These help sell more wine and can subtly steer customers towards selecting your more profitable items. Check wine labels, catalogues and wine magazines for words and inspiration. While we would love our servers to know all the wines and take time with recommendations, the fact is that most times the list must do the selling.

People love recommendations, so make sure all staff have them ready to offer. Increase staff knowledge with regular tasting designed across varieties, e.g. Rieslings in one session and merlots in another, rather than just the offering of one supplier. The Wine Tasting Wheel from Aroma Dictionary is a great training resource.

There's only one rule - offer great value and charge as much as you can. You may have bought a pallet of unknown but great-tasting wine for $4 per bottle - who says you can't sell it for $22?

Most suppliers offer 'restaurant-only' wines - check the quality and choose these ahead of the brands offered at the local liquor store.

It is not just the cheap choice, but several that have quality and value. It's surprising how easy it is to have these labeled, often in fairly small quantities while you test the market.

Don't forget to have several higher-priced offers (memo to clubs!). If someone is being taken out for a special celebration or to impress, the host probably wants something that costs a little more to show they care. What do you suggest?

If you don't sell the whole bottle within two days, it may be losing you money. How many half-full bottles do you have sitting there going stale? An investment in proper wine-storage technology may be a wise move.

Listing from cheapest to dearest reduces profitability - the first bottle in a section will always sell more, so make sure it's one with a high profit-margin. The other important wines are your second dearest and second cheapest, so choose them with care.

Cash, food and alcohol are all prime targets for staff with money or alcohol problems. Spot-checks will remind staff that you are watching and checking. Accuracy in Point-of-Sale use is vital, so close off the 'Open Item' key that's used when staff can't locate the correct key. Take great care with transfers between departments - the Transfer Book can be the source of much sleight of hand.

If you sell $2,000 (wholesale value) worth of wine in a week and you are holding $12,000 worth of stock, it's taking six weeks to turn the stock - too long for a small operation. Trim your stock-holding and order more regularly. Most operators don't actually know how much cash is in the cellar.