Wine industry typically does not have supply contracts in place (unlike coffee as they provide equipment), it’s just very hard to get your foot through the door.
Take for example a restaurant.
Restaurant A goes to Dan Murphies and buys wine.
Restaurant B has had a sales rep approach them (happens nearly weekly in Sydney) and offer them a range of wines that are unique to this group. They will then guide the restauranter into pairing wines / unique small batch wines and ones that are trending.
Restaurant B is typically a more classy establishment and you would find it more difficult ( not always) to find these wines off the shelf.
Once a rep gets his / her fingers into an establishment; if they are good they usually are held on to for a long period of time. (Typically 2-3 years; when someone is doing the work for you choosing the right wines why change right?)
As for larger Organisations who own numerous restaurants / cafes they would have a supply agreement directly to a larger supplier. Best example I can give is Merivale (Sydney) who have a license agreement with Lion; thus they do not serve VB at any of their establishments. In their wine department they actually have a full time somilier who hand picks their wines throughout their places. They are one of the largest hospo groups in Sydney.
It will be an interesting roadmap for Winedepot; really want to see how they target this saturated market and what will make them more unique than the existing reps / companies out there.
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