Maeve Pesquera is the national director of wine at the 66-unit Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. Additionally, she oversees the Tampa, Fla.-based chain’s overall beverage program.
Fleming’s operates in urban and suburban markets in 28 states, serving a wide range of customers and giving Pesquera a broad perspective on drink trends in the steakhouse segment. She recently shared her observations with Nation’s Restaurant News.
You’ve had a WinePad — a tablet-based wine list — for a couple of years now. How is that working out?
Every wine has a label and tasting notes that you can email to yourself. So if the guest finds a wine that they’re in love with, or wants to show off to their friends that they’re having a great bottle, they can email them.
Can they post it on social media?
That’s on the list of enhancements we’re working on.
Do you change the WinePad’s offerings in different markets?
We don’t, but we definitely look at the data of what’s happening with the WinePad and what’s happening with our sales and listening to our wine managers and operating partners to adjust the content of the WinePad to suit our guests’ needs.
What wine trends are you seeing these days?
We’re seeing a ton of growth in the sparkling section. It’s more than just Champagne or Prosecco. They’re learning about different variations like Cava, I just added a Franciacorta to the list. That’s the beauty of having 100 wines by the glass: We can play and have fun and speak to different people wherever they are on their journey with wine.
With 100 wines by the glass, what technology do you use to keep the wine fresh? Do you just pour a lot of wine?
We do pour a lot of wine, but we also use a flash vacuum system after every pour. It essentially is a special stopper, and we have a handle that kind of looks like a soda gun handle that’s mounted at several places along the bar, and after [the bartenders] pour they put the stopper back in and out comes the air. It takes just a second. We used to use argon gas back in the beginning, and we found this system to be more effective.
Besides sparkling wine, what are your customers interested in?
I see a lot of interest in global reds and exploring the wines of the world. In fact, sitting at the bar at Fleming’s, we can take you to many different countries through the glass, and that’s fun for a lot of people. For people who are less apt to explore, we see much more interest in exploring within what they’re comfortable with, so whereas traditionally people might say, “I like this kind of Chardonnay,” now they know they like Chardonnay from a particular region, and we can guide them through Chardonnays in that region. So we can help them through their comfort zone find other things that they like.
And then maybe introduce them to a region with a similar style of Chardonnay?
Yep, the gateway to more pleasure. We’re also seeing a lot of people who are drinking less wine at dinner but expanding their price point [per glass]. The same is holding true with spirits. We’re seeing that people may have one or two less glasses, but they’re willing to spend more to have a higher-end, experiential drink.
How does that affect your profitability? Don’t lower-priced drinks tend to be more profitable?
It depends on the category, but we’re not too concerned with every single glass’s profitability. We’re concerned with the program as a whole, and if the blended amount equals what we need, then we’re good with that. The overall health of the program is still intact.
What trends do you see in cocktails?
We see people expanding within the craft world. They want to know who made it, or at least feel like they know who made it and feel connected with the person who made it. We still see with some of our guests that they stay with the tried-and-true: They know what they want and they order that. But with a large majority of our customers we’re seeing a shift toward authenticity and craft spirits. We’re also seeing dark spirits, and not just bourbon anymore. We’re seeing a lot of movement with [aged] tequila and interest in rum. I think the dark spirits craze started with Scotches and bourbons and now is expanding beyond that to tequila and rum.
What about brandy?
I think we’re not totally there yet, but people are learning more. All the information is so accessible. People can glean enough information on the Internet to be able to say next time, “Hey, what about this?” which creates conversation, which creates demand. It’s the best feeling in the world to introduce something new to someone.
With craft beer, do you localize your offerings?
Yes, we have to. We ask the restaurants to bring in local seasonal and local craft [beers] and support them in that. Additionally, I’ve put on as many craft beers as I can get nationally, and then we ask them to enhance that as local as possible — like, the [beer maker] down the street is good — as well as whatever works within their region and what their guests are asking them for.
More cocktail trends
Are the mainstream lagers still the bestsellers?
It depends on where you are. We’re looking at a huge cross-section of the market, and we’ve definitely seen an erosion of those major beers and seen some up-and-coming new players. Like, as soon as we put Lagunitas on the national list it became our best-selling beer. Like, overnight. So the power of that nod to craft is an important halo for beer these days.
And from what I understand the cost of mainstream lagers is going up and the cost for many craft beers is going down, and you can charge more for craft beer, so that’s a win.
It’s a win for the consumer, not so much maybe for the big beer companies. But it’s a big pie and everyone can have their piece.
Do most Fleming’s customers drink something?
Yes. We did add a spirit-free section last year that’s been very well received. But most people do drink something [alcoholic], and a lot of our guests have several somethings, whether they start with one kind of wine and move into another, or start with a cocktail and then move into a wine with their meal.
What are some of your non-alcoholic offerings?
We have an elderflower fizz [elderflower syrup and sparkling water] and an orange and tangerine house-made soda [with orange and tangerine juice and tangerine syrup topped with sparkling water]. It’s just refreshing and light and floral and beautiful and delicious. We didn’t want to make them overly complex because you’re looking for great flavors, something refreshing and generally citrusy. My kids were the taste testers of all these sodas. They’re very proud of that.
What are your customers interested in when it comes to cocktails?
Seasonal. Last year we did things like sangria for the four seasons. Same thing with different tequila gimlets. The winner of the seasonal gimlets [in terms of sales] was the passion fruit gimlet, so that’s going back on the menu in October as a mainstay cocktail. With sangria, we did blood orange sangria with Zinfandel wine and a little bit of cinnamon in the winter. Beautiful Moscato grapes in the summer. We used the same base [wine and vodka] with some seasonal ingredients. Very simple recipes, easy to execute and delicious.
We did four versions of the Moscow Mule as well. The seasonal winner of that was the peach, so that’s on our core menu now.
Do people steal Moscow Mule mugs?
Not as much as we think they do. I decided early on not to worry about that. If they did, they think about Fleming’s any time they use it, and that’s a win.
What else is trendy with cocktails?
Interesting garnishes. We’re way beyond a lemon twist or an orange twist. Spice [is trendy], too. In the summer we did a Spicy Piña Margarita. It was ancho chile liqueur with pineapple juice and reposado tequila. I had a beautiful custom garnish made for that: a chile-infused sugar rim. It was beautiful. It was bright orange, and it also came with a bright orange swizzle stick that was candy, so you could have a bite. It was really enticing to look at.
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