Also called: Beverage Buyer, Wine Buyer, Beer Buyer, Category Manager (Wine & Spirits)
Chooses which wines, beers and spirits a store chain, restaurant group or distributor will carry, and negotiates the price.
You taste 40 wines that sales reps brought in, score them, and pick six for the fall shelf reset. Then you study sales reports, cut slow sellers, and negotiate a better price on a holiday sparkling wine.
Estimate anchored on BLS buyers and purchasing agents ($77,710 median, May 2025); large chains pay more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in business, hospitality or marketing is common; years in wine retail or restaurants plus WSET certificates matter most.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Business Administration, Hospitality Management, Marketing, Wine Studies.
Growing about average. BLS projects 6% growth for all buyers and purchasing agents, 2025-35, but wine buyer jobs are few and sought after.
Medium risk for 10 years. Software forecasts demand and sets reorders; tasting, picking new products and negotiating with suppliers stay human.
Classes: Math or statistics, Economics, Business CTE class.
Official data: O*NET occupation 13-1022.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.