Registration Opens For 3rd Annual Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational
The Californer/10086954

NAPA, Calif. - Californer -- Registration is now open for entering the 2020 Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational (IWBI). Beginning the second week of September, the program consists of webinars, ongoing support forums and resources to keep the students engaged and productive until the final submission date of November 1, 2020. The competition is organized by Wine Business Education LLC, under the guidance of America's first Master of Wine, Tim Hanni, and supported by faculty advisors from each institution.

The IWBI provides a hands-on learning opportunity for hospitality, wine business and general business students by creating an engaging and realistic wine business and team environment. Participation in the IWBI will result in future winemakers, marketers, salespeople and buyers in both restaurant and retail environments that have the advantage of understanding how the complex and fascinating wine industry works. In turn they will provide greater value in their future roles as professionals in every area of viticulture, wine production, marketing, sales or as a buyer for stores, e-tailers or restaurants. The elements of the competition are set up in a way that each participant on a team, regardless of their general wine knowledge, can focus their attention on various elements of product ideation, brand development production costs, packaging development and decisions, and supply chain costs and considerations.

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The winning team is the one that presents the best label, business plan and financials for their cost of goods and distribution pricing for a $25-$40 retail wine from any state in the US. Awards will be given in each of three categories (label, business plan and financials) and the Grand Prize will be awarded to the team with the best scores for all three categories combined. Coordination, tutorials, online webinars and proprietary financial calculators are provided by WineBusinessEducation.com for use by the students and participating schools.

Each team will prepare and submit documentation in three key areas for their wine/winery that are evaluated by panels of industry experts, journalists, etc., who will judge each component of the competition:

●      Business Plan - Each team provides the mission, vision and goals of the winery, outline sales and marketing strategies and conduct a competitive analysis for their wine.

●      Financial Plan for working up cost of goods, establishing wine FOB selling price, plus distribution and pricing financials for establishing selling price of the wine in retail stores, online and restaurants.

●      Wine Label including winery name, wine name and information that meets Certificate of Label Approval standards (both front and back labels including the wine and winery name, verbiage, label graphics and legal information).

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The key financial component of the competition is an online suite of wine-industry specific financial calculators developed by Wine Business Education. A separate account will be set up for each team. They will receive login credentials, instructions and support to create their project financials to develop the finished cost of goods for their wine and a pricing calculator. The system will allow them to create, save, recall and edit Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational projects. For a demonstration/FAQ regarding the proprietary financial workbooks, please visit: http://winebusinesseducation.com/workbooks/.

Higher learning institutions with a hospitality program, winemaking or wine business program, and/or with a general business program are encouraged to participate in the 2020 Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational. You can learn more about the competition details at Winebusinesseducation.com/iwbi.

ABOUT:

Tim Hanni, MW, is one of the first two Americans to successfully complete the examination and earn the title Master of Wine. He is a Certified Wine Educator accredited by the Society of Wine Educators and has been involved with wine- and food-related businesses, education, and research for more than 35 years.