This is why I buy take-away and some plonk from the bottle-o and eat it in the comfort and privacy of my own lovely house.
Seriously, $15 is ridiculous. Nice profit for the owner though... for now. When people no longer eat there, and he has to close the business, he'll be blaming the 'high cost of wages, rent, etc'
I really don't understand this anger. This place sells bottles starting at $40 and going up to $700 or so. Personally I'd be happy paying $15 and not having to p a the wine markup of around 100% or so depending on price point. You still end up waaaay ahead than if you'd bought the bottle from there.
do the maths, if in this case assuming the bottles would've been say $30 retail, the margin he lost is $180, of which $90 was recovered in corkage fees. I'd hardly call that a nice profit. Naturally the more expensive the bottle the bigger the saving for those who BYO.
This is a high cost, expensive -ish restaurant that you could spend $300 a head just on food on if u order seafood and rent would at a guess be in excess of 300k a year on, comparing it to takeaways or cheep and cheerful chinese isn't really relevant
Corkage fees aren't merely a fee for restaurant to provide wine glasses, service etc. For licenced premises it is also a form of compensation of some of the margin lost when you allow people to bring their own wine.
If they didn't allow BYO, like some places, there would be even more whinging.
I know of a restaurant that doesn't allow any BYO and ha a good wine list but if you have a special occasion bottle you want to bring in they charge a minimum of I think $25 a bottle. This place is one of the busier restaurants in perth that has a hugely loyal following and most people understand and accept that fee.
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