Jean-marc Jalbert, senior corporate director of food and beverage, Accor North and South America, stays focused on his knowledgeable and discerning guests.

How did you enter the food and beverage business and hotels in particular?
There was a small boutique hotel next to my house, and I started working there on weekends when I was 15 years old. I served breakfast in room service and helped the maids make the rooms. It was then that I developed a passion for the hospitality business.

What are the most important elements for a successful hotel beer, wine, and spirits program in 2008 and beyond?
The Sofitel Worldwide Beverage Program fits our targeted clientele profile, and we make sure to keep pricing rather conservative. Sofitel guests are “foodies” and have a great deal of knowledge about premium brands. Our success lies in being different from the competition with a list of “edge”cocktails specially created by a master mixologist and offering premium and super-premium wine flights in all Sofitel bars. Wines are also hand selected from small wineries (sometimes unknown) from all around the world.

What levels (premium, super-premium, ultra-premium) of beer, wine, and spirits do you mandate for Sofitel bars and restaurants in North and South America? How do you differentiate your policy between these regions and why?
We serve premium and super-premium brands at both North and South American Sofitel properties. Our bars are known for having a great bar program, and back bars are stocked with top ultra-premiums. We have recently rolled out a culture of freshly prepared cocktails with personal service, using only the freshest ingredients and premium or super-premium spirits.

Do you have a national beverage menu at all Sofitels in North and South America, or do you simply specify certain drinks and let hotels design and print their own menus? Are your beverage promotions local or national?
The format of our beverage menus is standardized to let guests discover a wine-by-the-glass menu with flights, a great “grazing” menu with food to savor with a great glass of wine. We also offer a “His & Hers” menu with specially crafted cocktails by Master Mixologist Ryan Magarian.

Wine flights seem to be attracting a great deal of interest around the world.What is your policy on wine flights?
Sofitel’s wine flights menu is generating lots of interest … and revenues. Our guests like to discover, compare, and sample—and have fun doing it. It is no surprise that wine flights are selling better every month. Guests can choose from our special wine flights menu or design their own flights from the entire wine list. They can compare a Cabernet from Napa with one from South Africa and a third from Bordeaux, served as two- or three-ounce portions. Each quarter we feature a “Grande Cuvée” wine flight, targeted at the connoisseur and the self-indulgent.

Wine training is one of the most important aspects of a wine program. Hotels may not spend enough on server training because they rationalize they are training servers who may soon be working for a competitor. What is your approach, and how do you ensure that training is being done well?
Training is the most important component of any successful wine program, after creating the menu. The truth is that training never stops. Each property has a wine expert or sommelier to supervise training. We use certain trainers from prestige distributors and producers, and this has proven useful. Providing the right training ensures a good experience for guests, and servers see a much better gratuity. Training is a big part of retaining our best staff. Those who pride themselves on serving guests professionally are eager to participate in any training we offer them.

Wine preservation is an issue whenever a hotel expands its by-the-glass and/or by-the-taste offerings to be competitive and respond to the growing demand of the traveling public for a wider selection of good wine values from which to choose. Do you specify a wine preservation system or let the decision be made at the property level? If you specify a system, does one shoe fit all, or do you draw on a variety of approaches?
To have a successful wine program, you must have a reliable wine preservation system. In 2006, we chose Le Verre de Vin, which we purchased for all North American properties. The system has proven to be excellent and keeps wines fresh for up to 21 days after the bottle is opened. This includes Champagne and sparkling wines.

What is special about your beer program? Are microbrews growing, and do you see a difference between those from the big brewers and the locals? Is the new luxury light category, as advanced by Heineken with Heineken Light, an important trend you support?
We do not sell a lot of domestic beer, but we do sell European beers. Heineken Light is a good seller, but I see microbreweries also working well. Our bartenders and servers play a big role in helping guests make their selection. If it is to be beer, they are fully informed about the local options of our selection.

While California wines are by far the largest-selling type in the United States, it is suggested that this will be the top imported wine market in the world by 2010. French exports to the United States increased in 2006 for the first time in years as a result of new packaging, more fruit-forward blends and varietals, and a greater awareness of how to speak to the U.S. wine-consuming public. As your core culture is French, how does this affect your wines-by-the-glass selection process?
Our brand is definitely French. Consequently, we carry around 25 to 35 percent French wines in inventory. Champagne is selling big again, by the glass and by the bottle. And because our clientele is so international, we have extended our wine portfolio to include magnificent single- vineyard wines produced in Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and Spain.

Five and then ten years from now, how do you see the hotel beer, wine, and spirits business changing? Will wine continue to increase its share of the beverage alcohol business in bars, restaurants, in-room dining, and banquets? Will the wine knowledge of restaurant managers, banquet sales managers, and servers be far greater? Will imported wines have a greater share of sales in the United States, or will California more or less maintain its market share?
I think wine will continue to grow, with the greatest growth occurring in premium and superpremium wines from all major regions of the world. French wines will finally be better understood in the United States as a result of new labeling and content as well as more precisely targeting the U.S. market. I see in-room dining wine sales exploding with carafes, glasses, and wine flights. Also, wine is considered a “must” for banquets; it is no longer an “option.” More premium wines from Argentina and Chile will compete with the best from California of similar quality. But the better value will be the imports.

What are your favorite wines and why?
This is a dangerous question as I have lots of friends in the beverage business and I do not want to offend anyone. The reality is that there are too many wines I love to begin mentioning even some of them. Of course, I have my favorites, which I nurture like precious, adopted children in my private cellar at home. But if you must know my personal wine secrets, the only way would be to steal into my cellar, and only I can unlock that door. Cheers!

Fred Tibbitts & Associates Inc. is a leading wine-by-the-glass consultant, working and promoting chains around the world. Contact Fred at fredbev@fredtibbitts.com.