About Me

About me:

I am a Wine Manager. Expert in wine revenue enhancement strategies for hotels and restaurants. I deal with sales development and management for wineries.

Diplomas and Certificates:

Restaurant Wine Management course. On innovative strategies for wine sales, wine pricing methods and setting of correct mark ups, inventory and purchasing management, conjugation between beverage quality and business level, strategies for choosing suppliers and optimizing purchasing conditions , structure and presentation of a wine list, inventory turnover techniques.
At: UET Rome (European University of Tourism)

Professional courses for Sommeliers 1°, 2° and 3° level. On oenology; service techniques; tasting techniques; Italian, French, European and world enography; food/wine pairing techniques. With achievement of Professional Sommelier Diploma.
At: Ais (Italian Sommelier Association)

Sales Management Course. On: Sales techniques; Definition of the buyer persona and a sales process; Recruitment, training and coaching of Salepeople to develop an effective sales network; Monitoring and management of the results of the sales network; KPI analysis; Sales report processing; Use of CRM systems.
At: H.S. Accademy

Professional Bartender Course, on the organization of the workstation, product knowledge, correct use of equipment, professional pouring techniques, preparation of international cocktails in speed working, creation of cocktail menus.
At: Bar Academy of Bologna.

Professional Coffee Course: on the correct organization of the Bar Counter; knowledge of coffee products, cappuccino, hot and cold coffee drinks; correct grinding and dispensing; knowledge of the equipment and their correct use and maintenance.
At: Bar Academy of Bologna.

Skills:

I can collaborate with wineries:

-developing sales network for the horeca businesses, in a given area.  Recruiting and trainig salespeople.

-defining sales targets, buyer persona and sales process.

-managing the sales networkl and coaching the salespeople in order to achieve the set targets.

-dealing with continuous monitoring of the results, carring out analysis of the KPI, and processing periodic sales reports.

I collaborate with restaurant/hotel businesses, dealing with developing one, or more than one, of the following aspects:

-Set up strategies to increase sales of wine and other beverage products, with increased earnings that will grow constantly and become permanent over time.  Also creating new situations related to wine that can be of interest to regular customers and capable of attracting new customers.

-Study of pairings between the dishes on the menu and the wines on the list that best enhance their organoleptic characteristics.

-Designing a new wine list, in an orderly and professional manner, or perfecting an existing one, selecting the wines suited to the business, the territory, and which can best enhance the dishes of the proposed cuisine. Assigning the best selling price to each label, in relation to the business environment.

-Designing a new Cocktails menu, or improvement an existing one, which is aimed at the typical customer and the characteristics of the business.

-Organization of the wine cellar, in an effective and functional way for the working mechanisms, and which is suitable for the correct maintenance of the wines over time.

-Setting up of a wine inventory method and a wine order management method, aimed at keeping the cellar effective, functional, and with a good turnover of wines.

-Organization of wine tastings, or events with food-wine pairing menus, aimed at creating interesting events for the customer.

-Analysis of all the situations that prevent the full exploitation of the potential profit that wine can offer. Then setting up a series of corrective solutions aimed at counteracting these losses and bringing them close to zero.

Professional experiences:

I started working in the world of wine as a Sommelier in a wine shop, then expanding my experience to the world of business agent for wineries, and then working for years as a Sommelier in 4* and 5* hotels, and in restaurants also with Michelin star.

I then moved on to more management and organizational work in the roles of Bar manager in Hotels and Resorts, and of Maître d’ in 5 and 4 star hotels and restaurants, including those with Michelin star, in Italy and beyond, both for small companies and large international hotel groups. Then implementing my work with the activity of sales area manager for wineries.

Various experiences in the restaurant-hotel industry which, thanks also to specialization courses on management techniques and sales increase, have led me today to be able to collaborate with restaurants, hotels, and even large hotel chains. Taking care of bringing increases in sales, canceling losses in value, organizing the working mechanisms of restaurants and bars, optimizing purchases and storage of wine and other beverage products. And to be able to collaborate with wineries developing and managing a sales network in a defined area.

I authorize the processing of personal data provided by me, according to Legislative Decree 196/03.

Luca Faggion