Business Continuity Planning for a Winery & Vineyard

Sector: Winery, vineyard and hospitality
Service: Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Location: UK

The challenge

A UK‑based winery and vineyard wanted a practical business continuity plan that reflected the realities of wine production, vineyard operations and hospitality. The objective was not compliance for its own sake, but a clear plan that could actually be used by the business in the event of disruption.

Referred to Inoni through an insurer recommendation, the organisation was looking for a specialist that understood agricultural, production‑led and seasonal operations, without adding unnecessary complexity.

Our approach

Inoni delivered the Business Continuity Planning project using a simple, time‑boxed and collaborative approach, designed to minimise disruption to day‑to‑day operations.

The approach included:

• Structured information gathering ahead of workshops to reduce time burden on the client
• Facilitated workshops with senior managers and operational leads to identify key risks, priorities and dependencies
• A clear focus on real‑world disruption scenarios relevant to wineries and vineyards
• Development of documentation that was easy to follow, clearly structured and ready to use

The emphasis throughout was on producing a business continuity plan that staff could understand quickly and apply confidently during an incident.

This project is typical of how we approach business continuity planning for wineries and vineyards.

What was included in the Business Continuity Plan

The resulting Business Continuity Plan was tailored specifically for a winery and vineyard environment and included:

• Emergency response and incident management procedures
• Crisis management structure, roles and escalation routes
• Business recovery strategies for priority disruption scenarios
• Clear action checklists to guide response and recovery
• Contact directories for key internal and external stakeholders
• A supporting impact and risk assessment, aligned to the organisation’s operations

The plan was designed to support continuity across wine production, vineyard operations, warehousing, sales and hospitality, rather than being a generic template.

The outcome

The project fully met the organisation’s objectives. The business now has a clear, usable business continuity plan in place, providing confidence that it can respond effectively to disruption.

As a tangible benefit, the existence of a formal Business Continuity Plan also contributed to a reduction in business interruption insurance premiums, providing immediate commercial value in addition to increased resilience.

Key outcomes:

• Practical, easy‑to‑use Business Continuity Plan
• Greater organisational confidence and assurance
• Reduced business interruption insurance premium

Client feedback

"We were recommended through the NFU and found the approach professional, simple and very precise. The project fully met our objectives and gave us exactly what we needed. Having a clear business continuity plan in place has brought real reassurance and even helped reduce our business interruption insurance premium."