Wine pairings: Gotham Bar and GrillWine pairings: Gotham Bar and Grill

A good beverage program can make the difference between a profitable restaurant and an unprofitable one.

Drinks generally fetch higher margins than food and often are pure incremental sales. But getting customers to part with their hard-earned cash for a drink remains a challenge. In fact, in the first quarter of 2013, tap water ranked as the fastest-growing foodservice beverage, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based consumer research firm The NPD Group, having jumped by 4 percent from the year-earlier period.

One way to encourage customers to think outside the water glass is to recommend the beverages that might best accompany their menu choices.

That’s why Nation’s Restaurant News has launched Pairings, a regular feature that shares in...