At Napa Technology, over the last fifteen years, we have designed the WineStation and the WineStation Cellar to be the most advanced preservation system on the market that is not only the world’s easiest to operate beverage dispenser, but also the world’s smoothest consumer data collection technology. Before Napa Technology, there was no industry for self-serve wine. The demand for such a business didn’t exist because of the perceived mystery behind wine, but I, Napa Tech CEO Nick Moezidis, am here to discuss how the WineStation has the ability to make any sort of wine drinker feel like an expert.
Today, more and more millennials and post-millennials are drinking wine, almost at a faster rate than the baby boomers, and our technology is enabling these consumers to have a better drinking experience by raising the standard to the point where customers can expect the wine they order from a WineStation to be served exactly as the winemaker intended. The LCD feature on all WineStations can be programmed to include flavor profiles of each wine they dispense as well as recommendations for the best meals to pair with those wines. As a bonus feature, our machines also come with temperature control and a 60-day preservation guarantee.
How We Got to Now
The greatest impact the WineStation has had in the last decade is that fewer bad glasses of wine are being poured. Customers no longer have to commit to the expense of ordering a full pour of wine, and this option has really opened up the timid customer to exploring what varietals are out there. Whether the wine is being dispensed at a hotel, an art gallery, or directly from a wine bar, the WineStation is helping to demystify wine for the masses.
Wine drinkers tend to fall into three categories. Novice, every day, and enophile:
NOVICE WINE DRINKERS
Novice wine drinkers don’t order wine very often, and most can’t tell you very much about wine except what varietal is a red and what varietal is a white. The WineStation’s LCD information opens up novice drinkers to learn more about wines they’re interested in trying. Even for a customer who’s tasting wine for the first time can benefit, as the WineStation offers the option to pour 1oz samples, allowing every customer to try before they buy.
EVERYDAY WINE DRINKERS
Everyday wine drinkers obviously know they love a good glass of wine, but might not refer to themselves as experts. The aspirational benefit of the WineStation for everyday drinkers is, thanks to its 60-day preservation and temperature control features, everyday wine drinkers can be certain they are enjoying a glass of wine exactly as the winemaker intended, which only adds valuable information to customers that want to experience the best their wine of choice has to offer. The more familiar everyday customers are with the proper temperature and flavor profile of common varietals, the more likely those customers are to be confident in their language when discussing wine with serving staff, and the bolder they will be in their selections.
ENOPHILE CUSTOMERS
Enophile customers are enthusiastic wine connoisseurs. They know their wine and they know when their wine isn’t perfect. Enophile customers often aren’t interested in purchasing a glass of wine from a bottle that has already been opened, even that very morning, because enophiles can taste even the earliest presence of the oxidation effect. With the WineStation behind the bar, you can ensure enophile drinkers that the wine they order will be served as if just uncorked. And if they don’t believe you, then you can prove it with a 1oz sample.
Not only are we innovating how customers buy wines by the glass, we’re also innovating how bartenders and servers sell (and upsell) wine. With the WineStation it’s not necessary to hire a serving staff that has an extensive knowledge of wine, because the machine itself can be programmed to hold everything the staff needs to know in order to communicate with their customers. Business owners need only to enter the information, such as the aromas and flavors of each wine stored in the WineStation, in addition to the tannic, acidic, and alcoholic levels, and the staff is all set. We’re empowering servers to take control and confidently upsell to customers, knowing that the wines they suggest will fit their guests’ desires. And since the WineStation can also dispense wine at a perfect full or half glass pour, not only is less bad wine being served, less good wine is being wasted due to over-pouring.
What’s On The Horizon For Napa Technology?
The WineStation has equipped business owners to showcase their wine selections without worry that their wine inventory will be negatively affected. We want to move away from the bar set up the status quo, where the wine bottles are out on display behind the bar for customers to see, next to the liquor bottles and beer taps. Maybe this image is visually appealing to some, but this set up means most of the wine you order by the glass has been sitting out in a standard refrigerator, or at room temperature, all day with no attempt at temperature control or preservation. If those wine selections were, instead, stored in the WineStation, not only is all your available wine being preserved, but our machine is quite pleasant to look at behind the bar.
A good looking bartender, and a good looking WineStation. Now that’s a win for everybody.
Napa Technology has been working for years to be the leader in not only business technology, but business information. We’re working to own beverage dispensing behind every bar. Not just with wine, but for liquor and beer as well. We’ve recently wrapped up an agreement with Micros to integrate the WineStation with their point of sales system in restaurants and in hotels. In the future, we hope to see hotel guests that can purchase a glass wine in their hotel lobby with the swipe of a room key and have the purchase reflected on their final folio.
Over the last fifteen years, what I’ve learned about running a successful and profitable business is to build a qualified and dedicated team and then enroll that team as you make changes to your business operations. I couldn’t have created and sold the WineStation all by myself, and so mandating policies from the top down wouldn’t have incentivized my team to stick around long term, as so many have. I’ve always trusted in the efficiency of the people I work with, and together we’ve established repeatable processes based on methods that have proven to work for us. We’re all working towards the same principal goal with our collaborative best-known methods to be the leading company in software, integration, and innovation.
Innovate or die. That’s what we all say.
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Chief Executive Officer, Nick Moezidis, cultivated his breadth of multi-disciplinary talents and leadership at Fortune 500 companies such as Eastman Kodak, Hewlett Packard Co., and within successful start-ups Brocade Communications and Tasman Networks. Over the course of his thirty-one years of sales, support and marketing leadership, Moezidis has led numerous company and industry-leading innovations and new technologies. A graduate from Pepperdine, Moezidis heads Napa Technology with a sharp focus on creativity and results.