I recently left a managing position at a brasserie to join a similar (restaurant manager) position at a more upscale place that does tasting menus only (5 or 10 courses++).
In both places I’ve kept similar price strategy; we make similar amounts on most wines. The main difference is that to pay for the added amount of waiters per guest needed to provide the level of service that this restaurant aims at the markup is higher.
Simply put the markup I had at the old place was 250 NOK for wines that cost 250 NOK or less to buy (pre sales tax), 310 NOK for everything that cost more to buy in except highly allocated wines that we simply didn’t want to run out of immediately - which meant things like Roumier, Ulysse Collin, Roulot, Fourrier etc, for those we added 400 NOK.
At the new place the markup is higher and goes from 400 NOK (cheap wines) to 450 NOK (the majority of wines) up to 600 NOK (allocated wines of which we have only a few bottles). This added markup pays for the added amount of waiters needed, and the higher level of training that they have (three sommeliers and two waiters for about 40 guests vs two sommeliers and two waiters for about 70 guests).
So if you pay $1000 for a bottle of wine you’d still be paying a similar amount to the restaurant. Would that factor in how you decide to tip?
Btw: Tipping in Norway is different from the US and seems to be similar to UK tipping these days (based on my experience with UK guests). We tip 5-10% a lot of the time, but it’s not required. I might get a 1% tip here and there (or nothing), but 6-7% seems to be the average. The bills are higher and I think it’s enough. We get decently paid - oh, and the tip gets pooled and split evenly on all staff from appretices to cooks, chefs, waiters, somms and bartenders. We are all expected to provide our part of the guest experience so it’d be weird to cut someone out of the tip.
If it is about what you can afford, why not go 20%? I feel it is more about the value of what you are getting. There is certainly more care taken in opening and pouring a $1000 bottle compared to a $50 bottle, but there is a limit to the level of value that can be added. If you compare a $1000 bottle to a $5000 bottle, the level of attention and service is going to be similar, so i would not inflate the amount of the tip based on the price of the bottle, rather than focus on the service.
+1 To Chris. It’s hard to imagine not requiring a higher level of service for a $1000 bottle than a $200 one. Really, that expectation would be part of the decision to order it in the first place, wouldn’t it? It’s got to be either a mature bottle that requires care or a younger wine that requires proper aeration, so you aren’t simply tipping for pop-n-pour. The 8% many are suggesting should be the bare minimum, but significant well executed effort on top of that could take it all the way to 20%. Depends.
Well, to go down this rabbit hole, in the restaurant world tipping is not in any obvious way a function of the value of the labor the server is putting in. In less expensive restaurants, the servers often do as much serving, under some cases more, than servers in higher-end places; yet they get 20% of the bill–far less money. Nobody bats an eye at this. (Not to mention bartenders, who in many cases are wildly overcompensated for the work they actually perform.)
In this case, where the discrepancy between labor and tip becomes especially large, there is an understandable tendency to scale back and tip less than 20%, but you are right that would be the truly consistent thing to do.
I agree in part, that tipping is not entirely a reflection of value provided by the server as there is a typical min/max on the tip regardless of service. However, higher end places have higher expectations, and hopefully better atmosphere, chefs, sommeliers, food, ingredients and service, and tips would get split in some way between them. Therefore higher prices and then higher tips which seems fair.
But tipping $1k on a $5k bottle and $200 on a $1k bottle seems ridiculous when the service is exactly the same.
I am not sure I understand the comments about “more servers” and “higher level of service” required for a $1000 bottle. Do the extra servers come out and sing a solemn hymn while it’s decanted? Do they perform a skit? Or are they there just to genuflect over the customer’s Black Card?
One somm, one corkscrew, one decanter. If (s)he is competent, why are more bodies needed?
In fact, if I had my way, I’d open and decant the thing myself.
I am the first to admit that I have no personal experience with this so someone who knows something about the specifications of the required obsequiousness that accompanies such an order will have to set me straight.
Let’s substitute food for wine. I make reservations at a steak place, and my wife and I both order the less expensive fish entree. We don’t order an appy; and since my wife is always on a diet, we pass on sweets offered at the end of dinner. To further complicate matters, we both order ice tea.
If we ordered a full meal, including a steak, the bill is $250. The bill as offered above is $125. Should I tip based on what the restaurant should have received in tips based on the $250 check? Of course not.
Thomas Keller(French Laundry, Per Se) does it nicely. Tip is included in the food service so ZERO extra tip for a $1,000 bottle, $5,000 or whatever bottle of wine.
That confuses me, Dan, in relation to the original post. Could you explain that a bit more? Edit: Never mind. I missed that part of the post you are talking about.
If the bottle is $250 retail and you paid $1000, you are not a member of this board, so you are not reading this. Will any board member who has paid $1000 in a restaurant for a wine available for $250 retail please post and explain?
That’s what I thought.
So we have to assume that the bottle was a screaming value.
My basic restaurant tip is 20% (assuming it’s not a professional event, in which case I’m pouring my own wines and tipping much more). That can go to 30% for great service, down to 15% for indifferent service. If I feel like going lower, I’m either leaving nothing and/or talking to the owner about rudeness and/or massive incompetence. That tip is on the whole bill. In this scenario ($100 for food and $1000 for a bottle that’s about the same at retail, good service), I’m leaving at least $150 and feeling a little ashamed of myself, or $200 and feeling OK about it.
OK, I’ll chime in. I recently had a dinner at a restaurant private room. I supplied all the wines (7 Mags,3 Champagnes & 2 - 750’s) and the cheeses. I got there 4 hrs early & decanted. We had hors d’oeuvres, a nice dinner etc. We (13) served the wines ourselves. The Champagne was served by the waiter before we sat. I paid $1300 for the dinner and left a $325 cash tip.
Did I do alright ?
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