From a Kobrand company Vice President to a friend of mine):
Hi Beth,
Yes restaurants sales for us are paltry. But our retail sales are screaming.
Most restaurateurs are selling their inventory because they want the cash and they really don’t know when people are going to be buying all the expensive wines on their lists.
We are offering some special deals to restaurants that used to be on a 3cs or 5cs buy – but know they can get the great price on a 1 case buy.
I think we will see wine lists really shrink going forward for at least the next 18 months.
Our direct-to-consumer sales (from winery to consumer) are screaming too.
Our distributors have really cut their sales force (mostly temp furloughs) but we have less of a voice making calls at restaurants/clubs/bars/hotels than ever before.
So thank goodness for our strong retail business, our overall business is up for the year!!