Should a restaurant charge corkage on a corked bottle?

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21

Or live in Napa Valley. Or are giving a wine dinner in a major city. There are a lot of reasons why 4 bottles would be brought into a restaurant. Of course it should not be done on the spur of the moment, but it is not a sin…

22

Really? They opened the bottle, poured the wine and cleaned all the glasses. I don’t work for free and I don’t expect a restaurant to either. Now, if the customer were to order a bottle off the wine list to replace the corked one the restaurant could waive the previous corkage. That has been done for me in the past. But still, if they still charged corkage I would understand. I wouldn’t be happy but at the same time I wouldn’t complain. It was my wine that was corked not theirs.[/quote]


[winner.gif] Couldn’t agree more!

23

The play I would have made was once I found the 3rd bottle corked…purchase a bottle off the list and call it even. If they still charged for the corked bottle, I would go up to the server and punch him in the balls…but that’s just me…

24

Hmm. Now you’re hitting another topic but I’ll bite. Why is it excessive, assuming that no one is getting dangerously drunk? The M.O. for the regular off-line crowd in LA is a bottle per person, occasionally a couple of extras. Most of my regular companions don’t really even feel compelled to buy anything off the list. In general. it seems the restaurants are happy that we fill seats, typically run up higher than average food tabs, and pay corkage.

25

This is silly. If you ask for an extra plate so you can divide a salad into multiple portions, do you expect an extra plate charge to show up on your bill? But somebody had to wash that extra plate! They don’t work for free!

Corkage charges have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the marginal cost of providing the service, which is de minimus – it clearly does not take $20 worth of labor to open a bottle of wine and then wash four glasses. They have everything to do with disincentivizing BYO so that people will order off the list instead. You’re not paying for the service, you’re paying for the right to drink your own bottle. Since you don’t drink the corked bottle, the restaurant has not lost any revenue on that bottle, ergo you should not be charged. The work anybody did or did not do is totally irrelevant.

26

In the end, a restaurant can do whatever the hell it wants. They set the rules. A patron can either a) accept whatever arbitrary corkage price and rule they set and keep coming back or b) not return. Pretty simple to me.

If a restaurant charged me corkage on a bad bottle and they knew it was bad, it would irk me. But if food and service were stellar and always had been, whatever, it’s just $20.

27

Yeah. I would love to see a fine dining dishwasher learn that his extra plate cost someone $20. I’m reminded of the time I actually explained to my dish crew how much La Tache cost, and their peals of laughter about how much Cerveza that would have bought.

The difference in cost between serving 3 fine wines in 12 glasses, 3 fine wines and 1 corked wine in 16 glasses, and 4 fine wines in 16 glasses is too silly to discuss. I cleaned 4 glasses tonight. It took a minute, maybe two. You would have to break all four glasses (assuming they were Riedel Restaurant) to lose out on the situation. The idea that a restaurant is doing anything more than punishing BYO in this case is silly, and I say that as someone who ran an ex-WS Grand Award Winner.

28

It would not be acceptable to me had they done that to me but I assure I’d not be welcome back at that restaurant. [soap.gif]

29

[snort.gif]

30

That’s ridiculous. Basically they just charged you for bringing things into the restaurant then. What was their justification when they refused to remove it from the bill?

31

Just shrugged. Not real reason.

32

Hmm. There have been threads about this before. In response to the argument “they provide the service and the stemware” let me respond by saying they don’t charge you for water. Which in my experience uses up a lot more service with staff refilling my water glass multiple times after each sip; and uses a glass that has to be set, cleared, and washed.

No, the purpose of corkage is to make up for the loss of revenue when a diner doesn’t purchase alcohol of some kind. Frankly, I would argue that every restaurant that serves alcohol should have an “alcohol cover charge” that gets applied if a customer doesn’t purchase alcohol. Waived if they buy wine, or pay a corkage. Facetious? maybe a little, but not really.

33

But couldn’t you also say that the cost for water service is built into the cost for whatever else you order? Pretty much everyone gets a glass of water at a restaurant, but BYO is rare in comparison. By not charging for water service they can spread the cost evenly and by charging BYO service to only the people buying it, the restaurant is making sure not everyone has to pay for a service they don’t use.

(With that said… it really just seems like corkage fees are mainly a way to discourage BYO and help restaurants recoup for lost liquor revenue.)

34

Do you like the place? If not, be pissed and stop going there. Otherwise, I’d pay the corkage and be glad for a pleasant restaurant with affordable corkage.

-Al

35

Sure, it’s built in. it’s maybe 10 cents or so? The argument that wine service is some significant cost is just bogus. At $20/hr (probably more than most restaurant staff make), how long does it take to open a bottle of wine and pour it around the table (assuming the customer doesn’t do that himself)? 2 minutes? Less than a buck. Corkage is NOTHING MORE than a way to recoup lost alcohol revenue. Which is just fine. Which is why restaurants shouldn’t charge multiple corkages for multiple bottles. And charging for a corked bottle not consumed is ridiculous.

Not ranting at you, Spencer, just a general rant :wink:

36

That is crazy and I would lose my cool in that situation! Do you think they were trying to discourage you from being customers? What a terrible policy because some will feel that their only recourse is to deduct the additional corkage fee from the server’s tip, a person that has nothing to do with the restaurant’s policy…

To the orignal post, I do think it is totally reasonable to charge corkage on a corked bottle since they provided the service.

37

This is the problem of failing to separate church and state.

38

Tell that to all the Doctors and Attorneys here. [stirthepothal.gif]

39

Classic. [cheers.gif]

40

Somehow missed this post, couldn’t have said it better. Brian, I’m quite sure, as a good businessman, you do all kinds of extras for your customers that you don’t charge for explicitly. Presumably it’s built in to your overall price structure.

Cheers