Business · open day
Wine for an open day: 100 visitors who pass through, not who stay
A workshop, a car dealership, an agency or a wine estate that opens its doors for a day gets around a hundred visitors, but never all at the same time. Each one stays half an hour or three quarters of an hour, has a small glass and drives off. The wine is counted on the total for the day; the glasses, the chilling and the staff on those who are there at the same moment. For 100 visitors, 24 bottles of white and rosé are enough, sometimes fewer: we tell you when a local wine shop will do the job.
The calculation for your day
Set for 100 visitors over the day, 60% who accept a glass, at the pace of a one-hour drinks reception, half dry white, half rosé. The “guests” field wants the total number of visitors expected over the day, not those present at the same hour. The one hour of drinks stands for the length of a visit: each visitor drinks while they are there, whatever the opening and closing times.
Visitors over the day, visitors present at the same time
Two figures, two uses. The total for the day gives the bottles: each visitor drinks once, during their visit. The number present at the same time gives the glasses, the space at the counter, the number of open bottles and of people serving. To estimate it: visitors over the day × average length of a visit ÷ opening hours. Over a day from 10 am to 6 pm with visits of three quarters of an hour, 100 visitors means about ten people present on average. Visitors come in waves, late morning and late afternoon: allow for a peak of two to three times the average.
| Visitors / day | Present on average | At the peak | Bottles (calculator) | Glasses with washing up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 5 | 10 to 15 | 12, by the bottle | 32 |
| 100 | 9 | 20 to 30 | 24 | 63 |
| 200 | 19 | 40 to 55 | 48 | 116 |
Open for 8 hours, 45-minute visits, 60% of visitors drinking, 8% margin and rounded up to the case of 6 per colour. Glasses: two per person present at the height of the peak, plus 5% for breakage, if someone rinses continuously; without washing up, one glass per visitor served. At 50 visitors, the calculator drops below the 18-bottle threshold and concludes that you don't need us.
White, rosé, small glasses
Dry white and rosé
In broad daylight, standing, between two workshops or two display cars, people drink cool and light. A dry white Bordeaux and a rosé, half and half. No red, which stains and which nobody asks for at 11 am. Sparkling, if you want to mark a moment, for a toast at a set time: champagne is available, crémant on request.
Small glasses
An open day serves a tasting, not an aperitif: 8 to 10 cl, so seven to nine glasses per bottle instead of six. The calculator counts two 12 cl glasses per drinker, which makes two or three small glasses: plenty to taste the white and the rosé. The glasses per bottle page does the conversion.
Chilling sized for the peak
There are never more than two or three bottles open at once. One ice tub for a dozen bottles, topped up at midday, is enough; the rest waits somewhere cool, unopened. The kilos of ice are on the chilling 50 bottles page.
Visitors who leave by car
Most visitors to an open day come by car and leave by car, often for another visit. That is why the calculator is set to 60% drinkers, and why one small glass is enough. Put cold water and a juice in plain view, at the same counter as the wine: those who are driving should be able to take something without having to ask. The wine and drivers page counts the litres of soft drinks and water to plan alongside.
An open day is, by definition, open to everyone. The French public health code (code de la santé publique) forbids giving away unlimited free alcohol for commercial purposes: serve by the glass, with someone behind the counter, never self-service, and ask your town hall (mairie) if you are unsure about your format. The opening page covers the same point for a shop opening onto the street.
How many bottles for an open day with 100 visitors?
24 in cases of six: 12 of dry white and 12 of rosé. That is 20 bottles before rounding for 60 drinkers at two 12 cl glasses each, with an 8% margin and rounding up to the case per colour. If most people only take one small glass, set the share of drinkers to 40%: the calculator drops to 16 bottles, by the bottle, and tells you that you don't need us.
How do you count visitors who don't stay?
On the day's total for the wine, on those present at the same moment for everything else. Present on average = visitors × length of a visit ÷ opening hours; at the peak, two to three times more. 100 visitors staying three quarters of an hour over eight opening hours means about ten present on average, twenty to thirty at the busiest.
What budget for the wine at an open day?
About €190 incl. VAT for 100 visitors with decent wines, €310 at the “good” level, €600 at grand cru level: €2 to €6 per visitor. At that amount, a wine shop in your town does as well as we do. A wine merchant becomes useful when the day is repeated, across several sites or several weekends, or when you want a single invoice and a delivery.
Do you need sparkling wine at an open day?
Not all day. A flute at a set time, for a speech or the launch of a new model, marks the moment; the rest of the time, white and rosé are enough and cost two to three times less. For a toast, allow one bottle for seven people present at that moment, not for the day's visitors.
Open day mistakes
- Counting visitors as guests. 100 visitors over the day are not 100 people at a two-hour drinks reception: it is half the wine. Unopened cases are not taken back.
- Opening every bottle in the morning. A white opened at 10 am is warm and tired by 4 pm. Open as the waves come, two bottles at a time.
- Self-service wine. A bottle left on a table by the entrance, with the door open to the street, is unlimited alcohol. One person serves, by the glass.
- Forgetting the drivers. Four visitors in ten won't drink wine. Cold water and a juice at the same counter, in view, not at the bottom of a cool box.
A stand where visitors pass by three days running? The trade fair stand page does the same count per day. For your day: request a business quote, reply within 48 working hours.