A recent story on Decanter.com by Brian St Pierre caught my attention: "BYO Wine Club debuts in UK restaurants." I know I'm not alone (among those with limited resources, I mean) in being fed up with the sometimes silly prices restaurants charge for wine - I understand about overheads and all that; but a reasonably priced, sold bottle must be better than a overpriced one gathering dust. And not just in the UK: in France it can seem worse as the difference between retail and resto price is even greater, since taxes on wine are lower in the first place. Anyway, someone's had the bright idea of launching a kind of club, whose members can take their own wine to certain partner eateries in London and pay no or reduced corkage charges. More info here: byowineclub.com
This initiative is great news and I hope it works. There is an annual membership charge and some quite 'strict' rules, plus each restaurant can set their own criteria (e.g. when the offer is valid and/or minimum - quite high sometimes - spend), but the idea is great. As long as the restaurant tests it long enough to see that in the end it can increase overall margins and it doesn't upset too many sommeliers, good on them.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed I agree it seems even worse in France!