Normal wine mark-ups at restaurants?

was just dining in London at a very popular bar/restaurant/hotel

we drank a bottle of Malbec that was marked up 10 times and our server said the normal mark-up varies but is usually 5-6X at the Firehouse

I usually see 2-3x markups on the west coast of the US

what’s up?

cheers

East coast I see anywhere from 3x-5 or 6x. But 10x is wow. Did you drink the malbec? I would have asked for water. Ha!

My experience all over the USA has been around 2-3X +/-. I think 5-6X is outrageous, and 10X the equivalent of usurous!
jacky chiles.gif

yes we drank the Malbec, then my buddies went to Vivino after they liked it…everyone has a phone these days LOL

then one of my buddies questioned the server, she was nice

I agree with ¥ 0 ñ 9. Typically see 3-5x on lists with the occasional 1.5-2x at some wino-centric places. My limit for buying is typically ~2.5-3x based upon the situation. Anything higher than 3x for more expensive wines and I’m not ordering off the list.

It varies, wildly

That’s odd because markups relative to retail are usually lower in the UK and, particularly, on the Continent.

Why did you order the malbec if the average markup there is 5x-6x?

Wow!

I watch for ‘double retail’ and don’t order if a wine tops that.

I trusted the wine gal’s recommendation, thereafter realizing the place is gouging folks…the $130 was one of the least expensive wines LOL

Dining out in London is never cheap, but I don’t usually think of wine markups being the issue.

^ this, otherwise i go BTG, booze or beer.

I think +/- 3x is the norm in large cities on both coasts. As many of us know, and of course ironically, the good deals are often to be found at the higher ends, either because there a mark-up of 1.5-2x still yields big bucks, or because the restaurant bought it a while ago, marked it up, and not sold it, and in the meantime, it’s current price has increased. I wonder in your London place what the higher end looked like. I doubt that there were such exorbitant mark-ups at all levels.

in Italy it is usually 1.5 - 3 max vs. retail depending on restaurant. (median is under 2)
in uk I have usually found 4 - 5 x retail, but my experience is limited.

The Chiltern Firehouse isn’t a good choice to go and drink wine.

+10

x 10 in your case, Gary

2-3 times retail is typical. 10 times retail is outrageous.

It seems to depend on the general cost of the wine. Less expensive wine get a higher markup, while more expensive wines will see a lower markup.

hahaha

It’s called the Malbec mark up. I am sure if you had checked, the Cabernets had a three time mark up newhere