Dig #6!
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Tony Terlato is FOR SURE talking to his lawyers over that one
Ouch.
Brutal but true.
They missed one giant white elephant: Stop guessing about what is a good deal!! Pull out your web-enabled phone and look up the real retail prices! I’ve said it in the past, and I truly believe that this will change the game. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if many restaurants ban the use of cell phones at the table for that reason. Most diners are totally ignorant to the true value of what they order off the wine list. Once it becomes very easy to look up the real retail price at the table, I doubt that many customers will continue to pay the 2.5x to 3x markups… (where’s the soap box smiley?)
Hmmm… That’s an interesting idea for a new iPhone app…
Mike - I hope so. A new restaurant opened in our area and got good reviews from the Oakland Trib and SF Chron and was touted for it’s low cost/affordable wine list with most wines priced in the $30-40 range.
Well I decided to spot check most of the wines listed…many were regional Italian wines retailing for $12-14 so wholesale was like 8 or 9 bucks on these things…blew me away.
I just checked on this and Vinfolio already has a free app that will give average auction and retail prices, plus Vinfolio’s price if they have it in stock. This would be handy as well while shopping for wine at retail…
priceless…
Never order Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. We don’t mean to pick on Santa Margherita. We know many people like it and that’s fine. But because so many people like it, it is routinely one of the most outrageously priced wines on the list…
Generally, I have found that a BTG (by the glass) zinfandel can deliver much higher quality than most of the other selections.
I would LOVE the wine-searcher version of this.
It’s a nice app though.
while you’re at it why not look up beer prices at the ballpark.
yup … totally atrocious! And it seems there’s never a good option to be found, either — once I’m to the point where I’m actually happy to pay $13 for 22oz. of Dos Equis, I know I’m sinking fast … I hit rock bottom when I find myself happy about paying less than $10 for a 16oz. Bud Light … what’s a guy gotta do to get a good Ale at a ballgame?!?
Are you suggesting that any business is worthy of your patronage while they take advantage of their customers’ ignorance and charge exorbitant mark-ups? 99% of Americans know what a beer costs in a supermaket, so they are fully informed when making their decision to buy a beer at the ballpark. This is not the case for most Americans ordering wine. The practice of marking wine 2.5x to 3x is offensive IMO, and is why I don’t order wine in restaurants unless they have a customer friendly wine program.
But do you gladly pay $2.50 or more for ice tea or espresso (cost is literally pennies), $6.00 for Perrier and $12 and up for pastas and salads that you could make at home for $3.50?
I always love the “I hate the restaurants that charge 3x for wine” statement. You have choices in this world
- Do not go there
- BYO if they allow corkage
- Suck it up and find something good to drink
As Roberto points out, there are much worse markups in a restaurant. A glass of coke for $4 that cost them a dime is another example, but we pay it.
I do not like paying 3x markup on a $50 retail wine, but I will glad pay it on a $10 retail wine, if I like it.
So many options to choose from, so many great restaurants.
2 years ago, I ate at Bouley and we byo’d 3 btls for 4 people @ $50/btl corkage. The somm looked at me like I was crazy. He said, “You are aware that we have to charge you $150 to open those?” I replied, “Do you see what I get on your list for $150?”
I and the rest of the world know what those items cost at the grocery store, therefore we go into the situation with our eyes open. My issue is with establishments who take advantage of their customers’ lack of knowledge about wine and charge a disproportionate premium because of it. Why else whould the NYT be writting an article with the basic purpose of helping their readers not get taken?? Wine should be an enjoyable complement to a meal, but many resturants turn it into a tedious financial exercise in avoiding highway robbery.
Exactly. Which is why my money only goes to establishments who don’t extort their customers while simultaneously creating a barrier to more people enjoying wine.
Daniel, think about how your business would be affected if more restaurants served wine at accessible prices - allowing more customers to try different things at a lower cost of entry. I imagine this could only be a good thing for you. So why are you so complacent with the status quo?
Simple, because they are marking these things up by less than $10 and/or doing something for the money. With wine, we’re not talking about selling me a coke I buy at retail for $1 that they charge me $2.50. We’re talking about a $30 bottle of wine they are trying to charge me $90. That’s an extra $60 profit for them for popping a cork and pouring it into a glass.
The 3X retail actually made sense when a restaurant bought wines, aged them, then served them 20 years later at 3X the retail when they were bought by the restaurant. The restaurant had costs associated with storing the wine, the cost of money being tied up, allowing for flawed bottles, etc.
Most restaurants now are serving stuff that was just delivered last week and charging 3X the current retail price. Why would anyone pay that when they could walk down the street and buy the same bottle at a wine store. I rarely buy wines at restaurants and find it insulting that they try to charge those prices. No only do they loose the opportunity to make an extra $15-$20 profit off me for a reasonably priced wine, they loose my future business.
Andy
2 years ago, I ate at Bouley and we byo’d 3 btls for 4 people @ $50/btl corkage. The somm looked at me like I was crazy. He said, “You are aware that we have to charge you $150 to open those?” I replied, "> Do you see what I get on your list for $150?> "
Thanks for the chuckle, Dan.
This popped up while surfing:
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Mike
I would be the first one to admit that I could not see myself charging so much for this stuff, but like I said, there are many choices out there for people to decide.
Restaurants are ITB of making money just like any other biz. I know many restaurants that struggle despite these huge markups. I am not an expert on restaurants, so I am not saying that they should charge more (that would be insane), I am just saying that if it works for them, great, if not, time will tell.
Let the consumer decide!
This is my hope for the Millennial Generation which has already been identified as the ‘next great wine drinking generation’ by much of the recent wine industry marketing research. The combo of tech savvy and a general unwillingness to accept the status quo by this generation should help to change things as they get older and become the majority of the wine buying market.