How Vinify has reduced Francesco Marzola's stocktake times by 50%
Ambassaden’s Francesco Marzola has been named the Best Sommelier of Norway and the Nordics, and was one of the first wine directors in the world to start using Vinify – in fact, he contributed to its early development, helping to shape it into a tool that fellow sommeliers can now rely on. So what’s all the fuss about? And how does it work in practice? We talked to a man in the know about the app revolutionising cellar management.
Partner story with Vinify.
Advanced Sommelier Francesco Marzola is the Wine Director for Ambassaden, the former American Embassy in Oslo which these days houses a banqueting department and three restaurants – Eero, Frances and Vinland – the latter winning one Gold Star at Star Wine List of the Year Norway 2024 in October, plus four Silvers. It makes Marzola’s crew keen contenders in the Best Newcomer category at this year’s Star Wine List of the Year International Final, which will take place in June – we can't wait to welcome them to Vienna. And he is no stranger to awards success himself, having won 2018’s Best Sommelier of the Nordics and 2020’s Best Sommelier of Norway competitions, along with strong performances at the Best Sommelier of Europe 2024 and the latest edition of Best Sommelier of the World, in 2023.
Marzola was previously at the luxury retreat Park Hotel Vossevangen in Voss (another veteran Star Wine List of the Year winner), where he met Jon Trygve Hegnar, Founder and CEO of Vinify. He had a few “suggestions” for Hegnar’s early versions of the app back in 2022, offering to help with “the restaurant side” of the tool by explaining the challenges to which sommelier teams are constantly seeking solutions.
“I saw the potential to have a tool in the future that would make the counting easier and more efficient and precise than ever before,” says Marzola. We asked him a few questions about developing Vinify, and what it’s like for teams to use.
What's your wine program philosophy?
“My philosophy is to create a highly interesting, deep, challenging wine selection, that will make it difficult to order as there are so many good choices. And to ensure it's all available – so not just a collection of unreachable wines. I believe that at any time, regardless of knowledge, budget or occasion, a guest in our venue should be able to find a good bottle of wine, perhaps not from the most famous producer or area, but nonetheless high quality.”
When creating a cellar management system, what are your own priorities?
“Easy interface, ready to use, and easy to keep an overview as well as spotting any errors; communicative with the POS so that the counting happens automatically; easy to manage in day-to-day operations; and providing easy access for our guests to the wine list.”
How does Vinify fulfil those?
“In all points.”
How long have you been using Vinify?
“I've actually been a part of the development support since the beginning, since my time at Park Hotel Vossevangen. I helped proactively to develop with inputs and suggestions, as well as forming the tools available today through constant communication with the team working on this project.”
Which elements of Vinify do you use?
“We have it integrated in our POS system, so I do use a lot the functionality of creating items in it through Vinify. I also use the stock-counting system at Eero, the by-the-glass count in all the restaurants, and of course the wine list function.”
What's the most useful one?
“For me, the most useful thing is the wine list creation, that keeps it up to date – live – and allows me to have it available online without having to constantly keep it up to date.”
How does the wine list creation element work?
“Basically, it automatically generates a wine list, using the details of the wine, where it’s from, producer, price, vintage and so on. You can either use the default categories, or create your own, which is very helpful if you want to customise your list. If integrated like ours, the wine list is connected to the POS, so that if today we sell the last bottle of ‘X’ wine, tomorrow it will automatically be taken off the list, which is a real time saver. It also gives us the opportunity to have the wine list link on the homepage of the restaurant, with the most up-to-date version available at all times.”
So let’s talk stocktaking. How were you doing stocktakes before?
“As in the majority of restaurants, it was Excel.”
How has it changed that stocktaking process?
“Faster and more efficient.”
By how much?
“I will say at least 50% of the time that it used to take before.”
How does it work in practice?
“Counting happens live, so the people counting just insert the numbers and those automatically update the stock available. It is useful as well to have a clear overview of what we need to order.”
Does it lower the margin for error? Have you noticed any business implications of using Vinify for stocktaking?
“It does, as long as the wine insert in the POS is correct, then the system is theoretically flawless. It has to be said that, at the beginning, there were some challenges with communication between the two platforms, but now everything is smooth and working soundly.”
Finally, how would you describe Vinify for somms considering implementing it?
“A really good tool to make the whole operation more efficient. The constant improvements implemented as a result of input from restaurants ensure that the product gets better and better. If you work with a fast-paced program or a big list, Vinify really saves you a lot of time when it comes to registering the wines, creating the wine list, doing the selections by the glass and so on.”
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