Corkage fee--heard of this one?

That is probably the best way to go about it.

 

over here, it's very rare clubs use corkage fees. they used to, long time ago, but realized they're on the losing end. however, i do know some owners and managers of the nighclubs, so i could get a bottle in and get extremely corkage charge

 

I'll have water with a lemon, please.

 

Question: Is the FEE clearly stated on any of the menus? I would expect it would be on the wine menu.



A restaurant I use to frequent every 1-2 weeks, had an incredible wine policy. They never marked their wines up over $20. Also charged a modest corkage fee. They firmly believed that meals and wine must go together. Anytime I went in their, 99% of the tables would have a bottle of wine opened.

Since we went so frequently and always shared what we brought with the staff, we were rarely charged the corkage. Additionally, we frequently ordered off their wine list. Scratch their back, they scratch yours.

The independent Indy restaurant scent has no concept about that and mark-ups are general 3x plus and the lists aren't great.

 

That's ridiculous. I completely understand corkage fee's when you are bringing your own bottle. If I saw that added to the bill on a bottle I purchased there I would be upset. If they didn't take it off the bill that would have come off the tip. Regardless of whether they took it off the bill or not, I would still be leaving mad. Bad business.

 

By the way, is a corkage fee for each bottle, or is it just a one-time fee?

I realize it's your friend and all, but, explain to your ignorant friend;

A] Corkage fee should only be if bottle was supplied by guest.
B] Corkage fee should be reasonable.
C] REPEAT BUSINESS IS THE GOAL, NOT A CONCEPT
D] If Sommelier is SUPERHOT AND TOPLESS, THEN and only then is a charge of 12 bucks a jiggly-pop OK.

 

Taking it out on the server is not going to do any good.

Most servers will not run to the manager or the owner and tell them they received less tip because of the fee. Unless they pool tips, each server is playing poker and they dont tip their hand. At least that's what Ive seen/heard.

Also, there is a % of people will leave a cheap 10% tip no matter what quality of service they receive.

 

Ten percent is generous if the tab is over 200 bucks. where else do you get paid 20 bucks an hour for doing things like taking an order, bringing food and drinks out, asking how the meal was, and picking up the plates (in fancy retaurants the busboy does that, so the waiter has to do even less)? As the tab amount goes up, I reduce the tip percentage...no need to go overboard. I have seen people give $600 tips for a fancy meal--seems dumb to me. No matter what the meal cost, the effort expended by the waiter doesn't increase or decrease. I am paying (generously) for their time and effort. I don't need to go from being generous to obscenely stupid. I don't tip more than $50 an hour, max, even if the meal cost $3000. Sorry. And, in the current economy, I might ratchet this down to $30 per hour. That's good money. If the waiter doesn't like it, tough luck. They can get another job that "pays better".

And yes, you should decrease the tip amount if you are unhappy with your experience. Whoever says it does no good does not understand how it works.

 

If your unhappy with the quality of service, I agree you should decrease the tip. But, for issues related to restaurant policy, how does tip reduction effect the owner who makes the policy?
A word with the manager or owner is more in order such as "I didnt appreciate... and may not return".

I hear about these situations and issues all the time from both sides of the table. Much more than I prefer to be honest. Usually, restaurants will automatically add a % for gratuity on large parties anyways.

Servers are Taxed a % based on receipts, at least in California. So, on a 3k dinner where you left $50.00, the server would be at a loss. If I was that waiter, next time round, I would hand your party off to someone else or advise the manager that a 15-18% gratuity needs to be added to the check.

But then again, that's why I don't serve food in a restaurant.

 

tell them you wont be back, tell them why (ie, you dont charge a corkage fee for wine bought from the restaurant you idiots), tell them you are telling your friends. leave you biz card with them and tell them when they drop this ludicrous policy you MIGHT be back.

pretty simple.

 

servers don't get taxed on the basis of restaurant receipts (restaurants under declare their income as much as they can, anyways). they are taxed on the basis of their declared tip income, as well as their regular income.

 

what restaurant?

 

I know about half the staff of a local restaurant and the waiters tip out the kitchen staff and the bussers for every table they serve. Kitchen is tipped by the server regardless of whether he got a good tip or not. They also have to pay x amount a shift for breakage. So personally I think tips do more than just pay the waiters so I think not tipping would get your point across. After all, how many people will they remember who tipped, vs those who haven't tipped.

 

It's in Western Springs--I've surrendered my city credentials

 

A server is taxed, in California, 8% of their gross receipts.

 

I think the op's original issue is with regards to restaurant policy not service. So, taking it out on the staff and not approaching the owner or manager is not really going to direct the dissatisfaction to the source of the problem.

 

Yeah, we decided to roll the valet to get even!

 

I had a hooker try and charge me the same once.

 

This is probably what they are counting on, that most people won't say anything and just pay it.

The other possibility is that the waiter charged it by accident, or was poorly trained and didn't know it only applied to wine brought in, or did it intentionally just to jack up the bill that little bit more. It would be another $2 or so in his pocket for gratutity based off typical percentages.

If it is an official policy that management has communicated to guests as standard operating procedure, either don't have wine or find another establishment to patronize.

 

From what people have said about the restaurant owner, this is her first place (big surprise) and she came up with this idea thinking she was being clever. Down-price the bottle, up-charge the customer. Obviously she didn't get any other opinions on this or else she would have most likely been talked out of it. Keep in mind also it's a smaller suburb that only recently rolled back its ordinances against liquor sales.

 

I like the way you think!