Corkage and Opening Fees

[BvBPL]

So, do people think that corkage and opening fees at restaurants are legit? Would you pay one, or have you ever paid one?

Bonus question: Do you tip based on corkage fees? What about general alcohol?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Huh? For, uh, huh???

 

[BvBPL]

For when you are eating out.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

What is it? They charge you to open a bottle?

 

[BvBPL]

When they charge you for drinking a bottle you brought in.

Generally occurs when a party brings into a bottle to a restaurant that has a vinter's licence of some sort and the dinner wants to enjoy that bottle w/ the meal.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I have no problem paying corkage in a licensed restaurant where they allow you to BYO. If they have paid for a license and I choose not to buy their alcohol, it is fair to charge.

I object to paying corkage in an unlicensed restaurant though as I have no choice.

But CAKEAGE is the worst.

 

[BvBPL]

Cakeage (or forkage, sometime plate) fees are seriously dumb. Espically when the establishment doesn't serve dessert or at least dessert that is fitting for a birthday or other occasion. It just doesn't make sense. In all likelyhood. the party has brought in a bunch of people who swilled down the restaurant's booze and eaten their food, all to profit the resturant and then the restaurant wants to bill them more for serving a cake that has the birthday girl's name on it. It just doesn't make any sense particularly since the party is probably going to order more booze than the cakeage fee is. If they got rid of cakeage fee then you would simply encourage people to enjoy more after dinner drinks than encouarge the party to go elsewhere.

 

[Antilogic]

Cakeage is over the top, usually, at a few dollars a plate. Don't even get me started on that.

I could understand these corkage/opening fees if they were tiny (after all, you are still using the waiters' bottle opener and their glasses), but from the horror stories I've heard its usually levied far in excess of the actual value of services provided--it's more of a way to punish you for bringing in your own bottle because they want to sell you their wine. So not a fan of the implementation myself and voted no.

 

[BvBPL]

...from the horror stories I've heard its usually levied far in excess of the actual value of services provided--it's more of a way to punish you for bringing in your own bottle because they want to sell you their wine. So not a fan of the implementation myself and voted no.

The service aspect of your statement is interesting. I was just looking to make a reservation at a resturant that has a $30 corkage fee. Now, the corkage fee is way, way bigger than the cost of bringing my party some glasses (weirdly the corkage fee specificed 750 ml, which was surprisingly specific). However, it doesn't seem massively unreasonable given that me bringing in a bottle is probably keeping me for ordering drinks myself and that the place is tony enough that the $35 wine pairing is probably pretty good stuff.

But I'm not sure if just giving our table some glasses is the whole of the service. I mean, we are taking up space in their restaurant and are not ordering their wine the way most of the tables probably are. So we are basically denying them the profit they would have normally made on us. I don't know if that is worth $30, but does seem to be worth something.

 

[Zelig]

I'm fine with corkage fees.

Though I'm pretty good at cooking so I prefer to host dinner parties where I make food and guests bring me booze.

 

[sophie]

Yeah. I have no problem with corkage fees on the whole.

 

[ace99]

I don't think I've ever byob to a restaurant. Wouldn't pay a fee to do it.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I've never encountered either fee.

I don't drink alcohol at all, so I really don't care about corkage.

I suppose a small fee to cover extra dishes, the waiter's time, and a scarcity of tables might make sense. I don't know what is typical (since I've never heard of it except on this forum), but a dollar per slice seems quite unreasonable.

 

[innonimatu]

When they charge you for drinking a bottle you brought in.

Generally occurs when a party brings into a bottle to a restaurant that has a vinter's licence of some sort and the dinner wants to enjoy that bottle w/ the meal.

You take your own bottles to restaurants?

 

[History_Buff]

You take your own bottles to restaurants?

It seems to be a cultural thing, city to city. Almost nobody seems to do it here (though local restaurants do offer BYOW as an option on particular nights of the week), whereas when my sister was in Montreal there were tons of places that offered or even encouraged BYOW. There's something particularly amusing about eating at a relatively fancy place and getting ripped on $12 Dep wine.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

I don't think I've ever byob to a restaurant. Wouldn't pay a fee to do it.

You take your own bottles to restaurants?

It`s quite common here as a license to serve alcohol is expensive. I object to paying corkage at an unlicensed place as I am not consuming something that I could otherwise buy there.

But in a licensed venue where they sell booze, it is fair to pay corkage if you want to bring your own.

 

[warpus]

Corkage fees in places that allow you to do BYOB are fine - you end up saving a lot of money anyway. I view it as a fee you pay for the restaurant to allow you to bring in your outside liquor... well worth it.

I have never heard of cake fees, or whatever. What are those about? I skimmed through the posts and might have missed an explanation, but I did not see one

 

[Antilogic]

The service aspect of your statement is interesting. I was just looking to make a reservation at a resturant that has a $30 corkage fee. Now, the corkage fee is way, way bigger than the cost of bringing my party some glasses (weirdly the corkage fee specificed 750 ml, which was surprisingly specific). However, it doesn't seem massively unreasonable given that me bringing in a bottle is probably keeping me for ordering drinks myself and that the place is tony enough that the $35 wine pairing is probably pretty good stuff.

But I'm not sure if just giving our table some glasses is the whole of the service. I mean, we are taking up space in their restaurant and are not ordering their wine the way most of the tables probably are. So we are basically denying them the profit they would have normally made on us. I don't know if that is worth $30, but does seem to be worth something.

Your party is also ordering food and thus occupying the restaurant's space and time in either case. It's true that you are giving a lower profit margin to the restaurant, but there are likely varying margins on different dishes.

By (a potentially poor) analogy, should a restaurant charge an appetizer fee or a dessert fee if you do not order that course, since you are occupying a place in their restaurant but since you are not consuming one of the products that a restaurant owner may expect you to consume, the owner isn't making as much profit on your dining experience? Or, say you go in for appetizers and tap water, then you don't order dinner, and apply the same logic.



I've never taken my own bottle to a restaurant, but I know a couple people who have a particular favorite type of white wine, and for birthdays they bring their favorite bottle if the restaurant they picked does not have it on hand.



EDIT:

Corkage fees in places that allow you to do BYOB are fine - you end up saving a lot of money anyway. I view it as a fee you pay for the restaurant to allow you to bring in your outside liquor... well worth it.

I have never heard of cake fees, or whatever. What are those about? I skimmed through the posts and might have missed an explanation, but I did not see one

We discussed them in a thread last year, I forget the title of the thread at the moment. It's basically the same thing--if you bring your own cake to the restaurant for a birthday dinner, they might charge you for "cakeage" service. We saw some posts that indicated restaurants are charging $3/slice or more. I think that's pretty over the top myself, especially if the restaurant does not offer any cake for dessert.

 

[innonimatu]

It`s quite common here as a license to serve alcohol is expensive. I object to paying corkage at an unlicensed place as I am not consuming something that I could otherwise buy there.

Wow, needing some expensive licence to serve wine would be heresy in southern Europe! There are even some restaurant owners here still making and serving their own wine.

 

[warpus]

We discussed them in a thread last year, I forget the title of the thread at the moment. It's basically the same thing--if you bring your own cake to the restaurant for a birthday dinner, they might charge you for "cakeage" service. We saw some posts that indicated restaurants are charging $3/slice or more. I think that's pretty over the top myself, especially if the restaurant does not offer any cake for dessert.

Is that a common practice in some places? I have never heard of a person bringing in a cake to a restaurant - seems a rather odd thing to do.

Them charging you $3 a slice for cake you brought in yourself is way over the top though. A flat $3 fee for the whole thing would be acceptable.