CorkGuru is a digital wine platform designed to help restaurants enhance their wine program and create better guest experiences. Restaurants can better manage their wine inventory which drives sales for the beverage program and guests have the chance to receive a great experience with accessibility to the platform. The wine inventory system puts wine intelligence at your fingertips through dynamic digital wine lists, inventory management, guest inclusion features, and wine discovery.

CorkGuru today launched recently launched a digital wine platform blending the thrill of exploration people experience in wine label tracking apps with inventory management and business intelligence. The result: deeper, more profitable wine programs for restaurants, more tailored selections for guests, and guidance on new experiences to seek out.

The Pittsburgh-based company is already established with several top restaurants across the country, including the award-winning Bistecca Steakhouse & Wine Bar at the Meadows Racetrack in Pittsburgh and Chef Matt Harris’ Tupelo in Park City, Utah. The platform now launches more broadly, including a mobile app for guests.

“Restaurants often say ‘paper works’ when it comes to their wine lists, but there’s so much more we can unlock for both restaurants and guests,” said Danielle Gillespie, founder and CEO of CorkGuru.

“Typical wine lists can’t capture the moment a guest, craving a full-bodied cabernet, opts for something else because the price point is too high. Smarter wine lists can help restaurants guide guests to the experiences they crave, and those they don’t yet know about.”

Building smart wine cellars

Beverage programs used to drive restaurant profits. However, some reports indicate sales have slowed over the past few years, and restaurants now need to get smarter about managing lists and inventory to recapture that value. CorkGuru helps restaurants control this important revenue stream and improve the guest experience through:

Wine Cellar Builder – a web-based portal for real-time inventory management
Tableside tablet wine lists with dynamic wine descriptions and label images
Wine list data and business intelligence through a partnership with Upserve’s Breadcrumb POS

Simplifying wine ordering

According to a recent Boston Consulting Group survey, more than one-third of restaurant customers rank digital sources as the most influential for discovering restaurant information, and nearly 60 percent have downloaded one or more restaurant apps. CorkGuru helps restaurants cater to these more digitally-empowered guests through:

Scrollable and searchable wine entries on tableside tablets based on taste, color, varietal, preferences and food pairings
Mobile app allowing guests to locate their favorite wine nearby, build a profile and explore new varietals
Special wine promotions, news and invitations from favorite restaurants

“How many times have you been at a restaurant in a position to order wine, but not sure what you want, then feeling pressured to order, you default to something you know, rather than try something new,” said Gillespie. “There are too many good wines and interesting pairings to get stuck in this habit. CorkGuru aims to break guests free from the wine echo chamber.”