I’ll highlight a section I’ve had front of mind for a while
>**Article 7** The hospitality industry cannot continue to milk wine as its cash cow. I know many restaurants are faced with greedy landlords and crazy tax bills. But wine markups are out of control. In US cities, a single $25 glass of wine at a wine bar or restaurant often pays the costs of an entire bottle. The prices are a turn-off that turn wine into something elite and less than accessible. Who wants to experiment at those prices?
This is a serious problem. It’s simply not reasonable to sell food at more or less breakeven prices and making all the margin on wine. It comes from short-termist thinking, but what it does in the long run is to turn people away from wine altogether. And then where will you make your money?
For a while the mantra was ‘nobody knows what wine costs anyway’. Ever since people have the internet in their pockets that’s no longer true and many are increasingly shunning wine altogether rather than risk feeling ripped off.
Let’s think of an alternative reality. Imagine a world where, instead of begrudgingly ordering two bottles for a table of 6, they gladly order 3 and glasses of Port/Sherry/Madeira afterwards? As well as paying a bit more for the food they ate. And leave happy, telling everyone they had a great night and the wine wasn’t a ripoff? Is this not a concept worth someone’s time trying?
Mysterious-Candle-54
TL; DR wine is expensive and elite – it’s reaching a breaking point that is hard to surmount.
Contract points – markups are too high, people are greedy, there’s a lack of transparency around farming practices and what is in the bottle. Legendary bottles are being manufactured instead of earning their reputations.
There are some okay points, but the suggested solutions are more of a statement on fine dining than wine.
xWolfsbane
Wine declines is partially self inflicted imo. Who would have thought promoting premiumization would prevent the next generation from accessing good, affordable wines?
Also weed.
2h2o22h2o
I said it on another post and I’ll say it on this one. The sales of traditional alcoholic beverages, including wine, depend upon actual alcoholics. If you have fewer alcoholics around sales are going to tank and there’s nothing you can do about it. Being an alcoholic is not socially acceptable to younger generations. The only thing that can happen is that the industry shrinks.
tdotjefe
Restaurant food margins alone often aren’t good enough to keep them open. People don’t have disposable income at this point in time. If wine needs to be expensive to keep restaurants going, and suckers can afford to buy them at those prices, then I don’t really care as long as the restaurant stays.
moulinpoivre
The thing is wine isn’t even the highest margin markup on the drink menu. Its cocktails hands down. Plus cocktails has a longer shelf life and greater perceived value as the bartender actually has to mix it, although premixed cocktails are becoming more of a thing. Liquor is the cash cow, always has been and restaurants are leaning into it more than ever.
Keep in mind that cocktails are sweeter, higher ABV, and usually more expensive: all things people say they don’t want more of, but guess what – that is the fastest growing market segment in the drinks biz.
Temporary-Sale1698
are corkage fees common in restaurants? i love good food prepared by someone else, happy to pay $15 and drink my own wine, and not pale knowing the markup.
and do people use that option?
walesjoseyoutlaw
I cringe inside when ordering wine at restaurants and just bring my own bottle now almost always. Worth paying the corkage fee
9 Comments
Want to share the TL;DR?
Many great points from Robert!
I’ll highlight a section I’ve had front of mind for a while
>**Article 7** The hospitality industry cannot continue to milk wine as its cash cow. I know many restaurants are faced with greedy landlords and crazy tax bills. But wine markups are out of control. In US cities, a single $25 glass of wine at a wine bar or restaurant often pays the costs of an entire bottle. The prices are a turn-off that turn wine into something elite and less than accessible. Who wants to experiment at those prices?
This is a serious problem. It’s simply not reasonable to sell food at more or less breakeven prices and making all the margin on wine. It comes from short-termist thinking, but what it does in the long run is to turn people away from wine altogether. And then where will you make your money?
For a while the mantra was ‘nobody knows what wine costs anyway’. Ever since people have the internet in their pockets that’s no longer true and many are increasingly shunning wine altogether rather than risk feeling ripped off.
Let’s think of an alternative reality. Imagine a world where, instead of begrudgingly ordering two bottles for a table of 6, they gladly order 3 and glasses of Port/Sherry/Madeira afterwards? As well as paying a bit more for the food they ate. And leave happy, telling everyone they had a great night and the wine wasn’t a ripoff? Is this not a concept worth someone’s time trying?
TL; DR wine is expensive and elite – it’s reaching a breaking point that is hard to surmount.
Contract points – markups are too high, people are greedy, there’s a lack of transparency around farming practices and what is in the bottle. Legendary bottles are being manufactured instead of earning their reputations.
There are some okay points, but the suggested solutions are more of a statement on fine dining than wine.
Wine declines is partially self inflicted imo. Who would have thought promoting premiumization would prevent the next generation from accessing good, affordable wines?
Also weed.
I said it on another post and I’ll say it on this one. The sales of traditional alcoholic beverages, including wine, depend upon actual alcoholics. If you have fewer alcoholics around sales are going to tank and there’s nothing you can do about it. Being an alcoholic is not socially acceptable to younger generations. The only thing that can happen is that the industry shrinks.
Restaurant food margins alone often aren’t good enough to keep them open. People don’t have disposable income at this point in time. If wine needs to be expensive to keep restaurants going, and suckers can afford to buy them at those prices, then I don’t really care as long as the restaurant stays.
The thing is wine isn’t even the highest margin markup on the drink menu. Its cocktails hands down. Plus cocktails has a longer shelf life and greater perceived value as the bartender actually has to mix it, although premixed cocktails are becoming more of a thing. Liquor is the cash cow, always has been and restaurants are leaning into it more than ever.
Keep in mind that cocktails are sweeter, higher ABV, and usually more expensive: all things people say they don’t want more of, but guess what – that is the fastest growing market segment in the drinks biz.
are corkage fees common in restaurants? i love good food prepared by someone else, happy to pay $15 and drink my own wine, and not pale knowing the markup.
and do people use that option?
I cringe inside when ordering wine at restaurants and just bring my own bottle now almost always. Worth paying the corkage fee