Jerry Lockspeiser: Three key business issues we ignore at our peril

By Jerry Lockspeiser

Published: 25 June, 2025

Three seemingly unconnected business issues thrust themselves into my mind recently. Thinking about them later I realised that far from being unconnected, their combination provides a useful guide to being successful – and more urgently, avoiding the risk of almost certain failure.

I recently moved home, not far from where I had been living for the past three years, but far enough not to be overly familiar with the coffee shops, wine bars and restaurants nearby. One evening soon after moving we decided to eschew Deliveroo and find somewhere easy for dinner.

The place we chose was on a busy road with plenty of commerce on both sides. I had seen it a few times while passing by on the opposite side. It was just what we wanted - small, independent, unpretentious, the experienced owner serving and managing. He offered to let me taste wines before deciding, and as we chatted I asked how long he’d been there and what business was like now. After twenty years in hospitality - including stints at the Ritz and the Hilton on Park Lane - he had started his modest business just before Covid, managed to survive through that, and seen trade gradually pick up since.

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His business is built on reputation, largely gained through significant effort on social media where he has many 5-star reviews, making it a destination choice. While some passers-by find it by chance, most don’t see it as they walk by despite being less than a metre from the frontage – unless, like me, they are on the other side of the road where the distance draws attention to the large signage. Another customer said he had been working two doors down for the last three years and never noticed the restaurant until last week. He was on the wrong side of the road for it to be visible to him.

In a completely different sector – flavoured water – DASH co-founder Alex Wright wrote in a recent Times article that he learnt the same thing while growing his brand from nothing to £35 million sales in 25 countries:

“Success doesn’t depend on being available, it depends on being visible.”

Wright tells of the rush any aspiring brand feels on securing a listing in a major retailer, and the hard lesson that quickly follows if the product doesn’t move off the shelf in sufficient quantity to satisfy the buyer. De-listing is often the result, an experience familiar to many in the wine trade.

DASH brand awareness was built bottom up, with lots of foot leather expended meeting consumers in the street and at festivals, while giving away samples to retailers who they could persuade to be interested. Covid enhanced direct to consumer sales online which reinforced brand awareness. By the time they won slots on major retailer shelves DASH had recognition with consumers. Wright sums up the point:

“Ultimately, if no one’s ever heard of you, it doesn’t matter if you’re stocked in 20,000 stores. You need people to understand what your product is and why it matters before they see it for the first time. That way, the first sighting is less speculation and more tipping point.”

So simply being in a place – on a busy road or a big retailer’s shelf or a digital platform – is largely useless unless the people you hope to attract are aware of your product.

At the same time, when building sales for a wine – especially when aspiring to build a true brand – the right kind of distribution remains key. The product must be available to your target market where they shop, whether online or in physical stores, or it won’t sell. You must be present where they spend money; they won’t spontaneously search you out.

Consumer awareness of the product combined with the right kind of distribution must dovetail to achieve sales objectives. When they do that should assist the ultimate goal of sustainable profitability.

Like many, I was saddened by the news that Meiningers International is closing after nearly twenty years. It’s website and newsletters provided a unique and valuable perspective on the business of wine across the globe. It covered a wide range of issues with insightful, incisive, high-quality writing by some of the very best in the field including Robert Jospeh, Felicity Carter, Rebecca Gibb MW and Michael Fridjhon.

The statement from Meiningers parent company says it “…will now focus on strengthening its core media brands.” Presumably this means that Meiningers was not sufficiently profitable, nor perceived as having sufficient brand value to be retained.

The business of wine publishing is notoriously tough, but the fact that such a valued and excellent product could not be sustained speaks to the fact that quality alone is no guarantee of survival, let alone profitable success. This is just as true for restaurants, wine brands, and flavoured water as it is for wine business media. Having a great product is necessary but not sufficient.

There are many other factors to business success, yet the trinity of visibility, distribution and profitability are ever present.

Jerry Lockspeiser donates his fee for this column to The Running Charity, which works with homeless young people in the UK.