Craig Decker “The Wine Guy”_R  

- 25 Years of Food and Beverage Experience -

 Craig started his experience in the beverage industry working for the #3 cola company, RC Cola. After 10 years in local market management Craig was sought out by the 7-Up company and assumed the role as Marketing and Sales Promotion Manager.  During his 17 years in the soft drink industry he was fortunate to receive training by some of the most respected beverage marketers in the business.  Craig received extensive training in consumer buying habits and social purchase patterns. 

After 7 years with the 7-Up company, Craig was approached by Constellation Brands, now the world’s largest wine company.  Craig was hired to market and promote wine brands in 9 states for 63 distributors.  During his 3 years with Constellation Brands, Craig was part of the consumer intelligence team creating many brands such as Arbor Mist and Mystic Cliffs.  This offered him genuine insight into the purchase patterns of wine consumers, as well as displaying the shortcomings of a very snobbish industry.  During the 3 years with the wine industry Craig expanded his pallet by trying thousands of wine brands educating his tastes and experiences similar to most of the every day consumers.

 Craig was seen weekly on the ABC Columbus TV cooking show “Keep Cookin” with Host Jonathan Smith during this time as well.  While appearing for 4 years as co-host to the show, Craig enjoyed expanding his cooking knowledge while taping and appearing in over 100 cooking episodes.  “It was a great experience to have the finest chefs in Columbus cook for me and then pair wine to their fantastic meals.  It taught me a lot about the relationship between food and wine,” Craig says.

 He left the wine industry to pursue a wine shop in 1999. Unfortunately the project never saw completion due to permit issues in Reynoldsburg.  Just two days after the project closed, Craig was approached by Larry Clark, owner of Made From Scratch Catering, to bring his alcohol expertise to Central Ohio’s largest caterer.

 After just one year, Craig’s new division “The Beverage Butler” was generating over $150,000 dollars annually for Made From Scratch Catering.  Craig was asked to take over the Sale’s Director position at Made From Scratch and help retool the company beginning with the kitchen and then with sales in 2002.  Since then, Craig has polished his food experience and shared his alcohol knowledge with thousands of clients.

 Craig’s foundation as a beverage marketer has proved to be his biggest asset during his current project “The Wine Guy”R Wine Shop, which opened June 15th 2005 in Pickerington Ohio.  In January 2007 we moved our wine shop 100 feet to our current location  on Rt 256 and added The Wine Guy Bistro. Craig continues working on expansion projects for The Wine Guy that include stores in Pickerington, Gahanna and Dublin in 2009 as well as three consulting projects in Worthington, Granville and now Clintonville.   He offers consumer-based approaches to Sales, Promotions and Alcohol. This philosophy is apparent every time you talk to Craig about wine and food.  He is convicted to promoting the belief that there is never a wrong choice once you know what you like.

 “My Job is to help people know how to explain what they like,” Craig Says.  Once you can answer that simple question, wine becomes a world of discovery.  Come to “The Wine Guy”R Wine Shop and see what a difference people make in you shopping experience.

 The Wine Guy Wine Shop & Bistro, The Wine Guy and The Beverage Butler, are registered trade names owned by Craig Decker.