Is it appropriate to bring one’s own wine to a restaurant during this time of reopening, or should customers wait? —Carolyn, St. Louis
Restaurants maintain a wine inventory (often carefully chosen and curated by a sommelier) that’s geared to provide guests with an optimum dining experience. In many cases, the wine menu is given the same level of attention as the food menu, so restaurant owners prefer that guests take advantage of their investment and efforts.
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That said, knowing that a special bottle may add to the enjoyment, most restaurants also allow wine to be brought into their establishments and assess a corkage fee to compensate for the restaurant’s lost sales. Across the St. Louis region, corkage typically runs from $10 per bottle to as much as $50 (with the average being $20). Some establishments even have a stepped corkage fee (one amount for wines less than 10 years old and another for older wines). In any case, it’s frowned upon if a guest brings a bottle that the restaurant already has on its list. If the guest offers a taste to the server, owner, and/or sommelier, the corkage fee is often waived as a courtesy. The same goes if the host buys a bottle from the restaurant’s wine list. And remember that it’s customary to tip as if the bottle was purchased in house, no matter the corkage fee.
We asked a few restaurant owners what they thought about “outside wine,” given the current state of the industry. Their reactions were mixed:
Matt McGuire, Louie: “I say bring the wine If the guest pays the corkage. I don’t see a problem with it. And from a safety standpoint, I’m clearly not a scientist, but it doesn’t seem any less safe than if we open a bottle of our own wine, provided proper precautions are taken, which we’d do in either case.”
Stanley Browne, Robust: “I say wait. Allow the restaurant to make their normal mark-up, since profits from outside wine and corkage is less, so guests are not supporting the restaurant as we need them to do right now.”
Mark Hinkle, Olive + Oak: “It’s been a tough go for us, but we are eager to get back to providing an ‘experience.’ Our community has been incredibly generous throughout this whole ordeal, and I don’t feel the need to keep asking them to change their ways. It’s been a difficult, confusing time for everyone, so let’s keep easing back into normalcy. Just share a taste of that wine with me if it’s something nice!”
James Bommarito, Tony’s: “Since our wine cellar is so comprehensive, obviously we would prefer if guests get their wine from us. But since we charge a corkage fee, it doesn’t bother me too much, especially if it’s a special bottle brought in for a special occasion.”
Aleks Jovanovich, Truffles: “I think bringing your own wine to the restaurant while we are working at extremely limited capacity is hurting the revenue and diminishes our ability to survive as a business. Especially in a restaurant like ours, that already has the most extensive wine list in the state, we kindly asked our patrons not to bring their own wine.”
Kevin Nashan, Sidney Street Café and The Peacemaker Lobster & Crab: “From a business standpoint, I’d rather the guest buy the wine from us, especially since our mark-up, especially with to-go wines, is minimal. And from a server’s standpoint, guests have to remember that the $20 corkage fee goes to the house, so they need to tip accordingly, because the service is the same, no matter how the wine got to their table.”
Jim Fiala, The Crossing and Acero: “It’s a good question, especially for us and especially now. While we’re at reduced capacity, we need every dollar we can generate. Before Covid, we did charge a corkage fee, but given the circumstances, we really need that $60 or $70 profit rather than the $25 from corkage, so we’ve asked customers not to bring in any outside food or wine—which is the County’s recommendation, as well—until we’re back at full capacity. Look, we take it upon ourselves to buy really good wine…even our inexpensive bottles will blow you away. All I ask is to be given a chance.”
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