Alder Consulting LLC · Arvada, Colorado

Sommelier and beverage program development. Tools for the trade, from the trade.

I started Alder Consulting after years of watching good restaurants run on loose systems: inventory nobody quite trusted, and lists built on taste alone. The answer is both at once. Tighter systems for what you own and what it costs, and a selection chosen with thought, so the list matches the ethos of the room and carries its share of the bottom line.

I have launched and run wine programs in Aspen and on the Front Range, looking after some of the most demanding guests in the world, and I manage private cellars for the people who own them. Advanced Sommelier, Court of Master Sommeliers.

In parallel, four years as an accountant: Restaurant365, Toast, the integrations between them, invoicing, item creation, payables and receivables. I know the floor and I know the ledger, and the work here is where the two meet.

Start with a 30 minute call Map my wine cellar or program Book a training
Start here.

Who I am

Nick Alder holding his Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced certificate

Nick Alder

Advanced Sommelier, Court of Master Sommeliers. Founder, Alder Consulting LLC.

I have worked in restaurants and hospitality my entire life, the last ten years with wine and beverage programs as the whole job. I cut my teeth as a food runner at an Olive Garden in Largo, Florida, at fifteen, and later started over as a back server at The Little Nell in Aspen. In the years since I have been a small part of restaurants and companies that run like families and deliver experiences people remember for the rest of their lives, and I have watched others, with every advantage, run into the ground by owners who treated them as playthings. I have seen most of what sits between the two.

Much of that time was spent looking after some of the highest profile guests in the world, people whose expectations leave no room for a wrong vintage or a slow count. That is the standard I bring to a wine list, a cellar and a set of books. I have sat on every side of a restaurant's money: on the floor selling it, in the cellar buying it, in the office paying for it, and now on the distributor's side of the table.

  • A decade running wine and beverage programsCreated and launched in the Roaring Fork Valley and on the Front Range, and private cellars managed for the people who own them.
  • Wine director in AspenRan the program at an Aspen steakhouse with a 600 wine list.
  • Six years inside a nine room restaurant groupBoulder and Aspen. Payroll, purchasing, licences and the daily rhythm of a multi concept operator.
  • Four years as an accountantRestaurant365, Toast, the integrations between them, QuickBooks Online, invoicing, item creation, accounts payable and receivable, bank reconciliation.
  • Wholesale wine sales todayA territory across the Front Range and the Roaring Fork Valley, so distributor pricing, allocations and collections are first hand.
  • Built for throughputI run the back office on software I built for the job. One person turns a year of invoices around in a night, and every figure traces to its document.

Who this is for

Who I work for.

Wine programs

Restaurants, hotels and retailers that need a list built, audited or costed, a by the glass program that earns its space, pairings for a new menu, or staff who can sell what is on the page.

Private collectors

A cellar that has outgrown the spreadsheet. You want to know what you own, what it is worth, what to drink now, what to buy next without overpaying, and what to pour at the dinner you are hosting next month.

Independent restaurants, the books

The owner sees the books once a month and does not trust them. Vendors call about invoices that show paid. The bank balance and the ledger disagree and nobody can say why.

Wine programs and cellars

A list is a financial document. I read it that way first, then as a sommelier.

Program management for restaurants and hotels, cellar acquisition and development for collectors, and the audits, lists, pairings and training that sit underneath. An Advanced Sommelier pin and years on the floor and in the cellar.

Work orderWhat you hand overWhat comes back

Wine program management

What you hand overThe list, the cellar, the sales mix and a standing hour each month. A room, a hotel with several outlets, or a group.

What comes backA program run as if I were on payroll without the payroll: the list kept current and costed, by the glass rotated with the menu, buying done against the sales mix and the distributors' real stock, allocations chased, the cellar counted monthly, and the floor trained on every change. A one page program report each month: pour cost, profit per bottle, what moved, what did not, what to do next.

Cellar acquisition and development

What you hand overWhat you like to drink, what you want the cellar to be in five years, a budget, and the cellar as it stands, even if that is twelve bottles on a rack.

What comes backA cellar built on purpose: a plan by region and vintage, drinking windows laid out so something is always ready, and the buying done for you through trade channels, including allocated bottles that never reach a shop shelf. Every bottle logged, mapped and valued as it arrives. Quarterly reviews, restocking, and a record of every bottle in and out.

List audit

What you hand overThe current list, cost sheet and a sales mix export.

What comes backPour cost and margin by section, dead stock, pricing that is out of step with the room, what to cut, what to add, and a corrected list with every producer, appellation and accent right.

By the glass program

What you hand overThe glass list and the menu it sits beside.

What comes backPours priced against your own menu, pour cost and profit per bottle for each, with distributor availability confirmed before anything is proposed.

Training and study guides

What you hand overThe list and an hour with the staff.

What comes backRegional guides with maps, producer profiles, tasting sheets and a short training the floor can use that night. Built for a new list rollout, a staff tasting, or a certification push.

Custom cellar inventory build

What you hand overThe cellar as it stands, however it is kept: a notebook, a spreadsheet, a CellarTracker account, or nothing yet.

What comes backAn inventory built around the way you buy and drink. Bins numbered on the racks, every bottle logged with vintage, cost, current value and drinking window, and a routine for keeping it true: what gets written down when a bottle comes in or goes out, and who does it. Kept in your spreadsheet if that is what you will use, or on the cellar map if you want to see it. Either way it is yours, and it does not depend on me to stay current.

Cellar management and procurement

What you hand overAccess to the cellar, any receipts, what you like to drink, and your CellarTracker export if you keep one.

What comes backA full inventory with current market value and drinking windows, what to open this year and what to hold, and a buying plan for the gaps. I source the wine through trade channels, including allocated bottles that never reach a shop shelf, and I keep the cellar managed after that: quarterly reviews, restocking, and a record of every bottle in and out. Staff trainings come with it: whoever pulls bottles for you, house staff, a chef, a steward, learns the map, the bins and the windows, so the right bottle comes up and the count stays true.

Menus, pairings and events

What you hand overThe menu, the occasion and the guest list. Or just the occasion.

What comes backA wine selection for a tasting menu, a dinner, a wedding or a collector's evening, with a pairing note for each course the host can read aloud. Pulled from your cellar when you have one, sourced when you do not, with pour quantities, service order and glassware worked out in advance.

Producer references

What you hand overYour inventory export.

What comes backA sommelier level reference for every producer you carry, with history, vineyards, in stock wines and pricing, laid out for the shop floor or the training room.

The mapping engagement

Let me map your cellar, your program or your whole building.

Every tool above starts the same way: I come in, count what is actually there, and draw it. What you get back is a map your staff can use on day one, an inventory that stays current because the count lives on the map, and a team trained to sell what is on it. One fixed fee, one week, yours to keep. Thirty day check in included; ongoing counts and updates on a retainer if you want them. If your system is Excel, I cater to it. If you want something more modern and efficient, I design it.

Private collectors

Your cellar

Every bottle on a world map, down to the vineyard where the records exist. Racks and bins numbered so anyone in the house can find a bottle.

  • Full count and valuation, drinking windows on every wine
  • Your CellarTracker or spreadsheet imported, nothing retyped
  • Occasion ranking, dinner builder, present mode for guests, a monthly drink by note, printed bin labels with a code that opens the wine on a phone, and an insurance valuation report
You walk away withThe map, the ledger behind it, and a buying plan for the next twelve months.
$1,200Up to 300 bottles. $2 a bottle after that. One week.
Restaurants and hotels

Your program

The list, the cellar and the by the glass program on one map, with cost, pour cost and pairings attached to every line.

  • Cellar and bar counted and binned, list reconciled to what is on hand
  • Every wine placed on the map with its bin and the story the floor needs; the printed list comes off the same page
  • Staff training built from the map: regions, producers, pairings, the sell
You walk away withA list that reads as a financial document, a floor that can sell it, and a count that takes an hour, not a night.
$1,800One room, up to 400 wines, two staff sessions. Hotels and groups quoted by outlet.
Shops and retailers

Your establishment

The whole building drawn bin by bin and location by location: floor, cold box, backstock, warehouse. Every product placed, every price traced to its invoice.

  • Plan built from a photo of your room and your own shelf tags
  • Find a bottle the way a guest asks for it; reps see only their shelves; counts, reorders and your Excel sheet round trip from the same plan
  • Margin tracking that flags a case cost change the day it lands, and shelf tags that print from the same list
You walk away withOne list for every location, staff who can answer "where is it" in seconds, and margins you can see.
$2,500One building, up to 1,500 products across floor, cold box and back. Larger stores quoted after a walk.
Allow me to map out your cellar, your program or your establishment to streamline the inventory and train your staff. You keep the map, the count and the training. I come back when you want the next one.

Walk it

Half a day on site. Every rack, bin, cooler and back room counted and photographed against your own signs and tags.

Draw it

The map is built from the count: world map for a cellar or list, floor plan for a shop. Prices, costs and windows attached to every line.

Train on it

Two sessions with the staff, on the map. Where things are, what they are, how to sell them. A short quiz they can run themselves.

Hand it over

The map, the inventory and the training are yours. Counting is a walk with a phone. I check in at thirty days and the count stays honest.

Book a mapping See a cellar mapped See a store mapped

Training seminars

Pick the room, pick the length. The floor leaves able to sell it.

Every seminar is built on your own list or cellar, comes with a one page guide and a five question quiz on the phone, and ends with a sheet of who learned what. Tasting wines are pulled from your stock or bought at cost.

20 minutes

Pre shift

One region, one new wine, or the glass list that changed this week. Standing up, before service.

$150Per session. $500 for a month of weekly pre shifts.
Book a pre shift
2 hours

Floor training

The whole list by section: what it is, where it is from, what it pairs with, how to sell it. Up to twelve staff, with a tasting of six.

$450Guide and quiz included. Tasting wines at cost.
Book a floor training
Half day

Certification push

For staff sitting the Court of Master Sommeliers Introductory or Certified exam: theory by region, a deductive tasting of eight, service drills.

$900Up to eight people. Study guide with interactive maps included.
Book a certification push
Evening

Collector's evening

In your cellar, for up to ten guests. Your own bottles, poured in an order that tells the story of the cellar, with a map on the screen.

$750Plus the wine you choose to open. Pairing menu written with your cook on request.
Book an evening
90 minutes

Shop staff class

One category your floor sells every day, Rioja, Burgundy, Champagne, amaro, taught from the bottles on your shelf and where they sit on the plan.

$400Up to ten staff. Repeatable monthly by category.
Book a class
Series

Four session course

The world of wine in four evenings for a restaurant group, a club or a private group of friends. Old World, New World, sparkling and fortified, then a blind tasting night.

$1,500Up to twelve people. Private groups welcome.
Book the series

Dates: weekday afternoons and any evening; Boulder, Denver, Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley at no travel charge. Email the date and the room and the seminar is confirmed within a day.

Tools

What you keep.

Every engagement ends with something you keep: a page on your phone, a workbook, a guide. These are the ones clients ask for again, and each can be ordered on its own. See one example of everything.

For the small business owner

The morning page: what is owed, past due and due this week, on your phone, refreshed daily.

A payables tracker that rebuilds itself every night from the inbox and the bank.

A week ahead cash forecast workbook by day of the week.

A vendor contact master, sourced from invoices, ready to import into your accounting system.

A daily sales and payables email that compares last night to the same night last week.

Help with Toast, Restaurant365 and QuickBooks when they stop agreeing with each other, and recipe costing for the kitchen and the bar so cost of goods is controlled from the invoice up.

For the hospitality and beverage professional

Study guides with interactive maps for a region, a list, a staff tasting or a certification exam.

Tasting sheets and training packets the floor can use that night.

Producer references and portfolio guides with history, vineyards and current pricing.

Pour cost and by the glass calculators, and a price check against the shops around you.

For retailers: a map of the store, location by location, with a separate inventory for the floor, the cold box and the backstock, so every rep knows where their product is placed and every shelf price moves when the case price does. A count is a walk with a phone: tap a location, count what you see, scan the shelf tag, and the reorder builds itself by supplier from the pars you set. Your Excel sheet goes in and comes back out in your own columns. A guest view with prices only for a tablet by the door. A study mode so staff learn where everything is and what it costs.

For collectors: an interactive cellar on your phone, searchable by region, producer, vintage and drinking window, with value, what to open next, and the bottles pulled for tonight's menu. Upload your CellarTracker export and every bottle lands on the map. A monthly note tells you what enters its window, what is in its last year and what is past it. One click prints a valuation report for your insurer. Your own tasting notes stay on each bottle.

Your cellar on a world map.

Click a country, a region, a village, a bottle. See the label, the place and what it pairs with. Search by grape, producer or bottling, star your favorites, build a dinner and present it to your guests. Switch to Restaurant list and the same bottles become a wine list by section with a bin number on every line, ready to print, and bin labels for the racks print from the same page. Upload your CellarTracker export or start from a count I do with you. Every bottle lands on the map with its window and value; a monthly note says what to open, and one click prints a valuation report for your insurer. This is an example cellar. Yours drops in the same way.

For the independent liquor, beer and wine retailer: your store, location by location.

Still running inventory in Excel? Receiving new product without updating the shelf price? Case pricing changed on a distributor invoice and you found out when the margin moved? This fixes all three. A separate inventory for every location in the building, the floor, the cold box, the backstock, the warehouse, on a plan of your own room. Pick a supplier and their locations light up with facings counted. Click a location to see what sits on it and on which shelf. Sort the whole inventory by location, vendor, distributor, importer, style, price, margin or what is in back. Type the margin you want and see what to charge, in one step. Every rep knows where their product is placed, and every price on the shelf traces to the invoice it came from. If your system is Excel, I work in your Excel. If you want something more modern and efficient, this is it, and it reads your sheet to start.

Find a bottle the way a guest asks for it.

A grape, a country, a price, a location. Type it and the bottle lights up on the floor plan with the shelf count, what is in back and what it sells for. Walk the store location by location to see what sits where. Reps find their product, staff find the guest's bottle, and nobody walks the store twice. The same plan runs the count (tap a location, count, scan a tag), the reorder (pars by item, cases by supplier, one click to copy or download), a guest view with prices only, a study mode for new staff, and the Excel round trip: your sheet in, your sheet out, your column order.

Upload your inventory. Upload a photo. The plan fits your room.

Your spreadsheet goes in as it is, a POS export, a distributor sheet or a count sheet, nothing retyped. Then a photo of the room: the bins populate on the photo by themselves, named from your inventory, and you drag them to where they really sit. The finder, the count and the margin tracking all follow the plan you drew. Works for a cellar, a wine room or a whole store. If you want to stay on Excel, the sheet stays the system of record and the map reads from it.

The books

Need help with your books? I fix them.

Every job is a work order. You hand over the evidence. You get back something you can read.

Nothing is estimated. If a figure cannot be sourced, the cell says so.

Work orderWhat you hand overWhat comes back

Books repair

What you hand overA bank export, the accounting inbox, vendor statements, portal access.

What comes backEvery payable rebuilt vendor by vendor from the bank, not from the vendor list. Statements set the open balance. A fix list for your bookkeeper: stale open bills, mispostings, duplicate vendors, wrong due dates, clearing account errors.

Owner's morning page

What you hand overThe repaired workbook.

What comes backOne page every morning: last night's sales against the projection, by category, with covers and labor, then total owed, past due, due within seven days, paid by hand versus automatic draft, and who pays what. Plain English. It refreshes itself before you wake up.

Cash forecast

What you hand overPoint of sale deposits, payroll dates, rent, the sales tax calendar.

What comes backA week ahead forecast by day of the week, set against everything going out, so you see which days go negative and why before they arrive.

Vendor file clean-up

What you hand overYour accounting system's vendor list.

What comes backContacts sourced from the vendors' own invoices, names matched exactly to your payment platform, duplicates merged, mispostings reclassed. An approval sheet comes first. Nothing is written until you say yes.

Standing reports

What you hand overRead only access to the point of sale and the bank.

What comes backA daily or weekly email that writes itself: last night's sales by category against the same night last week, what is due, what is past due, and what to forward to the bookkeeper.

Systems that talk to each other

What you hand overLogins to Toast, Restaurant365 or QuickBooks Online, and the problem in one sentence: sales not posting, deposits not matching, vendors doubled, reports nobody trusts.

What comes backThe integration fixed and documented: sales and tips landing in the right accounts, deposits matched to the bank, vendor and item lists cleaned so the three systems agree. If you are setting one of them up for the first time, I set it up the way the books will need it.

Recipe costing and cost of goods controls

What you hand overYour recipes, your menu, your vendor invoices and a sales mix export.

What comes backEvery plate and every pour costed from the invoice price, with yield and waste built in, so the menu price is a decision and not a guess. Cost of goods targets by category, a weekly count that takes an hour, and the reports that show the kitchen and the bar where the money is going. Built for both sides of the pass: back of house for prep and portioning, front of house for pours, comps and the glass.

How it works

Five steps. Fixed fees. No open ended hours.

Intake

A 30 minute call and read only access to the evidence: bank export, accounting inbox, vendor statements, point of sale, the list.

Diagnose

A written work order inside a week. What is wrong, how big it is, what it takes to fix, what can be left alone. Fixed fee.

Repair

The rebuild. Scoped off the diagnostic. Nothing is written into your systems without an approval sheet first.

Hand back

The morning page, the fix list for your bookkeeper or the corrected list for your floor, and a walk through.

Maintain

Optional. Monthly. The reports refresh on their own, with a review call each month. Cancel any month.

Terms, in writing

On every job, in writing.

  • Every number traces to a document. If there is no document, the report says so instead of guessing.
  • Nothing in your books, your list or your files changes without your written yes. You see the proposed change first.
  • What you owe a vendor comes from the vendor's own statement, checked against your bank, not from what the ledger happens to say.
  • Fixed fees, agreed before the work starts. No open ended hours.
  • Your data stays yours. Nothing from one client is reused for another.

Work

Three recent jobs.

Clients are anonymous and the dollar figures are substituted. The relationships between the numbers are real.

A 70 seat independent restaurant, second year of trading

21 vendors, 920 invoices and $603,000 of purchases rebuilt from the bank forward, then refreshed daily.

Ledger showed $100,800 in checking. The bank showed $37,300. Traced to 41 uncleared items and two clearing accounts in use at once.$63,500 gap
A line of credit booked as a balance at a round $150,000 beside the same account's real balance.$150,000
A summary tab that double counted payment rows under every vendor. Found before it reached the owner.$76,600
A supplier paid by app for seven months that never appeared in any payables system.7 invoices
Vendor contact data. Three of 140 vendors had a phone number. Every contact was sourced from its own invoice.140 vendors
Week ahead cash forecast: $68,800 coming in against $62,200 going out, with two negative days, both payroll.2 days flagged

A Colorado fine wine importer and distributor

A 125 producer portfolio turned into reference material the trade can use.

A producer by producer reference with history, vineyards, wine law and current pricing, with interactive maps of every region in the book.125 producers
Every entry fact checked against the producer's own material before it went to print.204 corrections
Study guides and tasting sheets for the restaurants and shops that carry the wines, so the floor can sell what it pours.Floor ready

A Denver fine wine retailer

The shop's full inventory turned into reference material for the floor.

A sommelier level producer reference covering every anchor producer in the shop, with history, vineyards and in stock wines.162 pages, 311 producers
A wine and spirits list with every accent and appellation corrected to its source language.38 pages
Flagship pricing compared across four metro shops.112 wines

Contact

Send the bank export and the question. The diagnostic comes back within a week.

Based in Arvada, Colorado. Working across Denver, Boulder and the Roaring Fork Valley, and remotely anywhere. References are available upon request.

[email protected]Email
970.987.1987Phone
Arvada, ColoradoAlder Consulting LLC