{"id":18007,"date":"2011-03-09T09:41:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T07:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=18007"},"modified":"2011-03-10T09:11:14","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T07:11:14","slug":"wine-business-is-boom-ing-in-franschhoek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/franschhoek\/wine-business-is-boom-ing-in-franschhoek\/","title":{"rendered":"Wine business is boom-ing in Franschhoek!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>About a year ago I wrote an e-mail to Franschhoek Wine Valley, as the tourism association is now called, and fed back my experiences about the off-putting security practices of wine estates in Franschhoek as far\u00a0as their booms are concerned.\u00a0\u00a0 Yesterday I went for a drive to some of Franschhoek’s leading wine estates with my colleague, and this is what we experienced :<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Allee\u00a0Bleue – <\/strong>having had\u00a0a history of tight security and rude boom operators, new GM Wolfgang Leyrer turned the security staff at the boom into his ‘welcome committee’, dressing them into smart\u00a0blue shirts, black pants and blue bow-tie, even if they work for outsourced Centurion security company.\u00a0 The boom is usually open, or is opened immediately, and it wins the top boom award for professionalism and friendliness.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Solms Delta <\/strong>– the boom off the R45 was closed on our arrival, and we had to hoot for it to be opened, but mercifully there was no sign-in procedure.\u00a0 Thereafter the gates are open at Solms Delta itself.\u00a0 I am surprised at the variability in the security – on many days the boom is open anyway, on weekends in particular, and one wonders why their boom is not open during the opening hours of the wine estate.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 L’Ormarins <\/strong>has a non-negotiable security person, and one may not pass go until something\/anything is filled into the security sheet.\u00a0 This is more important than anything else at this wine estate, one gets the feeling.\u00a0\u00a0 They are absolutely consistent in applying the rule!<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Graham Beck <\/strong>uses Peaceforce Security.\u00a0 I have experienced variability in its boom operations in the past, the previous time the security guard sitting in the window of his ‘hut’, but facing outgoing traffic, so that we had to hoot for him to open.\u00a0 There was no signing in then.\u00a0\u00a0 Even when he saw us, we had to hoot, so that he could press the button to let us out.\u00a0 Yesterday we had to hoot to get him to come to the car, and we had to sign in.\u00a0\u00a0 He was signing in someone else when we wanted to leave, and he arrogantly let us wait until he finished with the sign-in before he let us out!\u00a0 Once again, the attitude of this boom operator does not reflect the amazing welcome we received inside the tasting room, and does not reflect the Graham Beck ethos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>*\u00a0\u00a0 La Motte <\/strong>has\u00a0mostly had an open boom since Pierneef \u00e0 La Motte opened in September, or one could tell the boom operator that one had a booking at the restaurant, and then one was allowed in immediately.\u00a0 On Sunday I observed the first ever signing-in, with the resultant queue building up, not an ideal situation for guests running late, as I was, and it was just a further hold up.\u00a0 I smiled sweetly at the security man from Xone, gave him my name, and asked him to fill in my details, and he obliged.\u00a0 When I arrived yesterday, the security person Inge was chatting to a person in a security company vehicle quite far from the boom, and she did not acknowledge my presence at all.\u00a0\u00a0 I thought they were her colleagues, as they were chatting.\u00a0 I hooted, and overtook this vehicle.\u00a0 She ignored me completely.\u00a0 When she came to my car, she gave me a mouthful, and referred to me breaking the rules on Sunday (I had not dealt with her nor seen her then), and gave me the rudest “welcome” of the day, and almost put me off driving inside.\u00a0\u00a0 Her interaction with me was completely the opposite to every friendly interaction I have ever experienced at La Motte.\u00a0 She is an absolute liability to the La Motte brand, and does not share this wine estate’s promise of “a culture of excellence”!<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Maison <\/strong>is always open and welcoming, although it was closed yesterday.\u00a0 Its\u00a0gate is closed when the tasting room is closed, and there is no sign-in procedure at all, and this is a reflection of the friendly welcome one receives\u00a0at this wine estate.\u00a0 One hopes that it stays this way.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Grande Provence <\/strong>has a security presence via ADT at its entrance, but has no boom at all, and the security staff\u00a0is a token presence.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0Boekenhoutskloof <\/strong>has no security at all.\u00a0 When the tasting room is closed, the gate is closed.\u00a0 On weekdays the gate is welcomingly open during its operating hours.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Holden Manz <\/strong>is the newest wine estate to be boom-ing, and ADT operates the security.\u00a0 I mainly visit here at night, to eat at the Franschhoek Kitchen, and they should see the car lights approaching from their ‘hut’.\u00a0 I have not once had them proactively open the boom or even walk to it!\u00a0\u00a0 Last night I was allowed to drive in without signing in when I said that I was going to the restaurant.\u00a0 On my way out the security person was at the boom already, and opened it to allow me to drive out without stopping. \u00a0I suspect that Chef Bjorn Dingemans had done the necessary to achieve this service efficiency.<\/p>\n

One wonders why some Franschhoek wine farms feel the need for security, and others don’t.\u00a0\u00a0 Other than Allee Bleue and Solms Delta, \u00a0it appears that the boom-ing Franschhoek wine estates do not realise how irritating\u00a0it is to have to sign in.\u00a0 I scribbled my name in all instances, and no security person stopped me from entering.\u00a0\u00a0 Most have security cameras anyway, and will capture on film any attempted criminal activity.\u00a0 In all cases, other than Solms Delta,\u00a0security is outsourced, and not unsurprisingly, the outsourced security staff tend to be\u00a0the rude, arrogant or inefficient ones, with the exception of Allee Bleue.<\/p>\n

My advice to Franschhoek (and other) wine farms : let your customers enter as easily as possible.\u00a0 Make your security staff your ambassadors, guiding the visitors directionally as to where they\u00a0want to be, and use them as part of your PR program.\u00a0 Train outsourced security staff in customer interaction, and the values you and your wine estate stand for.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Make the arrival as welcoming and efficient as possible – if you have to have a\u00a0boom, get\u00a0the security guys out of their\u00a0‘huts’ and let them stand at the boom, to open or close the boom before the cars stop at it and have to hoot.\u00a0 Then business on your wine estate should boom!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About a year ago I wrote an e-mail to Franschhoek Wine Valley, as the tourism association is now called, and fed back my experiences about the off-putting security practices of wine estates in Franschhoek as far\u00a0as their booms are concerned.\u00a0\u00a0 Yesterday I went for a drive to some of Franschhoek’s leading wine estates with my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[124,14,20,21,19],"tags":[1770,577,389,10430,10435,9361,32378,32369,9359,570,226,140,9360,10432,10254,1540,7006,10431,6611,252,2045,10433,65,10271,32373,572,3293,10434],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t