To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Sommelier competition practices as competitive success factors
Örebro University, School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts & Meal Science.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2435-3869
2020 (English)In: Nordic Association for Food Studies Workshop 2020: Foodways at a crossroads: Sustainability, Gastronomy and Rethinking the traditions of how to Eat / [ed] Julia Carrillo; Kajsa Hult; Inger M. Jonsson; Henrik Scander; Lotte Wellton, Örebro University , 2020, p. 33-33Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Competition has proven to be a competitive advantage on many levels. In gastronomy, competitions around food and drink have increased and help to increase the status of many restaurant workers. One of these is the sommelier, who has been a bit overshadowed by chefs' attention. But sommeliers are not only good for restaurants’ finances and guests' experiences, they also act as cultural mediators of good taste. Previous research shows that competition is a recurring phenomenon for how sommeliers succeed in their careers. The sommelier’s work at restaurants is now a significant issue for the success for restaurants, because they can increase restaurant profit and guest’s service satisfaction and also acts an intermediary of taste. Still, it is unclear what this success is dependent on, also yet limited research on sommeliers daily and conspicuous practices.

In this paper we focus on how sommelier's practices within competition are transferable to the restaurant floor. The paper draws on findings from a study of qualitative interviews with sommeliers in Sweden, in order to understand the sommelier's practice as performance from the analytical lens practice theory, focusing on materiality, competence and meaning.

The analysis of the findings shows that competition practitioners are identified by the sommelier's ability to understand how different elements should be answered. Moreover, is clear how the cultural understanding of what is considered to be a good combination, or the right way to move during a craft situation, plays a crucial role in how well sommeliers succeeds on the field. The paper argues that the sommelier's competition experiences is a success factor as it provides a competitive advantage, where you are not afraid of failure, as acting on the restaurant floor. We suggest that restaurateurs should promote and set aside time for their employees to compete as a form of personal development.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Örebro University , 2020. p. 33-33
Series
Måltidskunskap, ISSN 1652-2656 ; 5
National Category
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Research subject
Culinary Arts and Meal Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-97195ISBN: 9789187789434 (print)ISBN: 9789187789441 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-97195DiVA, id: diva2:1634789
Conference
Nordic association for food studies Conference (NAFS 2020) Grythyttan, Sweden, November 14, 2020
Available from: 2022-02-03 Created: 2022-02-03 Last updated: 2022-02-03Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Nordic Association for Food Studies Workshop 2020

Authority records

Scander, Henrik

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Scander, Henrik
By organisation
School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts & Meal Science
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

isbn
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

isbn
urn-nbn
Total: 117 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf