I don’t think the argument is specious. If I order any drink from the bar that’s not specifically made for me like a cocktail, I’ll typically tip $1-2 cash.
Sign me up!
You’ve will be providing p/l of the biz, yes?
How do we end this tipping nonsense?
Nothing will change until we reach a tipping point.
Ha!
If we bring our own bottle and pay corkage, we do a sort of “hybrid” tip. We wouldn’t ever tip anything LESS than 20% of the corkage, but may tip MORE if the corkage is really low. Basically, our thinking is, how expensive of a bottle would we have bought and tipped on if we had not brought our own? That’s the amount we’ll tip on as we figure that’s what the server is “losing” by us bringing our own.
I think this is right for most high end places; they track the Somm’s sales and pay them salary + commission. Whether the Somm gets in on the tip pool can vary from place to place.
Building on Chris’s example, what do we define as “service”? If I am ordering from a counter - even if it’s a complete meal of food and wine - I’m hard-pressed to understand why I’d tip. In this scenario someone is usually just bringing me the food and I won’t see them again until I go back to the counter to place another order.
But traditional “table service”, where they presumably will come back by and check on me from time to time- no issue tipping there.
Just think “if my son / daughter / wife / husband / loved one worked here…how much would I tip?” then tip that amount.
Need not over complicate this.
I’ll typically tip something for counter service, but not 20%. Basically I’ll tip whatever I’d usually put in the tip jar at a coffee shop or whatever.
Many breweries have something like this, with different prices to consume in-house or take home, so that may help to increase familiarity.
I owned a very successful hybrid shop like this for 5 years (I sold it to be more of a dad). We were set up as a bar, with all wines stored in two active cellars. Wines were priced on the list in two categories (to-go and in-store), with a standard $9 difference on all bottles. This meant that a $25 retail wine would be $34, a $100 would be $109. From a value standpoint, the more one spent on a bottle the lower the percent markup would be over wholesale (when drinking in the bar). For context, in 2013 (to drink on premise) we had 2009 Lucien Le Moine Amoureuses for $275, 2010 Venge Scout’s Honor for $45, 2008 Clape St. Peray for $40, and Tres Picos Grenache for $24.
In our case, the $9 corkage fee was modest but important. We have to have glasses, cleaning supplies, napkins, refrigeration for proper temped wine, etc. all of which are costs that do not exist when one is only doing retail. We paid for music streaming, candles… the list goes on. People would occasionally ask why there were two prices. Nobody ever complained when we explained it. In addition, I would like to think that the ambience was nice, so a little extra cost to enjoy that was a small price to pay.
Our revenue was an almost even split. There were many times where we were able to sell people wine that they enjoyed on the spot, often a case at a time. In those situations, we circled the in-store total on the invoice and pointed it out to the potentially-inebriated customer to ensure that they knew the “tip” amount was only what was consumed in-store.
I had two full-time employees. I covered paid time off and health insurance. Both were in their early 20’s when they started and earned between 40-50K per year (depending on hours worked) plus benefits. Employees stayed at least 2 years on average. 90% of their compensation was through tips at the bar.
As for what to tip? Average tips per in-store bill ran right at 25%. This was due (I think) to a focus on good service and repeat business. On the average Friday night we knew 75% of the people that came through the door. We had good tippers and bad tippers. The good tippers were more likely to hear about the bottles not on the list. Again, in 2013 that meant 2011 Vatan Sancere (we had 36 bottles of this) for $80, 2009 DRC Vosne Romanee 1er (6 bottles) for $375 or 2006 Alban Reva (which we were allocated two cases of) for $120.