Some friends and I have a Supper Club, and every month or so we pick a different restaurant around town and meet up for dinner. The four of us are enthusiastic diners, meaning that we enjoy going out, and we enjoy the experience of a meal.
That meal always includes the food of course, and also the drinks. Two of us are a couple and they are adventurous, enthusiastic wine lovers, to the extent of traveling to wine regions around the world and having wine shipped home. One of us doesn’t drink at all, and I’m usually alert to new options, both with alcohol and without, to put on the table for everyone to enjoy.
Which brings us to the topic that Matthew and I would like to address this week, namely corkage fees. A few weeks ago, after dinner and as the server dropped our check at the table, we were surprised to see a corkage fee of $50 for each bottle. We expected a corkage fee, of course, usually of $25 to $35. But a corkage fee of $50, even for non-alc bottles, added up quickly over the course of an enjoyable evening. What’s more, we weren’t alerted ahead of time of how much the fee would be.
Hmm.
Contrast this experience to our most recent Supper Club meal, in an entirely different part of town. As we sat down, we asked the server if they charged a corkage fee for a bottle we brought. The answer, in a don’t-ask-don’t-tell nutshell, was “Wine bottle? What wine bottle? I don’t see a wine bottle.”
Again, hmm.
That’s a significant difference, from $0 to $50 to $75+ in some private venues and clubs. It got me to wondering a few things, mainly about why there are corkage fees in the first place.
Matthew goes further into this from his perspective as a working sommelier and wine bar owner, but the general consumer understanding is that corkage fees help to compensate for the loss of markup on wines that the restaurant or bar already includes on their list. The loss of that markup cuts even deeper into the restaurant’s already-slim profit margin.
Which puts those restaurants more at risk in already-risky economic conditions.
Is the answer for consumers to not bring their own wines? Is the answer to abandon corkage fees altogether? Is the answer… what?
Let me turn it over to Matthew and his boots-on-the-ground (and boots-on-the-restaurant-floor) perspective.
Something I have grappled with for years...as a member of the wine industry with 20 years experience, is it appropriate for me to dine at a restaurant and bring my own wine?
Honest question.
When I was younger in my retail years, I'd buy the best bottle I could afford and then pick a restaurant with the right food to pair it with, make a reservation or walk in to sit at the bar. Usually I had friends who worked the floor as a somm, were a server or possibly a bartender, and it wasn't an issue because I always brought extra wine for the staff and tipped well. This is how the industry worked when we were fledglings.
Bringing birth year bottles to birthday dinners. Opening special bottles a winemaker gave me while visiting their vineyard. Grand Cru Burgundy I was able to finally afford ONE BOTTLE OF! My excitement never feigned, but it took me years to consider the other side of the coin...there establishment I was visiting who then got to serve me MY wine that I BROUGHT into THEIR RESTAURANT.
So allow me to break it down...
Wine focused restaurants need to sell wine to stay open. It's a fact. It's a business. Businesses cannot stay open if they don't sell things. And food is not as profitable as many of you may believe. Alcohol sales, traditionally, were how restaurants stayed afloat. It's all backwards and up in the air nowadays with declining sales.
Take this post from Gianpaolo Paterlini, Wine Director/Co-Owner of Two Star Michelin Acquerello in San Francisco...
Let that sink in...
If we bring our own wine, or choose not to drink in a restaurant...will that restaurant survive?
No one wants to hear this, but most restaurants we all love are TWO bad-sales-months away from having to layoff staff or even close their doors.
What is the moral of my story?
Drink your epic bottles of wine at home with your friends. When you go to a restaurant, REALLY GO TO THE RESTAURANT. Immerse yourself in their style, their culture, their hospitality. Buy wine at restaurants. Their survival depends on it.
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