Innovative tool expands options for bar and restaurant owners, and gives consumers easy access to a whole new world of wine
January 6, 2020, TORONTO, Ont. — As Ontario enters a second economic lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners in the hospitality sector are looking for answers to help keep their businesses viable.
Unable to allow patrons to come in for sit-down dining, they are challenged to find new avenues to reach consumers. Part of their solution may be found in the somm™ Marketplace, an innovative new tool on the newly launched somm app that not only creates a new connection between business owners and their customers, but also gives the business more control of their economics in using a mobile platform for expanding their reach.
“somm connects its users to restaurants, bottle shops, hotels and existing wine agencies that have an ecommerce presence, with distribution and delivery already part of their service,” says Jennifer Stasiewich, Founder and Chief Executive of somm. “We work closely with the full wine ecosystem, from wineries to agencies to restaurants, hotels and bottle shops. Our platform is highly scalable and reception from the wine community has been tremendous thus far. Users are also really excited about having a way to easily discover wines they can’t typically find at the de facto big box store. Plus, we have an ecommerce platform that works and our partners typically deliver in less than a week.”
The value of somm Marketplace is that it provides a channel for bars and restaurants to continue selling wine, which is a much higher margin item than food.
And it does so with a smaller commission than would be paid via food delivery apps, putting more money in the pockets of the business owners.
“We’ve designed the whole company to be scalable, mutually accretive and mutually complementary to our partners. It needs to be a win-win and we really care about our relationships,” says Jennifer. “somm Marketplace gives consumers access to merchants they may not have known existed, and gives them access to a full range of wines that you simply can’t buy at the LCBO. It is really approachable and accessible to everyone.”
Learn more about somm™ at bethesomm.com; or join the somm™ social community on Instagram @bethesomm, Twitter @bethesomm or Facebook at /bethesomm.
