Visser, Maxwell and Fox – every other Thursday (except for the frantic November/December holiday period) and in the off-weeks holds leadership meetings of his 12 top executives at a local private dining club called the Park Avenue Club in nearby Florham Park. (The club this past fall became the new site of Gary's biggest annu- al charitable fundraiser, the Grand Tasting, which offered about 525 wines, including 2009 Bordeaux and 2006 Brunello, and concluded with a cocktail tasting. It was the 20th annual installment of the popular event, which drew 400 guests.) Breakfast in a private room at the club offers an uninterrupted opportunity to sort out the complications that inevitable arise from managing three stores with more than 100 employees. Buying decisions, Fisch notes, generally are made collectively across all three stores. Exceptions are made to accommodate a particular demographic requesting a wine in one store that isn't calling for it in the other two. "We allow for some variability between the three, so you may see a Spanish Moscato as a Top Ten wine in Wayne, while it takes a less prominent role in Bernardsville, for example," Fisch said. (Bernardsville overall tends to be more geared toward French wines.) Fox noted that, despite the big size difference between Madison and Bernardsville, on the one hand, and Wayne on the other, they carry close to the same number of skus, although Wayne will take advantage of its greater presentation space by offer more facings or case stacks of some skus. That's what happens behind the scenes. But Fisch also has proved an adept public face of the company, numbering among his televised appearances 40 episodes of Bobby Flay's Hot Off the Grill show. He also keeps the Gary's Web site stocked with engaging interviews and tastings with visiting vintners, shot inside the store. Still, though on-screen he seems to be a natural, Fisch confides that it's not a role he's entirely comfortable with, even after all the exposure. "I prefer one-on-one or one-on-ten, but if I can have a conversation with you about your wine and video- tape it, what's the downside?" Still, such efforts cut into time that might be spent dealing with the myriad hands-on chores of running the chain, he said, and all for a return that is not always easy to scope out. On some TV appearances, he's waited in the studio only to garner fewer than five seconds of face time. As for social media, "are they buying because of Twitter? I don't know – but we need to be involved." Still, he concluded, the priorities are clear. "At the end of the day, I'm running my business," he said.
T s 18 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • January/February 2012
o coordinate activities among the three stores, Fisch convenes team meetings of his three buyers –
