a percentage to Wine Road
Use Wine Road connections to reach corporate entities
Clearinghouse for corporate entities to come to one location to refer to wineries. A conduit. Make the connection.
Premium for access or a percentage back to Wine Road
Link on website for corporate gifting program
Reach out to local businesses about offerings
Benefit for Wine Road members – diversification of Wine Road offerings
Under COVID, the business model for engagement is different. We are seeing increased interest from corporations for online events.
Reach out to corporate executive assistants to offer the services to corporate events
What is standardized approach to ensure it meets the Wine Road customer experience expectation?
- Beth coordinates initial referrals to members
How to make it equitable for Wine Road member participants?
- How are wineries selected by the corporation?
Short-term plan – website page – is there business case for offerings?
Long-term – corporate outreach
- Greater investment of time to reach out to corporate
Virtual offerings -component
Onsite offerings – another component
Website – outline concierge services

Next Steps

Staffing Needs

Events: Wine and Food Affair

Can’t run the organization on events alone
Event reimbursement – Idea $2/pp up to maximum customer service levels/capacities
If the event is canceled there is no reimbursement
No guarantee on reimbursement at this point
Pricing – $150/weekend | $110 Saturday only | $70 Sunday only
- 30-40 wineries
- Food not as good
- COVID restrictions
- Reservation system will help
Change the name W/F Affair “Lite”
- $50/day or $60 Saturday | $40 Sunday. $75, $65/day
- 2-day event
- Food both days (2 days)
  - Cap number of wineries you can attend in a day – 5 (factor in drive time)
- $75/day with 5 bookings
Lower spaces available on Saturday; higher on Sunday
Close ticket reservations earlier so you can get a better event count?
- Buy early to get wineries you want.
- Close on October 26
No reimbursements
Food item listed in the program
No recipe required; encouraged
500 ticket sales target
Same weekend in November (first weekend)
Beth will come up with new potential names and share with Board.

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