Out to eat tonight. At the lease all the time so gotta do date night when it can be squeezed in. So we go to a nice little expensive dive that doesn’t have a liquor license so we bring a bottle of Chardonnay. Get the bill and besides the 3.00 cc fee there’s a $10 “corkage fee”. I could understand if they served wine and we cut out there chance to make money on selling us wine but they dont offer alcohol of any kind. I politely asked(how I roll) if we brought in two bottles would it of been $20 and he said yes. He explained they had to wash the glasses. My better half explained that we still came out better than if we had bought wine from them(if we could have) but, dang, $10 profit for nada don’t work.

Sounds like one of those places that triples their prices on Valentines. We quit going out on Valentines. The scams are insulting.

Consider yourself fortunate that you were allowed to bring your own wine. Corkage fees are nothing new for restaurants without liquor licenses (and $10 is certainly on the low end).

Not sure I see the correlation between corkage fees and “triple prices” on Valentine’s Day- I’ve actually never encountered something that extreme.

Name please…so I can avoid.

We have an excellent Mexican food place, no liquor or beer, but they let us carry in a cooler or bottle of liquor or wine. No extra charge.

407 BBQ don’t charge no dang corkage fee.

Just Say’n

Though when was the last time you paired wine with bbq?

$10 does seem a little steep for a corking fee, though I haven't been to a place in while that is BYOB.

No way in hell I would pay that chit! eF'em

Go back with a bottle or two with a screw on lid or better yet a box and dont use the glass they bring you... that'll show'em

your wife is right !!

If you cant pay, dont play America!

Restaurants are struggling bad. Corkage fees have been around forever, Used to be only CC fee was for American Express. It takes a while for the restaurants to get their $$ back from CC Companies.

Ya'll need to stick to your Dairy Queens and just bich about their menu price increases.

Since ya'll don't watch TV anymore, you don't know these things are happening.

sorry just the way it is.

I have not been to a place that did not have their own wine in a while.

When I did, it was $5 or $10.... in the 90's.

Are restaurants really still strugling? The only ones I see that arent full are the ones that are not open for inside dining by choice. Our local joints have a line to be seated, however they are all running BS hours because they cant hire enough help that will show up.

That’s pretty high, even for high end restaurants

Take in a screw top, that'll show 'em.

My neighbor and his family own four brands and 7 restaurants. They disagree with you on struggling. This year has been best ever in their 20 year history

Actually a big bold Cab or a spicy Red Zin with BBQ brisket can be a pretty good pairing. And a Pinot is a good match for pork ribs or even pulled pork.

Or just pop a top on a Dos Equis like I do most days...

Was it a nice dinner and did you guys have a nice time? Rate the overall experience and don't focus on the petty stuff. I've paid corking fees before, def is easier on the wallet than paying bottle price at the table.

Corkage fees are common, $5 a glass is pretty typical. They provide the glasses, the napkins, the table, the AC, the equipment and supplies, the electricity, the water, pay the lease, etc, etc. The margins on a lot of restaurants is not huge.

My former restaurant is having a record year in sales as well, but for many restaurants finding staff is a huge issue. The service industry as a whole took a big hit with workers leaving and/or not returning. The Chili's by my house has only had 2 waiters for a couple months.

Beverages of all kinds are huge margins for restaurants. Even non-alcoholic. That $2.50 glass of tea costs a nickle. So the corkage fee is probably a way to make up for the margin lost on you not buying their drinks.

Bingo. When I owned my restaurant the drinks was where most of the profit was generated.

When we go out, if I have 2 cocktails, it’s usually the same amount as my food order.

Yep, back when I was attending classes working on an MBA, one of my finance professors had been a VP with Greyhound Food Services. It seems the bus company also had a business that ran corporate restaurants. He asked once if anyone knew what the most profitable item in a restaurant was. I guessed soda, but he said that was #2. The most profitable item was coffee. Now, this was back in the late '80's but I suspect things haven't changed that much. He said that as prices rose, the cost of a sandwich might go up by 25¢. which would mean they'd have to bump their price up by 30-50¢ to cover it. Folks would complain about that, so instead they'd just raise the price of coffee a nickel. Beverages produce a lot of the profit for restaurants.

Buzz, some of that was a little bit of a low blow for someone you dont know. I will give you credit for being a noticer though, on the TV. For you, and others, I was not bichin. I just never have been in a higher end place that did not serve wine so I was caught off guard. Another $10 for a second bottle was a double surprise. The waiter had already been kinda uppity in general, so that didnt help.
For what its worth, Ive been in the restaurant business most of my life and I eat out a lot and at higher end places fairly often. A lot of yall offered some good comments and too many for me to address.

There are truckloads of what are essentially made up add-on charges these days. Corkage fees are actually one of the ones that’s been around the longest. It’s basically to make up for the fact that you aren’t buying huge margin drinks to go with your meal.

Personally I realize that if I go to an expensive restaurant (or hotel or destination or whatever) that it’s going to be expensive. So I don’t let stuff like that bother me because it kinda defeats the purpose of being there in the first place.

Have never heard of a corkage fee. Learn something every day.