| Wine production has increased substantially in recent years in Texas. Wines from Texas have begun winning awards at national and international events. Despite these factors, many wineries have considerable difficulty selling wine through distribution channels or getting restaurants to include local wines in their menus.; Restaurant industry represents a significant sales potential for the wine industry since the two industries virtually use their products to complement each other. The two industries can increase their sales by helping increase the sales of each other.; There is little or no research on restaurateurs' attitudes of wine training, local wines, and wine suppliers based on the investigation of the training, product and service attributes. If winery managers, wine distributors, and wine marketing associations that promote regional wines can better understand the importance of these various attributes on restaurateurs attitudes, then these individuals can focus on those attributes to develop wine sales in the restaurant market.; Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the influences of various attributes affecting restaurateurs' attitudes toward wine training, local wines, and wine suppliers. The questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 1800 restaurants with mixed-beverage licenses in the state of Texas.; The research empirically examined the following questions: (1) Which training attributes influence restaurateurs' attitudes toward wine training? (2) Which product attributes influence restaurateurs' attitudes toward local wines? (3) Which service attributes influence restaurateurs attitudes toward wine suppliers? (4) Does the attitude toward local wines have any effect on the actual amount of local wines purchased? (5) What types of restaurants offer better opportunities for local wines?; Factor analysis was performed that compared training, product and service attributes to overall attitude toward wine training, local wines and wine suppliers respectively. The results revealed that location, flexibility and frequency were most significantly related to attitude toward wine training. Taste, variety and compatibility were most significantly related to attitude toward local wines. Friendliness, product availability and reliability were most significantly related to attitude toward wine suppliers.; There was a significant positive relationship between attitude toward local wines and the amount of local wines purchased. Medium-casual-independent and medium-fine dining-independent restaurant type categories offered most significant opportunities for local wineries to target. Attitudes had a significant impact on local wine purchases, and investigation of these attitudes revealed that some attributes were more important than others and some restaurant types offered better opportunities for local wines than others.; Replication of this study in other newly wine-growing regions of the country is recommended. Further research is needed that will take attitude determination a step further and predict behavior from attitude so that we can better understand the purchasing behavior of restaurateurs by linking the two concepts together. |
