Pleasantly surprised to see Brad Trent get a mention in the article. I’m not sure I’ve seen him in a few decades!
I thought the link I shared was a ‘shareable’ one, but clearly doesn’t seem to be working…
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This article is behind a paywall. Can someone either post the article or a summary?
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Good read. It was accessible for me, albeit behind some ad popup.
$35 corkage fee for The Modern is a ridiculously good deal. Definitely the lowest I’ve seen from a Michelin star in NYC. And it’s two stars at that.
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please always post the archive link
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Very interesting article. I had no idea what things were like in New York and New Jersey.
Here in Oregon, corkage is universally allowed. I cannot even remember ever being turned down when I bring my own wine, which is 100% of the time we eat out. And corkage fees average about $25.
Life is good.
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In states such as Ohio and Colorado, bringing your own bottle to a restaurant with a liquor license is against the law. Ryan Fletter of Barolo Grill in Denver is relieved that he runs a restaurant in one of these places. “From my standpoint you shatter the value and dilute what is a very expensive asset [when you BYOB],” said Fletter, who has spent decades building a substantial cellar of wines, notably a large cache of Barolo. He noted that BYOB, and the bite it takes from the overall bill, would negatively impact his staff, as well. “Servers get smaller tips. It’s punitive to their income,” he said.
What a load of garbage. Restaurants and restaurant employees in places like California where corkage is permitted almost everywhere are doing just as well as restaurants in Colorado and Ohio.
Oh, and no restaurant has to permit corkage anywhere, and if they do, they can set whatever price they want on it, it is solely in their discretion. So if it’s shattering value and punitive to your employees, then just don’t allow it at your restaurant or charge a high enough fee to avoid all those allegedly disastrous results.
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We wine drinkers are all too used to the ‘value’ of the bottles we like being shattered by large restaurant markups on wine, in order to subsidise the food prices. In such situations I’ve no qualms about further shattering the restaurant’s ‘value’, by drinking water instead of 4x retail wines.
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I thought in DC there was pretty much universal acceptance of corkage and for years it was 25 a bottle. Obviously, it is nice to go to restaurants that allow corkage. But then again, my wife would rather I cook…
“I certainly think about the latter when I bring my own wine and don’t have to pay corkage at a BYOB restaurant. I tip as if there were a $75 or $80 bottle on the check, and have done so since I moved from New York to New Jersey. I was surprised, initially, to find that few of my fellow New Jerseyans compensated their servers in this way—though many of the friends with whom I dine now do as well.”
This is just dumb. So she tips as though the restaurant has a wine list that she’s ignoring despite the fact that the restaurant doesn’t even have a liquor license?
I’m a generous tipper for the most part. But I’m not adding an imaginary bottle to the bill in order to calculate the tip when dining at the no corkage, BYOB place in NJ that couldn’t sell you a bottle of wine if they wanted to.
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I think all she is saying is she is giving an extra 20 bucks more than she would tip otherwise. Seems reasonable if the glassware and service are good.
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She should say that cuz the way she writes it is pure virtue signaling.
In NJ most of the restaurants…way more than 50% are BYOB because they don’t have a liquor license. They price their food accordingly. They don’t have a business plan that includes the expectation of an extra $20 tip to make the financials work.
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Corkage is alive and well. Very grateful that so many restaurants I go to allow/encourage it. It’s also nice to buy a bottle (if in a large group) from them or a BTG/flight (if small group) to support their program. I definitely tip more when I do corkage if the glassware is good, but I certainly don’t virtue signal it at all. I don’t tip nearly as incrementally more when the glassware is terrible or it’s the restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license.
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This is an interesting article from Lettie Teague. She uses Berserker Brad Trent as a source for NY friendly places. I understand the sommeliers perspective but I think all restaurants should allow it. Personal bias. I love what Danny Meyer does at the Modern. One reason I make special trips there with friends. I think at some point US restaurants are going to have to up their game and stop charging 4 x wholesale for wines. Again a personal bias and perspective. I don’t own a restaurant so I am maybe a little more callous to this but I think all restaurants should allow this. I always take care of the wait staff!
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And whenever I’ve BYOB’ed with friends in NYC and SF, we always tip on what we figure the bill would have been if we’d ordered a reasonable bottle off the list so we’re fair to the wait staff. We never base the tip on the total with only the corkage charge. I’m not sure what I’d do in NJ, though, because BYOB is built into the business model already so many places.
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I find the anti-corkage voices unpersuasive. It’s not as if getting $35-$50 for nothing is bad for margins! It is all margin.
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While I see the issues of restaurant profit and staff tips, IMO, restaurants in states where it is legal should, at minimum, calculate the lost profit in some manner and offer to allow BYO with that amount in corkage. Tipping wait staff would still suffer but can be addressed in other ways (add that to the corkage charge - transparently, e.g.).
IN prohibits BYO, so we don’t go out (or do 1/10th of what we would like and can afford), simple as that.
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Ohio and Colorado, two states famous for their vibrant restaurant scenes.
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Last time I went to the Modern I spent $1,600 but only $70 was for wine. 
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This is not dumb, it’s viewed as common courtesy amongst industry professional. Like it or not, the reality is that service staff in United States live off tips. By bringing a bottle of wine in place of a wine you would have purchased, you are lowering your check average and thus lowering your 20% tip, but the server works just as hard. Ask any Somm or server. You’re tipping for the bottles service - especially if the restaurants has service staff dedicated to wine service. If your going to BYOB you should tip on the bottle you brought. Now if you brought a bottle of DRC, no one expects you to tip an extra $1,000, but a little extra for bottle service is common courtesy.
I think it’s a fair point that if there is some actual wine service that comes along with it, tipping on the cost of a moderate bottle off the list is a good practice. I don’t literally calculate that, I just go to a higher percentage tip, but I think that roughly approximates it.
On the other hand, the staff probably overall works 95%+ as hard for Mormons, Muslims, people who can’t drink for health reasons, people doing Dryuary, people who are in AA, and all other types of customers who don’t order any drinks at all. And nobody expects those people to add a tip that approximates if they had ordered a couple bottles of wine off the list.
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