Increasing sales by teaching staff about beer (yes, beer).
When Four Points by Sheraton unveiled their Best Brews program nationwide, they needed thousands of servers to learn a lot more than how to pour a simple pint. Roughstock was hired by Winequest, the hospitality industry's leading online training firm, to develop a full beer curriculum for the Four Points staff.
Taking the subject seriously
The curriculum had to reflect the Four Points corporate voice, engage the reader, and address the needs of the customer on the other side of the bar.You'd think teaching people about beer would be easy. But with hundreds of styles available and almost as many myths floating around, Four Points needed expertise that respected both the beverage and the folks serving it. We developed a flexible curriculum that teaches servers, bartenders, and managers everything they need to know to sell and serve the right beers to the right customers. Courses like Beer 101, Becoming a Beer Expert, and Selling and Serving Beer cover everything from history and production to storage, styles and flavor.
Designing an easy-to-read menu
One of the most exciting components of the Best Brews program (aside from the research, of course), was the creation of a customized beer menu. Working closely with WineQuest, Roughstock adapted the company's signature progressive wine list format for beer, producing a menu that's easy to navigate for both beer beginners and experts alike.
Writing for multiple audiences
Working on a project like this poses plenty of challenges, but the toughest has to be satisfying every stakeholder. Not only did the curriculum need to reflect the Four Points corporate voice, it had to engage the trainee to ensure information retention, and it needed to address the needs of the customer on the other side of the bar.
Each of these groups were considered at every stage of development, from content planning to organization to writing. The result was a branded curriculum that captured readers' attention, and created measurable behavior change. As one manager noted:
"It's amazing how much I thought I knew about the relationship between brew styles and alcohol content. Now, I can definitely make a more educated suggestion to a guest, as well as try something new myself."
