96 replies to this topic

[Szeven]

Couple things I wanted to add:

1) I miss Australia. Lots of no corkage, lots of $3 corkage. Pour your own, and you can take a 6pack of beer if you dont want wine. Lots of places dont sell alcohol so it works perfectly.

2) I eat out for dinner probably 2-3 times a week. Only once every 2 or 3 weeks is a dinner out considered anything 'special'. I dont want to spend more than $50 for a regular meal out for 2, and a special meal maybe $50-75 per person. Same sort of story with drinking wine at home. We will drink a $12-18 bottle of wine probably once a week, maybe twice if you count weekends. Its a special occasion to break $25 a bottle. I spend more than $50 a bottle on wine at home once or twice a year, and break $100 out at a restaurant probably the same.

My point is I hope restaurants understand this and price accordingly. Who are their customers? Why are they there? Are they celebrating or just eating a meal? Charging $20+ for corkage at a place I frequent for $15 and less meals would just be useless and annoying. Charging $20 at a tourist spot or a more expensive place like Nautical Nellies, Bon Rouge etc, I think is acceptable.

[Holden West]

VicHockeyFan and I are bringing our 2.5 litre bottles of Shasta Tiki punch to Burger King and asking what their corkage is.

[LJ]

So will the new law allow you to bring in ubrew wine I wonder?

No, it has to be a wine that is bought at retail and must have the label intact.

[OSJ]

A lot of the price difference between US and Canadian prices are tariffs at the import/wholesale level and taxes at the retail level.

As for taking a half bottle back with you, currently, you cannot leave an establishment with open liquor. Why would someone be able to take open liquor out just because it's their own? If they can, why can't we sell off-sales or to go brews?

I have a offsales license, and sell offsales daily.
back on topic,
i agree that the whole thing stinks, and being in the pub gig i dont really have to worry about it.

[Baro]

This kinda reminds of of when BC Hydro announced they would allow something like reverse metering, but made the fees and engineering standards so expensive no one would bother. They got some minor PR fluff while nothing actually changed in practise.

[Roger]

The Brasserie L'ecole really wants customers to bring a nice bottle of wine to their restaurant.

Marc explains their corkage policy

Sometimes it is better to say nothing....

[G-Man]

^ They have a great wine list they don't need people bringing in wine.

That said perhaps their corkage will make the wine taste better...

Clicky

[VicHockeyFan]

List:

http://victoria.into...ge-in-victoria/

[Baro]

I've yet to see a "corkage fee" smaller than what I'd even spend on bottle of wine. What's the point unless you're bringing in some $500 bottle?

[Bob Fugger]

I've yet to see a "corkage fee" smaller than what I'd even spend on bottle of wine. What's the point unless you're bringing in some $500 bottle?

Cabin 12 has a ridiculously low corkage of $8.50. They just started opening for dinner and so likely don't have much of a wine list, anyway. Now they don't have to - corkage is pure profit for them, as it compliments, rather than competes with their own inventory. Smoken Bones...well, I think we all know why they have zero corkage.

Not sure what direction we'll go in. The market will dictate. We may just hang back and not articulate a policy just yet and deal with it ad hoc. One thing I personally wouldn't be prepared to do is chill wines for patrons bringing in whites, rosés or bubblies. You're one step away from letting people bring in their own food to be cooked, at that point. Like I said, that's my personal opinion and I am not speaking on behalf of any establishment with which I might be associated.

But this is exactly the problem with the government announcing their edict from upon high as they did. The policy discussions about impacts and options that would have taken place if LDB consulted as they should have never took place. The result is that it will be implemented awkwardly at the cost of goodwill and sales from those who needed time to anticipate and accommodate this policy.

As a Master's candidate in UVic's School of Public Administration, I can unequivocally tell you that this is a policy implementation fail of the highest order. No one does policy like this anymore - policy is more consultative if not collaborative, where appropriate. As a restaurant owner, at least I would have had time to get used to the idea and maybe even shape how it impacted us. As it stands, I've barely had time to fetch the KY, grit my teeth and grab my ankles.

[Mike K.]

Hasn't Smokin' Bones announced a $0 corkage fee?

[Bob Fugger]

Hasn't Smokin' Bones announced a $0 corkage fee?

Yup. And Brasserie L'Ecole has introduced a $30 corkage fee. Juxtapose these two and like I said, I don't think that it needs to be explained why Smoken' Bones set theirs to $0.

[Marc]

I've yet to see a "corkage fee" smaller than what I'd even spend on bottle of wine. What's the point unless you're bringing in some $500 bottle?

That is pretty much the intent of the BYOB policy. It should serve as an opportunity to try a premium wine without a premium mark-up. At Brasserie L'ecole it works for wines that retail for about $50 and up. Otherwise, you are better off choosing from our list and paying a lot less of a mark-up.

Marc

[Bob Fugger]

That is pretty much the intent of the BYOB policy. It should serve as an opportunity to try a premium wine without a premium mark-up. At Brasserie L'ecole it works for wines that retail for about $50 and up. Otherwise, you are better off choosing from our list and paying a lot less of a mark-up.

Marc

This is exactly how it ought up work. Cabin 12 and Smoken Bones obviously didn't get the memo.

P.S. I LOVE your restaurant.

[Sparky]

^^ Welcome to vibrantvictoria Marc.

[LJ]

Now what about restraunts that don't have a liquor license, can you bring your own in?

We go to an Italian place in Arizona that doesn't have a license and you bring your own in and it works great.

[Marc]

Now what about restraunts that don't have a liquor license, can you bring your own in?

In BC the restaurant has to have a liquor license.

[Marc]

So will the new law allow you to bring in ubrew wine I wonder?

I bet that you could get away with it. There is nothing from preventing you from pouring a ubrew into another bottle and taking that into a restaurant.

[Marc]

speaking as a consumer that often sees 20 dollar bottles being billed at upwards of 40 I look forward to bringing my own wines and enjoying a decent vintage rather than being forced to choose from a list of wines that would never see my cellar. if I have to shell out a few extra coins it will still be worth it.

it also allows me to plan ahead and do a decent pairing.

WG

The $20 to $40 mark-up is the norm. You can thank the lack of wholesale or any sort of discount for restaurants for that. We pay the exact same price as you do but then we have to mark up that price to make a business work.

As a consumer I love this ruling. I like to spend a fair bit of money on wine but I hate paying a 200% mark up on it.

[Sparky]

Marc......what's your take on privatizing the distribution of liquor?