Two restaurants. One team.
The Clinton House (Clinton, NJ) and Nektar Wine Bar (New Hope, PA) are two restaurants in two towns, about 35 minutes apart — but one team. We've run them as a single house: the same people move between our dining rooms, our bars, and our kitchens, and we think of ourselves as one crew rather than two staffs.
Part of how we take care of that crew is by getting out together — into the vineyards, cellars, and kitchens behind the wines and dishes we serve. Here's a look at how we learn, grow, and celebrate as one team.
Outside the Glass
A Hospitality Ambassador Program
From kitchen to vineyard. From service to source.
The idea is simple: give our team the chance to experience hospitality at its source — meeting the people, places, and traditions behind what we serve, then bringing it home. It runs as a full circle, and it starts on our own floor.
And it's fully paid — flights, lodging, and every lunch and dinner along the way — so the winners just show up and take it all in.
Compete
Our team competes to sell the most wine from a chosen region.
Travel
The top sellers earn the trip — visiting the wineries and meeting the producers behind those wines.
Share
They come home and host a tasting event at the restaurants — where the rest of the team can join free, as guests.
Feature
Then we feature those wines and pour more of them, with the whole team able to tell the story.
From service to source — and back again.
September 2026
Portugal 2026
Porto, the Douro Valley & Vinho Verde
Our Hospitality Ambassadors flew to Porto to taste their way through northern Portugal — Port lodges on the Douro, a working harvest in the hills, and long dinners together. Firsthand access to producers like Aveleda, Casa do Valle, Wine & Soul and Duorum — with the knowledge, stories, and new favorites brought straight back to Nektar and The Clinton House.
- A premium Port tasting at W&J Graham's, high above the Douro
- The historic gardens, bread-making and picnic lunch at Quinta da Aveleda
- Vinho Verde at the source in Portugal's green north
- Harvest, cellar work and a candlelit manor dinner at Casa do Valle
- A day in the Douro Valley with Sandra Tavares & Jorge Serôdio Borges at Wine & Soul
Spring 2025
Willamette Valley 2025
Oregon wine country
In the spring of 2025 the team flew west to Oregon's Willamette Valley — Pinot country — for a run of tastings across the region's best estates. We worked our way through the valley, glass by glass, and brought wines home for our next in-house showdown.
- Tastings across the Willamette Valley — Elk Cove, Archery Summit, Willamette Valley Vineyards and Dobbes
- A deep dive into Oregon Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and cool-climate whites
Finger Lakes
New York wine country
Closer to home, the crew headed up to New York's Finger Lakes — Riesling country — for a few days of tastings along the lakes. Cool-climate whites, rolling vineyards above the water, and long dinners together.
- Tastings along the Finger Lakes, New York's Riesling country
- Cool-climate whites and sparkling from lakeside estates
- Vineyard views out over the lakes
- Team dinners to close out each day
2024
California 2024
Napa & Sonoma
In 2024 the team headed west to California's wine country — Napa and Sonoma — for a run of tastings and vineyard tours. Barrel rooms, hillside vineyards, and flights in the sun, with West Coast bottles earmarked to pour back home.
- Tastings and vineyard tours across Napa and Sonoma
- Barrel-room and estate visits
- Hillside vineyard views over California wine country
- West Coast bottles chosen for the list back home
Built by our people
Life at Alpha Hospitality
The restaurants aren't only places to work; they're learning environments. We promote from within: it doesn't matter how much experience you walk in with. When you're ready, we raise you into lead roles and help you get there.
The events are ours to create
Our tasting events aren't handed down from a corporate playbook. Our own team dreams them up — designing the menus, choosing the wines and pairings, and running the night. Wine Wars, our manager showdown where guests pick the winner, started exactly that way. And you don't have to work an event to enjoy it: our team is welcome to come to any tasting event free, as guests. See what's coming up on our events page.
Experiencing the other side of the table
We think it's important for our team — and especially our managers and leaders — to regularly sit on the guest side of the dining experience. So we dine out together at exceptional restaurants: Le Bec-Fin, Butcher & Singer, and a Michelin-starred Korean BBQ in Philadelphia; the Pluckemin Inn; Red Rooster in Flemington; Finn in Frenchtown; and sushi at Nuzu. It keeps us sharp on what great hospitality feels like when you're the one being served — and what we notice, we bring back to our own rooms.
Certifications we help you earn
We don't just encourage education — we pay for it. We support our team through wine and beverage certifications, from Introductory and Certified Sommelier (Court of Master Sommeliers) to WSET and the Cicerone beer program — and there's always room for one more name on the board.
Always learning
Manager-led staff tastings and trainings, support toward Sommelier and WSET certifications, mentorship and cross-training across stations and both restaurants, visits to our distributors' facilities to see where our food comes from, and hands in the dirt at harvest — the more our team knows, the better the night is for everyone at the table.
How we celebrate
We work hard together and we celebrate together — beer crawls, TopGolf, and staff dinners out.
The holiday parties
Once a year we throw two holiday parties — one at each restaurant — for our one crew. They're some of our favorite nights of the year.
Want to be part of it?
Come for the job, stay for the career. We're always glad to meet people who love hospitality as much as we do — and who want to grow into it, trips and all.
See careers & how to join