I’ve been thinking of pairing beers with food items on my menu.  Is anyone doing anything like this?  Do you price them together or separately?  Thanks.  

I know of this retaurant here at Singapore who does these (Beers and Burger). Mostly pubs who has sporting events. Big Draw everytime! 

Hey Franco! Is the pairings priced separately or is it like a value package?

I’ve been seeing a lot more pairings on menus.  We’ve tried it with our restaurant.  We usually list a wine for each entree.  People seem to like not having to think too hard about what to order.  We’ve notice that it’s helped our check average.  Once they have the suggestion, they’re more likely to order wine.

Linda, that sounds like a great idea.  See how you can get even more out of your menu in our article in the Red Hot News section of the site and on our website.

I have done pairings before with good success, depending on type of event you can get a good draw with right demographic. Partner up with your distributors to assist in marketing the event.

 It’s not uncommon to see $100 per person rates and $130-$150 when you add in a wine pairings. I mean this is food cost 101 there is no reason why you could not start out at $30 – $100/person.  As far as what makes the difference between a $30 and $100 dinner, I think it should be the quality of the meal and beverages served.               

I think there are 2 levels.  Pairings of individual items and tasting menus.  I think that pairings help to “inspire” my customers to order a drink where they may not have.  We’ve using tasting menus as more of a promotion and doing them on a mix or match basis.  Wednesday evenings we do a reduced price tasting menu.  It’s helped up drive business on an otherwise slow day.

Pairing is a great practice which will increase your check averages. It is very important to pair correctly though. Make sure your servers are educated on the wine/beer/cordial.

Let’s face it: a vast majority of customers is more than happy if a professional chef or maitre is guiding them through the food and wine menu. And especially when it comes to pairing, most people feel completely inadequate. As blacksheep is saying: it’s great for the check average. But we should also not forget: this can really enhance peoples dining experience! ….if staff knows what they are talking about…