by the glass

[IVYCHEF]

Jason - the culinary cavalry is here [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] I don't like the tone of this thread [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] Hey, aren't I allowed to make a living? I don't believe I'm gouging anyone. I had my computer fixed recently...was charged $70 an hour!! THAT is gouging..a $6.00 glass of wine is a scrape in comparsion. If I paid myself $70 an hour, you would REALLY see some huge prices!! People: food, wine, employees, taxes, utilities, licenses, etc. aren't free; I gotta pay those things, so I can't charge you $2 over my cost on a bottle of wine or on a NY Strip Steak. You want the convenience of not having to plan, prep, cook, clean and have someone wait on you, hey, pay the price. If it isn't worth it to you 1. go somewhere cheaper or 2. stay home. How much do you want to pay for a $10 retail wine? $12?, $14? That's ripping me off. So, what do you people do for a living? Let us restaurant people take a shot at your mark-ups [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

I'm a chef, but I have control over the wine list since most of the management has no clue. My prices are very friendly and the distributors even suggest I raise them. I have wine suggestions with each of the nightly specials posted. I train my staff to suggest/sell the customer $$ friendly wines. I'm happy to sell a lot of wine at a reasonable price. Lots of sales pay the bills. I have some "nice" wines, but sell few and they are far from overpriced; in fact they are barely above retail. I have served better wines by the glass, but its always a gamble. We sold 1995 Chimney Rock Cab at $7.00 per. I get 4.5 glasses out of a bottle which means I made about $13 GROSS; barely pays to wash the glasses. We sold four bottle BTG over a weekend. Pretty poor results [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] We've done a few tasting dinners but I don't think it overly changed our customers' wine drinking patterns.

Riedel stemware: I have some vinums. Not springing for sommeliers. One costs more than 95% of the bottle prices of wines on my list. If someone comes into the bar and orders a "house merlot" (which is Forest Glen)and doesn't even bother to ask what brand we are pouring, do you think I'm pouring it into a vinum? No! If they don't care about what they are drinking, do you think they care about the glass? Hey, order the Chimney Rock Cab at $38 and I'll break (bad choice of words) out the vinums. (BTW, CR Cab sells for $28 retail here..did WC say two times retail??)

I'm sorry if I seem overly defensive - I've been in the biz over 20 years. I've seen the gouging and have been gouged. But this is my livelihood, and I just take what I do seriously. I try to provide a great experience at a reasonable price and bust my butt doing it. You won't find me on the golf course, on TV, taking the night off to watch the last George Clooney's episode on ER, etc. I'm there, I'm doing it and I'm proud of it. WC - if they are charging you a buck for your iced tea, they are making +/- $.80. Hey, gang, apply THAT mark-up to wine..then you can complain! [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Kevin