"Bring Your Own Bottle" Restaurants
 

Lately I've been really frustrated with the markup on wine in nice restaurants. In some places I see bottles being sold for 2x or even 3x retail. While I certainly expect to pay some premium, I don't think wine sales should be a major profit center of restaurants.

Are there many places where you can bring your own bottle (for a corkage fee) where you live? I've noticed them in CA, and NYC. Anyone know of places in CLE?

Somewhat OT (as it is based on UK experience), but one obvious option for this is Muslim restaurants. For example good, genuine curry houses on the Curry Mile in Manchester or in the Balti Triangle in Birmingham will not serve alcohol but will allow BYOB.

I guess it depends on what sort of restaurants you go to - the above is somewhat redundant for French or Italian cuisine!

I've started to answer my own question (at least wrt Cleveland restaurants). Sites such as Open Table list whether the restaurant pemits personal bottles. Also, i just called a restaurant I will be going to soon (Raintree in Chagrin Falls) to ask, and they said corkage is only $6. I guess it's available more than I thought, but you have to ask.

Check this out...

http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/...splay.php?f=14

Just look for your city.

Dan

In states in which liquor licenses are hard to come by, you will find many new restaurants with a BYOB policy. NJ for instance.

Buy a nicer wine. The markup will be lower. Markups on wine tend to go down with the price. In the case where you're complaining that your $30 wine costs $10 in the store then you might want to get something that is actually good. You won't want your wine ruining your meal.

There are restaurants around that do this, but many don't do to some people (see the previous thread about this) who will bring in their own $10 bottles of wine. Restaurants do this as a courtesy that gets abused. Think of it this way, would you try to bring in your own beer into a bar?

In Chicago, BYO is very widely available at a wide variety of restaurants. Some tend to be ethnic restaurants where the owners don't want to deal with a liquor license. Others are quite upscale, and there you might want to bring your better bottles! I think this is a very location specific issue, but we enjoy going to BYO places from time to time and being able to try different wines that we pick out, which will likely be more obscure and often better than what would be on the list at a moderately priced restaurant.

A lot of restaurants in Napa Valley have BYOB. I've seen corkage fees at around $10 to $15 per 750ml. Some will also waive the fee for one bottle when another has been purchased from the restaurant's cellars.

I'm actually complaining more about the ~$30 retail bottle costing $75+ on the restaurant menu. I enjoy a fine wine, but don't often have the budget to make a selection without regard for cost.

I don't think that's a valid comparison. I would never bring my own bottle of wine to a wine bar either. Restaurants are, for the most part, in the food business. They are also in the "experience" business, and wine goes a long way to accompany and enhance your meal, making for a better experience. I just feel a bit taken advantaged of by the exorbidant markup - regardless of the price level that you like to drink at.

I'm pretty certain the whole state of CA allows BYO. Some have a corkage fee, some don't.

It's great...because I like to collect wine, but I'm just not really capable of preparing excellent food with which to enjoy the wine! :D

One of the standard DC limitations is no BYOB if the wine is on "our" list.

So, I bought a couple boxes of wine, dumped them, and decanted my wine into the boxes. not easy, the hoses are small diameter.

the restaurant actually appreciated the joke, and spent some time trying to identify the mystery wines.

I would just scrape off the label from the bottle and tell the restaurant that this wine was a "private bottling" or "homemade". Do that with Latour and they'll be trying to put you on their wine list.

That's great! :D ^

In NJ, as I recall, you actually can't allow BYOB if you have a liquor license - its an either/or thing. But yeah, a lot of municipalities have put a cap on the number of liquor licenses - meaning that new restaurants have to either purchase an existing restaurant, or get one at auction. I remember seeing one in central new jersey go for $400k.

Matt

Very Common In Australia
 

BYO (Bring Your Own) is very common in Australia for a number of reasons:
1. The BYO license is cheaper than a "Full License"
2. It may cost too much for a restaurant to establish their own cellar (space and stock)
3. The restaurant may not have the correct expertise in selecting or offering wine
4. It is very ingrained in the culture
Some restaurants have their own cellar but also offer BYO. Corkage is either per person or bottle so it may take some calculating what is cheaper.