Case study · 60-day pilot
Grapes & Grains rebuilt the floor.
The phone, the new hires, and the paperwork.
An Atlanta-area independent liquor store used BevTek to answer every inbound call, cut new-hire ramp time by more than half, and close out the quarter with a clean compliance file. Here’s what 60 days looked like.
Live deployment — the number above rings the actual Gabby instance running on the Chamblee store right now.
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The store
A working independent — not a flagship.
We chose Grapes & Grains as the pilot because it’s representative: one location, owner-operated, mid-sized inventory, enough call volume to stress-test phone coverage but small enough to feel every operational gap personally.
Location
Chamblee, GA
Format
Independent liquor + wine
Team size
8 staff
POS
Korona
SKUs
~3,800 active
Years open
11+
Pilot started
March 2026
Plan
Pro Plus
The challenge
Three problems that had been there since day one.
None of these were emergencies. They were the kind of chronic friction that compounds quietly — the operator knows about them but can’t justify the salary to fix any one of them.
About 4 in 10 weekend calls weren't getting answered.
The owner was on the floor; the closer was bagging at the register. Friday and Saturday evening, the line rang past five, and whoever needed Belvedere just drove to the next store on Buford Highway.
New hires were dead weight for six weeks.
The store hired three times in 18 months. Each new hire took a month and a half to recommend a bottle without pointing at the shelf. The owner's wine knowledge was the single point of failure for every up-sell.
Compliance paperwork lived in a manila folder.
Dram-shop attestations were photocopied, signed, and dropped in a folder behind the counter. The owner spent two Sundays a year reconstructing the file before the annual inspection.
Deployment timeline
What rolled out, in what order.
We sequenced the rollout to put the painful gap first — phone coverage — and let everything else stack behind it. The compounding effect mattered more than any single feature.
- Week 1
Inventory + Megan Trainer onboarded
Their Korona POS connected. The 3,800-SKU catalog imported and auto-linked to BevTek’s master list. All four current staff seated in the 104-module trainer the same day.
- Week 2
Gabby Voice live on the existing line
BevTek provisioned a dedicated number behind the store’s existing landline. Forwarding flipped Friday at 4pm. By Saturday close, Gabby had handled 31 calls without escalation.
- Week 3
In-store QR codes printed and posted
Three 4x6 QR cards: counter, wine wall, end-cap. Customers started scanning into the welcome page within hours. The owner’s nephew built the first 12 pairing requests that day.
- Week 5
Two new hires onboarded entirely through Megan
Both finished the first 20 modules in their first week. Manager dashboard showed completion + quiz scores live. The owner spent zero one-on-one training time.
- Week 8
Compliance file exported clean
Annual dram-shop attestations rendered as a single PDF with timestamps, manager signatures, and renewal dates. The owner sent it to the auditor without rebuilding anything.
The results · 60 days in
Five numbers, honestly measured.
We’re reporting what 60 days actually moved — not a year-end projection. The numbers are restrained on purpose. They come from the store’s POS, BevTek’s call log, and the Megan completion dashboard.
100%
Inbound calls answered
Up from ~60% pre-deployment. Gabby picks up by the 2nd ring, 24/7.
< 2s
Average pickup time
Measured across 600+ calls over the 60-day pilot.
10 days
New-hire ramp to recommend
Down from ~6 weeks before. Two new hires onboarded through Megan in week 5.
3,800
SKUs voice-readable
Live inventory grounded. Gabby never recommends a bottle that isn't on the shelf tonight.
0
Compliance reconciliation hours
Annual dram-shop file exported as a single PDF. No manila folder, no Sunday paperwork.
Methodology: call-answer rate compared against the 30 days of carrier call-log data preceding deployment (calendar-matched). Ramp time self-reported by the owner. SKU count from Korona export. Compliance hours from owner’s own time log.
Owner’s read
“The phone never used to get answered after 6pm. Now it always does. The new kid started on a Tuesday and was recommending Caymus by Friday. The folder behind the counter is empty. That’s the whole story.”
Mike Sweigart
Owner · Grapes & Grains Chamblee
What’s next
Where Grapes & Grains takes it from here.
The pilot answered the “does this work” question. The next 60 days are about extending what’s already in flight.
- →Two-way SMS recap rolled out to every customer who calls — bottle holds confirmed by text.
- →iPad kiosk by the wine wall: same Gabby, larger surface for first-time customers browsing.
- →Customer-side PWA push: Gabby Shopper installed on regulars' home screens for delivery / hold requests.
- →Manufacturer-funded sponsored picks toggled on — first rev-share kickback projected for Q3.
Run the same playbook in your store.
The deployment Grapes & Grains used is the standard BevTek onboarding. Same modules, same voice setup, same compliance export. Most stores are live within a week.
Charter pricing
Lock these rates for the life of your subscription.
We’re still in our charter cohort — the operators who help us prove the platform get the founding rate forever. Standard pricing will be materially higher once general availability opens. Start your free trial this month and your charter rate is locked for as long as your subscription stays active.