How to sell wine and spirits to the venues that pour them
How to sell wine, a spirit or a ready-to-drink comes down to two kinds of buyer: the bars, restaurants and hotels that pour it, and the bottle shops that sell it to take home. Alcohol also brings rules that other drinks do not. This page covers both. Other categories are on our by-category page.
On-premise or off-premise first?
On-premise venues (bars, restaurants, hotels) put your bottle in front of drinkers who can taste it, and a good bartender sells it for you. Off-premise stores (bottle shops, independent liquor stores) give you shelf volume once people know the name. Most new brands start on-premise in one city, then follow with bottle shops nearby.
Independent venues beat chains early on. A chain's buying is centralised and slow; an independent bar manager can say yes this week. A city full of independent bars and bottle shops is a better first market than one dominated by a few chains, even if it looks smaller on a map.
Who to email
At a bar or restaurant, the bar manager or F&B manager decides what goes on the back bar, then the general manager, then the owner. At an independent bottle shop it is usually the owner or the buyer. We look for that person at each venue rather than a shared accounts inbox.
What a bar manager wants from the email
Bar managers get pitched constantly, mostly by large brands with big reps. What makes a small brand stand out is relevance: a line about the cocktail your spirit would improve, the gap it fills on their list, or the local story their guests would ask about. Keep it short, plain and free of attachments, and make the ask a tasting, not a meeting.
Timing matters too. Hospitality is slammed on Friday and Saturday nights and over the holidays, so the first email lands best early in the week, and outreach is easier outside the busiest season.
The rules alcohol brings
In many places a brand cannot simply post free alcohol to a venue, so make the ask in your emails a tasting, not free stock. If you tell Flow you cannot send free samples, the replies it suggests never offer one: a venue that asks to taste it is offered a tasting through your rep or distributor instead. You read and send every reply yourself. What the law allows where you sell is for you and your adviser to confirm; we do not give legal advice.
In Australia, we do not search liquor stores at all, for regulatory reasons. Bars, restaurants and hotels can still be searched there.
How the outreach works
Pick one city and one venue type. We find the venues that fit your bottle and the buyer at each, and write every email around that venue: its menu, its crowd, and where your drink would sit on it. Emails go out from a separate sending domain we set up for you. Follow-ups stop the moment a venue replies, and you take it from there.
Jagiya Soju went from no venues to more than 100 deals across New Zealand bars and bottle shops (case study). Solbevi's limoncello spritz found 30 interested restaurants, bars, hotels and ski lodges from 414 contacted (case study).
Non-alcoholic spirits too
Alcohol-free spirits sell to the same bars and restaurants, plus health food shops and wellness stores, without the sample rules. Terps & Co, a terpene-based non-alcoholic spirit, had 13 buyer replies from health and wellness retailers across New Zealand (case study). Other drinks are covered on our page for beverage brands, and makers of bar snacks may also want snack brands.
To see which venues near you would fit, see who would stock you.
Questions brands ask
Can you offer free samples of alcohol?
That depends on the law where you sell, which is for you to check. If you tell Flow you cannot, the replies it suggests never offer one, and a venue that asks to taste it is offered a tasting through your rep or distributor.
Do you search bottle shops in Australia?
No. Liquor store search is switched off in Australia for regulatory reasons. Bars, restaurants and hotels can still be searched there.
Who do you email at a bar?
The bar or F&B manager first, then the general manager, then the owner. We look for a named person, not a shared accounts inbox.
Do I need a distributor before I start?
Not to start the conversations, but venues will ask how to order. Know your answer before the first reply.
Does it work for non-alcoholic spirits?
Yes. They reach the same bars and restaurants, and also health and wellness stores, without the sample rules.
