Bar Lao Paris 9th: A wine list from a single supplier

Lao, short for Laos, is a bar-restaurant on Rue de Douai in the heart of Pigalle in Paris. As soon as you walk in, you’ll be charmed by the (handmade) decor and the warm hospitality of the two owners, Nina and Dani. Friends for over 10 years, they made their dream come true last April: opening their own Laotian bar!

“I was committed to making Laotian cuisine—the cuisine of my home country—more accessible, as it’s an Asian cuisine that’s too often overlooked, and to giving it a more modern, youthful, and trendy twist.”

Need help building your wine list? Les Grappes is here to assist you.

Lao’s vision for his wine list:

“What we want to offer our customers is a diverse selection of wines that changes regularly to reflect updates to the menu and tapas offerings.” To achieve this goal, they have outlined the following requirements:

• Receive guidance in creating a wine list tailored to their Laotian cuisine
• Place orders, track deliveries, and manage billing completely on your own
• Order small quantities from a single supplier with a wide selection

Receive guidance in creating a wine list tailored to their Laotian cuisine

For Dani and Nina, it was important that their supplier be able to guide them throughout the process of developing the menu. They essentially gave one of Les Grappes’ wine specialists carte blanche to create their wine list . The only condition was that the wines selected pair perfectly with their cuisine. “So he was invited to a tasting of the dishes. It was important to us that he immerse himself in our concept and our cuisine to fully grasp its complexity and suggest the best possible food and wine pairings.”

To ensure that the selected wines are properly showcased, they also trained Lao’s team in wine sales. “They helped us create brief descriptions for each wine to highlight their unique characteristics, grape varieties, farming methods, and the history of their producers.”

Place orders, track deliveries, and manage billing completely on your own

“We’re a young generation of new restaurant owners. Gone are the days of endless phone calls or sales reps dropping by every day. The website is very well designed—we can place our orders from a single place, at any time of day.” Dani told us that while it was very important to him to have guidance during the selection process, he appreciated being able to manage his inventory independently. Having an online platform where he can place orders, track deliveries, and manage billing whenever he wants is a real time-saver for him. (Which is no small thing, considering he told us he works over 70 hours a week!!!)

Order small quantities from a single supplier with a wide selection

Dani and Nina wanted to work with a single wine supplier to avoid dealing with multiple points of contact. It was therefore essential to them that this supplier offer a wide selection of wines so they could update the wine list on a regular basis. Their second priority was that the supplier allow them to order in small quantities so they wouldn’t have to worry about storage and could test products without taking on too much risk.

“What we want to offer people is a menu that changes regularly, so the challenge is to be able to buy in small quantities so we can update our selection frequently.”
With Les Grappes Pro, they’ve been able to order as few as 24 bottles at a time and have access to a wide selection of 1,000 independent winemakers from all over France.

The results: A wine list that appeals to all customers—and plans are already underway to open a second location!

“Originally, the wines were just meant to complement our cocktails—we never imagined they’d account for more than 30% of our alcoholic beverage sales!” What struck Dani and Nina right away was the enthusiasm surrounding their project. Since opening, there hasn’t been a moment’s respite. Customers appreciate being able to taste wines from small producers. “People like the fact that there aren’t many choices on the menu and that the wines are produced by independent winemakers rather than by wine merchants or cooperatives, etc. It’s important to them to know where the wines come from, and with Les Grappes, we know.”

Dany really enjoys working directly with the small-scale winemakers whose wines he features on his menu and getting to meet them when they come to Paris. “I think the idea of connecting professionals with small-scale winemakers is really great. We’ve even had a winemaker visit us before—Guilhem from Domaine Rière Cadène—and it was a wonderful experience.”

Building on this initial success, the two friends are getting ready to open a second location: this time, a restaurant featuring Cantonese cuisine and a much more extensive wine list—still powered by Les Grappes PRO!

Need Assistance?

Les Grappes, France’s leading distributor of wines sold directly from winemakers to professionals, makes it easy to buy wine directly from winemakers. Les Grappes centralizes orders from more than 1,200 winemakers who harvest their own grapes, providing a single point of contact from order placement to invoicing. We assist cafés, hotels, restaurants, and wine cellars in selecting wines, as well as in creating custom wine lists! Based on your project, your tastes, and your budget, we help you choose the best wines through direct-from-producer channels. To get in touch with our team, click here!