Almost open for business... Decanter Restaurant and Wine Lounge

Wine Pimps
21

JP
Congrats! It’s very fullfilling when you see all your hard work come together.
The health inspectator was really nice, Randy didn’t elaborate but we got marked down for not having hydraulics to make the bathroom doors self-closing and the other she marked us down for having a placemat sitting on the hand sink in the kitchen and said it was obstructed. Sheesh!
In CA when you use the restroom you must wash your hands, then when you exit the restroom you have to wash your hands again in the manadatory handsink in the kitchen, this is in case the door handle has cooties on it.

22

I think you’re overstating… in California, the cooties have to wash their hands too. [snort.gif] neener [wow.gif]

23

JP,

Your health department will show up give you your final for year “2010.” In March, about 12:30 PM, on the busiest Wednesday you’ve ever had, they will show up to do your 2011 inspection. It’s a Murphy’s Law thing. neener

24

I can think of a situation a bit more devilish than that because of the ongoing relationship with this Murphy character and his damn laws. I was more on the lines of having both the Health Department and Fire Marshall both crash our Valentines Day dinner during the first seating of our dinner rush, hell throw the TABC in there as well. Nothing speaks louder to a crowd of people than a bunch of armed officers with cowboy hats walking into a jam packed bar/restaurant. Now that would be a scene.

25

Update: we got our license this last Friday, finally!

Next up, talk with the boss man to see when we’re opening. Could be this week, or possibly next. Keeping my fingers crossed for soonest date possible.

26

Hooray! Glad you got your license and are almost ready to go!

27

Update:
We are scheduled to do our Grand Opening December 29th. The event is open to the public and will consist of several reps pouring samples of wines that are on our wine menu. Servers will pass out small appetizers and food samples. The bar will be open for business but we won’t have any tables available for a sit down dinner that night.
Dec. 30th we will be closed in order to restock, regroup and to make sure we have everything right for the 31st.
Dec.31st, our first official day open. New Years Eve dinner.

28

I assume you will be open on Saturday the 1st. Would love to make NYE, but we will be coming back from New Mexico.

29

Aye Captain, we will be open on the 1st.

30

Well, then roll out the red carpet and look for me and the little lady.

31

Having Tex come in on the first makes me think about the movie Ratatouille.

But don’t panic, Tex will go easy on you.

32

Now Randy be nice.

I don’t have any agenda, and I’m not some tyrant that is out to critique restaurants. I just have an opinion on how beef critter should be prepared.

33

Congrats and all the best with your new business [cheers.gif] !! A bit far for us to visit, but if we do get out your way we will stop by. And I’m sure that Tex will be nice [wink.gif]

34

After much consideration and talks with people that I think are leaders and well versed in the wine industry, at least here on the restaurant side (remember this is my first time doing a wine list and my first stab at being a beverage director), I will be taking the following approach for pricing of the wine list:
My biggest headache so far has been geared towards how to price high cost wines. I could have kept it simple and linear, x2 across the board. First of all, the wine scene in restaurants here in Dallas seems a bit stifled, at least compared to what I see in Houston, Austin and even San Antonio… c’mon! Really, San Antonio, ahead of Dallas in the restaurant scene?! Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of nice places with amazing wine lists… and prices to boot. I’m so sick of hearing about how overpriced wines are, and how its hard to get a good bottle of wine without mortgaging kids, body parts, selling soul to Devil, etc.

So, what am I doing to put my best foot forward in realizing a part of my dreams? Well, for every bottle of wine that is $100 or more, I will only be adding a flat constant of $100. It will not be just as simple as that, because of our liquor license we will be paying 14% tax on wine, beer and liquor we buy. So, it’ll actually work out to be the following formula: $Y + 14%= X and then list price will be X+$100. Example: My cost on Schrader is $250, add 14% to that= $285 ($35 is tax), add $100 to that total and you’ll see that bottle listed for $385. Now, the idea for the future is that eventually we’ll have quite a few selections of very expensive wines. Take DRC, wholesale cost for current vintage is somewhere in the $500-600’s per bottle here in Dallas last time I checked. Now, lets say that cost is $600, add 14%, that makes it $685, add the $100 constant and you’ll find a bottle of DRC in the cellar for $785. From what I’ve seen at stores around the city, this is below their retail sale cost. Now, there will be a few kinds of people, those that will squeal and yelp at a $785 price tag on a bottle of wine, and there will be the others, that actually have that wine in their cellar, that say, “Damn that’s a good price on that bottle. It’s not a half bottle correct?”. Now, I know this is not going to be a driving force behind the economy in our restaurant, selling high end wines. I want everyone that comes in to really enjoy each and every bottle of wine no matter how expensive it is. I just feel that someone has to break the mold, stick their neck out and say, “enough is enough” when it comes to gouging at restaurants with wine prices. I’d rather be busy as hell with plenty of customers than be bored and lonely with only a few seats filled. Am I crazy or have I missed something here?