Visitors in town for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ could well find themselves in Cape Town’s luxury restaurants served by recently trained wine waiters who, just weeks ago, were unemployed.

Wine waiters being trained

Thanks to an initiative undertaken by generic wine marketing body Wines of South Africa (WOSA) to train wine waiting staff nationwide in time for the games, people who might otherwise have found themselves struggling to find work, are not only employed for the soccer season but have been equipped with SETA-accredited certification to begin a career in the hospitality industry.

WOSA CEO Su Birch said: “We wanted to find a way of improving wine service levels at a time when the spotlight would be on South Africa and many visitors would be exposed to local wines for the first time.  By introducing visitors to our wines via knowledgeable and efficient wine waiters, we are creating ambassadors for the country.  We also hope that newly trained wine waiters develop an appreciation for wine they can extend to the people in their communities.”

The mostly on-the-job training was made available at no cost to candidates who were first screened for suitability. The programme was helping to fill a shortage of much-needed skills in the hospitality industry, she added. Birch explained that the service training initiative was being funded mainly through the domestic and international sale of specialist red wines labelled Fundi, the isiZulu word for learner.  “Developed for this purpose, the wines are labelled with a bright sunflower, as a symbol of hope.  Each bottle carries a beaded neck tag, produced by informal roadside beaders. We have also received substantial contributions from the Cape Winelands District Municipality in support of the project, while several leading German wine writers have adopted the Fundi cause and are driving sales to consumers through a highly effective social media campaign. Public and private generosity like this will allow us to extend the training initiative till the end of the year.”

Fundi wine

In March 150 people were recruited for training in the Cape Town CBD, she said.  They underwent a five-week training course to equip them to sell South African wine at on-consumption establishments.  Of this group alone, over 90% have already been employed by some of the city’s top establishments, including fine dining restaurants The Roundhouse, Salt, Moyo at the V&A Waterfront and several hotels.

“When you consider that according to Statistics SA, 64% of the country’s 4,3 million unemployed have been out of work for a year, this is a remarkable uptake.”

Similar training projects were being run in Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth and the Winelands.

Birch said the training focused on introducing candidates to best-practice service skills in a dining environment, whether exclusive and formal or more casual and relaxed. To give candidates a basic understanding of wine, the course included a “bush logic wine course”, an analogy-driven way of teaching about the main wine grape varieties and their likeness to some African animals and birds.  A Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, was likened to the impressive African elephant, a long-lived and majestic animal of great stature.

“In many cases, when trainees embark on the course, they don’t know much about wine.  Using the characteristics and the personalities associated with certain examples of African wildlife to introduce them to similar qualities evident in specific wine varietals, makes the learning accessible, fun and easy to remember.  Now, when waiters use these analogies while serving diners, they can offer novel and entertaining help to their customers in deciding what to order.”

The training initiative is being run as WOSA Laduma (isiZulu for goal), a section 21 company.

The industry was invited to submit wines for possible inclusion in the Fundi range in an open tender.  Submissions were selected in a blind tasting by members of the Cape Winemakers’ Guild according to the same exacting standards applied when choosing wines for its annual auction. The wines of five producers were selected.  They are identified on the back label of each wine.