Zeppo wrote:

>
> In the Philly area it seems most new restaurants opening up are BYOB's,
> which eliminate this issue. To fight back, many restaurants with a liquor
> license have started allowing diners to bring there own wine and charging a
> small corkage fee. This was pretty much unheard if a few years ago.

The first time I ever encountered a VYO was in PA, somewhere near the Poconos
<?>. They have had it in Montreal for years and they introduced it here in
Ontario about a year ago, but I haven't seen any.







> I like the trend. The same Argentinean Malbec that cost me $41 at Taquet in
> Wayne last year, can be had from the state store for $17. I'd rather put the
> money saved towards better food anyway.

I don't begrudge them a profit on the sale of liquor and can certainly
apprieciate that they have to arkup the wines to do so. Maybe they need 100%
on low end wines in order to come out ahead, but I question the same markup on
more expensive wines. A 100% markup on a $30 bottle jacks it up to $60 for the
dinner. The way I see it is that they figure that maybe they figure that if you
are willing to pay extra for a nicer bottle of wine they are entirled to gouge
you even more. I would suggest that a certain flat rate markup on a bottle is
more fair to the customers. Let's say $10. To make that $10 off you they have
to have the wine on hand, bring you a couple glasses and remove the cork. I
would expect them to expect a larger return if they had to store a lot of
expensive wines, cellar them, experience some losses from vintage wines going
bad, and the cost of cellaring and having money invested in the stock. However,
most restaurants do not have those huge cellars of vintage wines. They have a
limited selection and they are picking them up at the liquor stores as needed to
maintain stock.

I enjoy good wines, and keep a pretty good selection in my cellar. When I want a
good wine I will cook a nice dinner at home, and a $20-30 of wine is going to
cost me what I paid for it, not an extra $20-30 that they try to get from us in
restaurants.