The engagement
We stage the process so that at every step, the analysis ties back to the spirit of your concept.
The process
A 30-minute conversation, by phone or video. No deck, nothing to prepare.
By the end, we both know whether there's work worth doing together. If yes, the next step is a free written diagnostic. If no, that's an honest answer too.
A written one-page read of your program, built from the call and whatever you can share — a photo of the list, a POS export, the food menu.
Free, no commitment. The deeper analysis comes in the work itself.
If the diagnostic surfaces real work, you get a written proposal — the shape that fits the room, with its scope, deliverables, and timeline.
You pick the shape, or you decline. Both are normal.
Work starts inside two weeks of signing. The cadence depends on the shape, but the rhythm is the same:
You always know what's happening, why, and what's next.
Every engagement ends with a written recap — what changed, what worked, what the math shows.
The offer
Click into any shape to see what it is, what's included, and when it fits.
What it is
A one-time analytical audit of your existing program — list, BTG, POS data, source mix, pricing architecture, staff sellability — followed by a written deliverable and a readout with whoever should be in the room.
What's included
When it fits
You want a hard look without committing to ongoing work — or you've got a specific moment coming, like a renovation, a new chef, or a distributor change, and you want one clean set of answers.
What it is
A 12-month partnership with four quarterly touchpoints, each tied to the season's reality — spring refresh, summer and rosé, fall and harvest, holidays. The Snapshot happens at Q1; the next three quarters move the list with the menu and the room.
What's included
When it fits
The default for any room with a seasonal menu — the list shouldn't sit still while the food moves. You want ongoing work but don't need monthly cadence.
What it is
A 12-month partnership with monthly cadence. Everything in Seasonal, plus implementation execution and deeper source-mix and pricing work — not a list of moves handed over, someone executing them with you.
What's included
When it fits
Wine is a real lever for the business and you want it run that way — monthly tempo, with someone executing rather than handing you a list.
What it is
One concept, several locations. We build the program once and roll it out across the rooms, calibrating each to its own neighborhood and guests so the concept stays itself everywhere.
What's included
When it fits
A growing concept that wants one coherent wine approach across its rooms without flattening what makes each one work.
What it is
A restaurant group with more than one brand. We work across the portfolio, brand by brand, with a shared analytical backbone underneath so each program stands on its own and the numbers still roll up to one place.
What's included
When it fits
A group that wants each brand's program to stand on its own while the math rolls up to one view.
Most operators start with a Snapshot. If you keep going, it folds into a Seasonal or Annual partnership — you build on the same analysis, you don't start over — and the same approach scales out to a multi-location concept or a full portfolio.
Before you book
A distributor rep is paid to sell their book — that's the structure, not a knock. The wines they recommend are the wines they can place.
Decanteur sells nothing: no inventory, no distributor commissions. You pay us, and our recommendations span every importer and distributor in your market — including the small ones who can't afford a full-time rep.
We also lean on your point-of-sale and inventory data to support the analysis, so the read is about your program, not someone's portfolio. Our goal is to help you work with your distributor in the way that best helps your wine list.
Anywhere in Southern California — Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Greater LA down through Orange County to San Diego and out to Palm Springs is our book of business.
Outside that area? Reach out anyway — we'll see if we can work something out together.
Yes — and as a first step we want to talk to your rep together with you, not around you. We think that's a key part of the process, rather than working over the owner-operator's head.
We'll have the rep in the conversation, explain our role, and work with them to make sure what we set up for the restaurant is the best possible fit.
You own them. Everything we write — the analysis, the deck, the list deltas, the staff one-pagers — belongs to you. We retain the right to reference anonymized findings, but your restaurant's name and numbers stay yours unless you explicitly opt in to a named case study.
That's the Snapshot. Designed exactly for that case.
If the discovery call and diagnostic don't surface real work, we say so. That's a free outcome — you've spent a 30-minute call and gained a written read of your program, which is useful either way.
If the math is borderline — there's some recoverable margin, but not enough to justify the work — we'll tell you that too. The return has to clear the cost. If it doesn't, the engagement is the wrong move and we won't take it.
Snapshot recommendations are typically implementable inside 30–60 days. Most pricing moves show up on the next list reprint, and by-the-glass repositioning shows up in the POS data inside two months.
Seasonal and Annual cadence are built to compound — you see the first move quickly, the next quarter builds on it, and the lift recap at month 12 is where the math gets sized.