Welcome to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. Today, we have a very special party guest, Alex Tornai, our party planning specialist. Welcome, Alex. Thanks for having me. You have to be a real people person to do your job. Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is just, you know, talking to people, gaining their trust, and then the selling part comes afterwards, but it's really a networking type of a job. So as the party planner at Binny's, you take a lot of wedding orders. I mean, that's a given, but what are the kinds of orders, what kind of other parties are you working for? Corporate events, private parties, anything under the umbrella that would constitute a party, so to speak. But I've got customers from all sorts of different avenues coming to me and talking about what they want for their order. How many weddings would you say you fulfilled this year? This year, well over 150, potentially 200. Last year, we did over 1,200 weddings. That's crazy. That's crazy. Do you think a lot of that has to do with the venues in Chicago being BYO? Yeah, it's definitely the trend. It's more cost-effective and it gives the couple the option to customize it and make it more of a sentimental aspect. A lot of the catering packages, while they might be cheaper in some aspects, they don't have any control over the brands. A lot of time, they're overpaying for the brands, in which case, going the BYO B route is easier because they can choose what they want. They're willing to pay a little more for that because we also have that return policy. That definitely helps. What is that return policy, Alex? You can return anything that goes unused, single bottles of wine, spirits, and champagne, so long as labels and spirit seals are intact. You can also return beer, just no single cans or bottles. How often do people, they're planning to return a bunch of stuff, and then they're like, you know what? I need to stay stocked for the next year or so, so this will do me. Yeah, sometimes they'll kill two birds with one stone and just be like, you know what, give me another case of bourbon, they'll stock the bar. Then I'm like, well, you got to make sure you don't return it if you're going to overorder this much but we're not going to tell you not to do it. I do remember being invited to a post-wedding, we need to drink these leftovers party. It's a tough job. Was that me? Yeah, it was you. Okay. How customizable are people getting with their packages these days? I would say it can get really down to specific vermouths that they want for their Manhattan, signature drinks. I mean, it really is something that they can have complete control over. They either want to go and just tell me what they want or they really rely on our expertise. I mean, all the party planters down at the South Loop know what they're doing and they can definitely guide anyone that needs assistance with that. From signature drinks to beer quantities, wine quantities, wine pairings, all that stuff is within our wheelhouse. Are people looking for quantity and affordability or are they looking for those name brands to impress their guests? Both. Depends on the couple. For a lot of the higher end weddings where they're looking for premium bar packages, they're going for the image, so they want the brands. They want the Buffalo Trace, the Grey Goose, all that stuff. Even though some of the higher allocated bourbons, for example, we can't obviously shell out in bulk. You get a lot of requests for that. Want a bottle of Pappy under the bar at my wedding. I tell them it's unfortunate we can't do it, but we've got all these great other options that will definitely suit your needs. Again, it's really just an image thing, so if you sell them on something that's next in line, then they'll be fine. I had a bottle of Buffalo Trace. Nice. The other goal for me especially is we've got all these great exclusive brands, Bourbon Wine, Champagne, all that stuff, and we try to push that as much as possible because that's a great way to get the name brands out there as well. They're good. They're very good, and we're getting a lot of good feedback on the Rose, the Belle de Provence is definitely a rock star, and the Clark and Sheffield labels are also doing really well. Awesome. Do you get a lot of tastes? Do you get to a lot of meetings and stuff so you can experience and really know what you're selling? Wine Department is good about letting us know, these are the new brands that are out there, the Topo Tinto, all that stuff that just came out, they are good about letting us try it, and that way we can sell it better. So yeah, they're good about that. So we thought it'd be fun to go through two scenarios that you might get on a weekly basis and just walk us through what you would recommend and process that order. So Greg, do you want to go first? Yeah, okay. Planning my wedding, expect about 180 guests. So I want something that's decent, but I don't want to blow the bank. And I also want a couple of nice bottles, maybe a case or two for the groom's table, or what do they call it, bride's table? The head table. The head table? The head table. It's been almost eight years. I have completely forgotten that point in my life. You're forgiven. Second, second wedding, you should just go elope. Right. Oh, if I were to do it all over again, this is exactly how I'd do it. Is that like a common scenario? Somebody comes to you like that? Oh, yeah, all the time. They're like, you know, we are getting married next year. We've got 180 guests and we don't know where to start. Right, right. No idea where to start. First thing I ask is, you know, what are you comfortable spending per bottle? What's your price range? You know, for wine, we'll start with wine usually. I'm going to say like 10 bucks. I think that's safe. That's safe. Anywhere between $8 and $15 is usually the tier that people are comfortable with. I'm cheap, huh? I think you're in the modest range, yeah. But that's, you know what, you're buying in bulk, you're buying for 180 people, you're going to buy at least six to eight cases of wine. I mean, that adds up pretty quickly. I'm going to worry about like white versus red, how many of each? I don't want to run out of either, but I don't want to overspend on either either. It varies based on the time of year and the crowd. So I always ask, you know your crowd better than me, so you let me know what you think they would drink. And then it also depends on what kind of food you're serving. So those are some variables that I take into account. So in my hypothetical, we're outside in June, it's probably going to be sweltering. We're serving pasta and chicken. That's a nice little curve ball. I would say primarily you're going to want to do white and rosé, but a light red like a pinot. That would be a good option. Maybe like a nice Italian blend, something like a Sangiovese that will pair well with the pasta. There's some great options for all those styles in the price tier. That's dinner, right? Then we have to talk about the fabulous open bar that we're going to have. If you're working with a caterer that has a mixer package, that's great, but you always have to make sure that that caterer provides bitters, vermouth and ginger beer. Those are a lot of times the caterer does not provide that. Make sure you check with your caterer to make sure that that's in hand. But for your bar, what sort of liquor line up are you interested in? Do you want a limited bar? Do you want to do his and her signature drink? What are your thoughts? Do you do a lot of signature drinks? Quite often. It's a good way to save money. If you're doing like a vodka and a bourbon based signature drink and leaving out the gin, the rum, the tequila, that can save you quite a bit of money and it adds more of a sentimental aspect to the bar. Do you ever batch them or suggest batching them? It depends. Most of the time the caterer handles that, but yeah, we can definitely work with that. Shout out to Molly and Ben. They had this signature drink at their wedding that had Malort in it. It was originally called Bitter End, but they didn't want that to be the name of the drink at their wedding, so they changed the name. It's like calling the 13th floor the 14th floor. It's surprising how many couples want at least one bottle of Malort, just to surprise their out of town guests and really throw them underneath the bus, so to speak. That's good to know. Do you recommend it now? Every now and then, I'm like, so I have to ask, do you guys want Malort? Most of the time, it's like yuck or you know what? Yeah, let's do it. Throw one in there. Why not? Exactly. There's always that guy. There's a reason why not. It's because you're a groom and you're out there doing the third dance and then somebody comes up with a suspicious shot glass of brown liquor and hands it to you. Try it. It's good. It is delicious. It's Chicago made, so that's a good way to approach it too. That's true. Yeah. So speaking of local, craft beer is huge. Are people sticking to local craft beers? What are they choosing? I would say it's a mix of both. It's surprising to see how much brand loyalty there is with the big name brands like the Millers and the Buds and the Stellas. I mean, you have to have at least one of those there because there's the older crowd, not to generalize, but most of the time the older crowd will gravitate more towards those easy drinking beers, Amstel lights, the Stellas, so on and so forth. But when it comes to the couple and their friends, it's always local. Craft beer, Revolution, Half Acre, Pipe Works, they want the newest and the best thing. Sometimes it's hard because a lot of those breweries, not necessarily those I just mentioned, but Alarmist and Weiner, they aren't necessarily able to fulfill the bulk and quantity that we need right on the spot, right then and there. So we have to work with them. Or make the same beer that they made three months ago when you're planning. Exactly. Sometimes those are seasonal beers and so they're not available. So we try to pitch them something else that's same style, comparable price point and they're usually very happy with it. You're talking about a huge generational divide there. Yeah. Everybody of marrying age is looking for the craft beer that reminds them of home, where they live. Everybody older has that brand loyalty to whatever the one that they have always drank. Right. I have seen grown men at weddings refuse to drink the beer that's on tap because it's not their brand. That's right. Brand loyalty is a big thing. That's something I wasn't aware of until getting into this space because it's just something you would think about. Do you guys talk ABV? I mean, a lot of those breweries you mentioned are brewing some high ABV IPAs. Are you talking about those types of options? More often than not, they want sessionable beers. They don't want to get their guests too sloshed, so to speak. So the higher ABVs, the beers are usually not in demand as much as the session beers, like Founders and Sierra Nevada. Those kind of beers are pretty popular. So I have 180 guests. I have red and white wine and rosé for the dinner. And I want to throw some beer options in there, too. What do you suggest? I would say three to four options will cover you with some diversity in the style. You're going to want a lighter drink and lager. Like I said, Miller Lite, Stella, any of that kind of stuff, a pale ale, maybe an IPA, and then a seasonal option. You know, this time of year, you can do it like a nice heiferweizen or anything like a hoppy wheat ale with some citrus notes to it. So you kind of offset all those other type of beers. In the winter, porters and stouts are very popular. They're brown ale, so it depends on the time of year, but that would definitely be my recommendation. No more than four, just because you don't want to overcomplicate things. You want to try and keep it simple. Are people bulking their orders with hard seltzers now? More and more. I would say that is definitely the biggest trend I've seen in the last six months. I mean, it's exploding everywhere. I see it. Hashtag whiteclawwedding. Yeah. That is definitely a popular hashtag right now, for sure. I have not tried it. I would like to try it next time I have the opportunity, but I think I would say 75 to 80 percent of my orders now have some sort of hard seltzer on it. You have not been clawed? You haven't been clawed. I resisted the claw. There's one on Greg's desk. There's one on my desk right now. It's got your name on it. We can make this a non-sober podcast now. Okay, cool. Are you happy with that, Greg? What else are you looking for? So I have wine for dinner. I have beer options. I have a bar with two signature cocktails and a couple of other bottles in quantity that it's going to cover me for the night. Now, the one thing you haven't mentioned is a toast. Are you going to do champagne? Absolutely. Do you like dry or sweet? I'm sweet enough already. Okay. Well, we can do sweet or dry, whatever works for you. Are you going to want any sort of Scotch, anything that's just for you and the groomsmen prior to while you're getting ready? Yeah, I definitely need a Secret Stash Bottle or two. Okay. Now, we have the ability to maybe get some grooms gifts for you as well. A lot of the popular options would be like Johnny Walker Blue Label. You can maybe have those engraved. You have that set up? We can work on that. We've done that in the past. It's definitely a popular groomsmen gift. Very cool. So consider that as well. But yeah, champagne is definitely something you're going to want to put on that order. All right. So we have the pre-reception cocktails. We have wine, toast, beer, spirits for afterwards when we're all dancing to... What's the dance? Cha Cha Slide. What? Cha Cha Slide. I was going to say like the electric slide. Is it one of those songs where the dance moves are literally the lyrics to the song? You hear that at every wedding, yeah. There is no more meaningless song. Like ACDC songs have more meaning than the song that has the dance steps in it. Okay, fine. Closing time. That's how they play at the pool. Well, yeah, that's a great way to cap off your wedding. Yeah, absolutely. Go home. You don't have to go home. Now, before you guys go home, after you had your scotch, we could also talk about spiking your coffee at the coffee bar. Maybe some Bailey's or Kahlua, some Grand Marnier. I mean, those are definitely for winter weddings, very popular. Interesting. Then you get a little bit of toast on the dessert too, right? Exactly. Grandma will like that. I never even thought of that. That's great. That's a really nice touch. Yeah. It makes it unique and different. Class up the occasion. Exactly. Those rum chata singles. That's right. We can do some Cinnamon Trost Crunchslot too for next day. Bring out the fireball. We did use to sell, I don't know if we still do those chocolate cups, and you put some rum chata in there. Oh, that's great. How often do you have to go into the brunch too, or is that usually the brunch venue's job? It depends. I've got some couples that are doing two or three day extravaganza. I recently had a gentleman reach out to me. He's doing a three day wedding in Door County, and he bought, I wouldn't say, 35 cases of wine. Yeah, and it was like two days before, so we had to scramble, but we got it together for him. We see brunch and breakfast stuff included with that all the time. So when you need 35 cases of wine for your wedding in two days, Alex is the guy to call. Yeah, I wouldn't say that I'm, yeah. You can definitely reach out to me. I'll do my best. We usually get the job done. I mean, thankfully, I've got a great department in the wine department, Spirits Department, that can help me out with that. I'm satisfied with my wedding. Hilary, what's your party? All right, I'm throwing a holiday party for 10 of my best girlfriends. Sweet. I need something for a fun cocktail, plus something that they can hold when they get in, that they can just put a straw in and enjoy, that's Instagrammable. And then some wine for dinner. What do you think? Well, what are you serving for food for your dinner? She's thought every single possibility through except for the food. Well, we can generalize for this since it's going to be, I'm assuming, like a Christmas holiday party. Is that where you're gathering? Yeah, totally. It'll just be like a mixed array of small bites. I would say like a cab would be great. Something like a Louis Martini or Josh Sellers would work well for you. Clark and Sheffield or Vigilance cabs are also really popular. You want to have more fuller body wine because it's colder. And then for your white, you could do either Chardonnay, you can do a Rosé or you can just do a sparkling wine. And that would be something you can hand off as they walk in because fizzy is always good. Yeah, for sure. For your signature drink, what do you like as your base spirit? Let's go with vodka. I feel like that's neutral for this group. Something that's usually pretty popular. I don't necessarily know if it's appropriate for winter, but you could definitely do like a Moscow Mule because it's easy to make A and it's refreshing. Totally. Maybe with some pomegranate seeds. Make it look fancy. Yeah. You could do like a mint flavor vodka or a mint flavor drink. I mean, there's so many options you can choose for holiday parties, for signature drinks, but the key is you want to keep it simple and affordable for you and also just make it a personal thing. Totally. You left out the pumpkin spice. It's probably not pumpkin spice season. I imagine everybody's wearing leggings and uggs at this party. No, we're bougie. Not basic? No. Sounds pretty basic. Well, we can keep it basic if you like. Wait, is it basic to think you're bougie? What? Okay, never mind. More philosophical than I thought it was going to go. All right. And then what makes it Instagramable? Am I bringing a canned cocktail, maybe like a champagne mini? What do you think is cool right now? Champagne minis are cool. The idea of doing like rum chata shots in the chocolate glass, I think will be really cool if you put some like gold trimming on top or something that will be interesting. Anything fizzy. That was honestly really super Instagramable. Cool. So that would be my recommendation. We're going to get lit? Yeah. Like a Christmas tree or a menorah. Whatever floats your boat. All right, cool. So we want to hear the juicy stuff, Alex. What are like the weird questions? What are like the fun parties you've planned? Like give us some dirty deets. A lot of people are asking, hey, can we deliver to Michigan? Can we deliver to Wisconsin? I'm like, no, we can set you for a store pickup and we'd be happy to work with you, but we can't deliver outside the state, unfortunately. How far do we get to the border? Yeah, I mean, it's close to the border. I would say pretty close. Highland Park's helped us out in the past. So yeah, in terms of crazy parties that I've had, I mean, I do a lot for the Jordan Nike store. They have a lot of interesting events that they do pretty regularly, and then they'll call us the day before, and they want, we need cases of Patron, we need cases of Grey Goose, we need a stat right now. And it's not because they're procrastinating, it's because these events pop up last minute. But the key is to be ready to go and flexible and work with their speed. And a lot of the time, it can get a little hectic making sure that everything is where it needs to be and scheduling deliveries and what not. But we can get it done. How much of what you do is logistics versus interpersonal handholding? It is a nice combination of both, depending on where the order is. If I have to send it out to another store and that venue is in, for example, Sycamore, I got to send it out to a suburban location, coordinate the delivery with them, coordinate it with the venue. And then just, you know, if I don't hear anything, that means it went well. No news is goodness in this business. Do you ever include kegs in orders? It depends. A lot of time, it's a logistical hurdle that we have to face. There are some liability issues that come into play. It's becoming more popular. The only thing with kegs that people don't necessarily realize right off the bat is, if you're ordering a half barrel and you don't drink all of it, whatever volume of beers leftover has lost money. So I always encourage people to go with bottles or cans because A, you can diversify, and B, you can recoup your money. And even if you have leftovers, it's leftovers that are consumable the next day. Exactly. Yeah, so from a money standpoint, it stands to benefit you to go with bottles and cans versus kegs. Although the novelty of kegs is definitely something that I understand, and people want to do that. What else, Juicy? Details. Funny. I mean, it's interesting how many chefs are in the kitchen with each order. I mean, I'll talk to the bride and the groom, and then the parents of both the bride and the groom chime in. Sometimes they don't even know who's placing the order. And it's like, well, I just talked to your father and he provided payment. I didn't know that. I thought I was going to have to provide payment. And it's like, well, let me talk to them. And then they call back and it's like, you know what? I'm going to switch it to my credit card. It's like, you know what? Scratch it. We got to start over with the order because my uncle doesn't like this kind of beer. And we need to have make sure he has his Miller Lite. And we have to have non-alcoholic beer. And then the mother of the bride chimes in. It's like, OK, well, we've been working on this for six months. Your wedding's in two weeks. Let's get it together. Politics is something I did not expect to be a pretty big issue with a lot of these weddings. Sounds like you might have ruined the surprise once or twice, too. Oh, we already have a credit card on file. Oh, really? Yeah. It's like, well, I'm just a messenger. But most of the time, there aren't really any crazy or kooky stories. It's just a matter of holding their hand, calming them down, letting them know that we're reliable and that you don't have to worry about anything on that end. I mean, the beverages, the booze, we got you covered. And you're in a unique position where you're working with a lot of these caterers and these event venues, so you have good relationships with them already, right? Yeah. I mean, a lot of it is, you know, communication, making sure that everything gets where it needs to be. And then once you have a rapport with the caterers, they'll refer you by name. And that's how you get business a lot of the time. A lot of the other thing is going to expos and events and networking. And that's how you make a name in the space. And that's our goal is to make sure Binny's is a well known brand in the wedding space outside of being, obviously, a big player in the retail space. We want to make sure that Binny's is known. This is the premier BYOB brand that you can go to. Absolutely. I don't know if we covered this. Is there a delivery fee? Yes, we have different delivery tiers, but you can get your delivery no matter the size, for as cheap as $20. Wow. Wow. Straight to the venue. Straight to the venue. And our drivers are excellent. They've been all over the city. They've done it for years. They know what to do. And they'll always have a smile on their face. So you should be in good hands with them. We're gonna hold you to that. Yeah, definitely do. It should be worth pointing out. You're working with all 40 of the Binny's stores as needed to fill orders everywhere in Chicago and also in Champaign and Bloomington and Springfield and soon to be Peoria. Yes. So pretty much anybody, if you want the best handholding experience, call up Alex and the party planning team and they'll work with your local Binny's to make sure you get the best party. Yep. Call us up 312-768-4401 or party at binnys.com. You can definitely get a whole of us there. We have a wonderful team that works together in the South Loop, they'll be in great hands with us. So feel free to reach out. So you offer free returns. What else can people expect? Well, we're hoping to set up more in-person consultations going forward. I mean, we do that now. We have walk-ins all the time. We're happy to greet you at the service desk and discuss your order right then and there. We want to eventually do more wine tastings at the South Loop Store, so we're working on that. Any other tips or tricks you can recommend to party planners, wedding people, couples, bridesgrooms? My only advice is to not worry about everyone's palate. You are providing a free bar for the guests. They will be happy with what you serve. Make it about you and the bride and the groom, and enjoy the day because it's your day. So focus on yourself. Everything else will fall into place. This is the easiest part of the wedding planning process. We're here to help you and make sure that it's one of the best days of your lives. And it's fun, right? It's a lot of fun. And when you come taste with me, it's always fun. Yeah. It's not napkins. No. Right? No. No. Shavari Cheers. Alex, do you have time to stick around for the Q&A portion of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast? I'd be happy to. All right, folks, that brings us to the Q&A portion of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast, where we answer your question for a $20 Binny's gift card. Email us at comments at binnys.com or hit us up on social media, at Binny's Bev on Instagram, Facebook, and the other one, Twitter, which still exists. Our question this week comes from Rachel, and if you have to choose one bottle of bourbon to give in lieu of an engagement ring, which bottle would you give? I figured that would be a good question for you. Now, are we talking about something that's super allocated, like that only one person gets? Is that the way to go with it? I mean, it depends. The one that people ask about all the time that isn't usually super allocated, but is something that's pretty popular, it's just Buffalo Trace people. Yeah. So, I would agree with that because you want a bottle that you're going to drink it all, but you want a bottle that you can come back to again and again. In 40 years, they're still making Buffalo Trace. It's still like- Exactly. Yeah? Yeah. It's in a pretty reasonable price point. So, that's definitely something that I would recommend. Still not available every day, but we usually get a pretty good load every month that we can. You can get a bottle if you're paying attention. Exactly. You can always call us at party planning and ask about it. Oh, he's offering the secret hookup for Buffalo Trace. That's right. I don't know, man. I want a ring. Really? You want something? You'd rather have a ring than a bottle of bourbon? Well, take it up with Rachel. Rachel, come on. Yeah, Rachel. Let us know what you want. Or a lifetime's apply of LaCroix or something. What flavor would your LaCroix be? I'm just shaking my head over here. Pompel mousse, obviously. Pompel mousse? Yeah. The key lime LaCroix is actually really good. Dude, it's real good. It's super good. Yeah. Definitely. It's good to mix with as well. How often is LaCroix included in the party package? Quite often. Most of the time, the caterers have that covered. I mean, now it's just all about that white claw and that truly. And the mango and the black cherry are just flying off the market. Ain't no less when you got the claw. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Alex. Thank you to Rachel for your question. $20 Binny's gift card to you. Everybody else, email us at comments at binnys.com or hit us up on social media. aforementioned platforms at Binny's Bev. Alex, thanks for sticking around. Thanks, man. Thanks for having me. I hope you get a lot of calls. I mean, you already get a lot of calls, but I hope people take advantage of the service that you provide. It's pretty great. Thanks for having me. And anytime you guys want me back, I'll be glad to come back on. What's the phone number again? 312-768-4401 or email us at party at binnys.com. That's been a sober episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Hillary. I'm Greg. And I'm Alex. Keep tasting.