Under the Influence in the news
We have been making a few headlines here and there, and wanted to fluff out our feathers and share some of the news and links here.
News24: WINE BUSINESS | What would Stoffel do? Under the Influence in Africa
The revolutionary digital wine training and distribution company, Under the Influence, celebrates its 16th year in Africa this year.
Now, with 47 staff members across four regional offices in Africa, they operate in 26 African and a few Asian countries, training staff in exchange for curating and distributing fine wine in Africa.
Their unique business model offers digital training solutions for servers, wine advisors and retail team members across Africa, and has resulted in 28 000 graduates in return for curating and distributing premium SA wines in a variety of game lodges, hotels, restaurants, wine clubs, and small retail spaces across the continent.
Wineland: At home in Belfield
"Through the two companies – Under the Influence and Beverage Intelligence – they’re able to empower waiters, managers, and sommeliers to become coaches within their own organisations throughout Africa. They set up offices in Zambia, Mauritius and Kenya, and Allister was travelling about 200 days of the year at one point.
The companies are active in 25 countries on the continent, with 25 000 waiters in training. “We view our brands and customers as partners,” says Allister. “We can’t set up a bottle store in every village in Africa, so we need customers who can work with us across long distances. Our philosophy is to add value to everyone.”
Wine Enthusiast: South African Winemakers Share Glimmers of Hope Amid the Likely Smallest Harvest in Over a Decade
Still, the prognosis of the South African wine market moving forward isn’t as bleak as the numbers might indicate, says Allister Kreft, CEO of Under the Influence, a South African wine distribution and education company.
“I believe the quality grapes and wine from the 2023 vintage will move through the system toward bottled wine production, sustaining our bottled wine export markets,” he says. “I think that what’s going to happen is that the majority of the pressure is actually going to be on the bulk side of things,” he says.
South Africa, Kreft notes, sells about 60 percent of their volume in bulk wine, or wine that is produced and put into large containers and bottled for overseas markets. The United States, he says, is a substantial market for bulk wine shipped from South Africa. But he has some hope for that market, too.
“The quality of the product is there, it’s exceptional,” he says. “I hope that some of the impact is to actually draw some of that bulk wine into more bottled, more premium products.”
Travel and Leisure Asia: Why Some Of The World's Best Wines Can Only Be Found At High-End Safari Lodges
Other operators are also responding to the demand, says Allister Kreft, the CEO of Under the Influence, a firm that supplies high-end wine to leading safari companies. “People are willing to explore wine more,” Kreft observes.
Recently, his firm worked with Angama Mara, a 30-room safari lodge in Kenya, to develop a new wine list that focuses on African bottlings and also to help educate staff on the finer points of the labels on offer. “The wines guests find here are going to be different from the ones they have at home,” says Adlight Muhambi, one of Angama’s butlers, who has become the property’s unofficial sommelier.
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