[QUOTE=iahphx;20609230]Half the time I ask, the waitstaff doesn't even know, so it's usually an exercise in futility.

The microbeer trend does seem to be somewhat increasing the frequency of a drink menu with prices in the USA -- especially at higher end restaurants. I guess if you're serving lots of different beers of various quality, it's difficult not to list the prices next to them (could you imagine ordering off a wine menu without prices?). I seem to order beer out more than wine, since the mark-up is often much less. I guess everybody knows what a beer should cost, but few know what a particular wine should sell for, so the restaurants can't "go crazy" with the price. I've been to a lot of nice restaurants where a really good beer is about $4, but a halfway decent bottle of wine is $45.[/QUOTE]

What you either don't realize, or are ignoring here ,though, is that the markup is almost always the same on those two products....~300%~ in my area. Or put more simply, the wholesale cost x3. So, that $4 beer cost the restaurant around $1.30, and the bottle of wine cost about $15.

Despite popular opinon, in most locales wholesale liquor isn't hugely discounted from retail; in Texas the average is around 15%. So, deduct liquor tax (ranging from 5-17% of the restaurant/bar sales price) depending on individual state taxes, wages, utitlities, possible payoffs to the local Gendarmes (YMMV here), etc., all the other ovherhead every business encounters, and you'll typically end up with 30% net on liquor sales. Notice I didn't include spoilage/shrinkage in that roundup. The former can be very high in wine especially, the latter can be very high across the board if an owner/manager doesn't have good control of pouring, comps, getting the girlfriend oiled up for after work, etc.

While a 30% net profit might seem outrageous to all of us not in the petroleum industry, consider the offset of very often <10% profit on food items and the overall profitability of a restaurant comes down substantially, not even including the long strange hours, the increased corporate/personal liability of serving alcohol, and the unpredictable demands of an increasingly self-entitled society. It's a wonder anyone with any talent still goes into the restaurant business. @:-)