On Thursday we visited a local restaurant. It was the first
time I went there in a very long time.
A bottle of Caresse Marine cost R95. I’m going to repeat
that so that you know what my problem is: a R32 bottle of Caresse Marine cost
R95 in this restaurant.
My jaw dropped. This restaurant tripled the price of this
wine.
I’m not a wine snob. I
even have a stack of Caresse Marine at home, white and red. In fact, I think
Caresse Marine is a fantastic house wine, but R95?
And on the topic of house wines, why are we settling for
Chateau Libertas and Tassenberg? A house wine is where a business owner can flex
those sommelier muscles and find that jewel among the cheap wines. Here too,
local wineries can produce cheaper labels, like Caresse Marine, that are still
of a higher quality than the vinegar some restaurants are serving as their
house wine.
And, why must a glass of house wine cost R35? As much as a
bottle?
Show me that you have made some attempt at negotiating your
wine prices with the producer. Show me that you do not want me to have a
headache the next morning.
One local business who is getting this balance right is
Piccolo’s Pizzeria. The house wine is R25 for about 250ml and it is always
good and the owner never hesitates to let you know what you are drinking. There
is no need to hide cheap bottles and boxes, because there are none.
He makes the greatest effort of including great local wine
on the menu at affordable prices. And, when we take our own bottle, we do not
hesitate in pouring him a glass. Wine is there to be shared and talked about
after all.
At Piccolo’s Pizzeria you can get a Gabrielskloof wine for
R85.
And again, I will write this out so that you know what my
problem is.
At Piccolo’s Pizzeria I can get a R65 great, local wine for
R85, but at the other restaurant I get a R32 bottle for R95.
I understand the model of doubling the price of booze, I just
don’t understand why you have to extort your customers?
We are not all tourists. We are the one who carry you
through those dry seasons. We are the ones who brave the cold to visit you. We
are the ones who also pay tax in this town, bring feet through your door and
choose to spend those special little celebrations around your table. Our hard-earned,
ever-weakening rands go into your cash register.
Please don’t only recommend the R360 bottle of wine when I
ask what your recommendation is. A good waiter and manager should be recommending
a cheaper wine and a more expensive wine. Who knows, maybe one night will call
for the Hamilton Russel Pinot Noir, but hunny, that sure isn’t when a bottle of
Caresse Marine already costs R95.
While voicing my concerns, some friends of mine spoke about
a sliding scale at a wine bar in Cape Town. No, not like refill coffee where
the second one is cheaper (although I quite like that idea), but where cheaper
wines are sold at a 100% mark-up, but the more expensive the wine is, the less
the mark-up is. This means that a R200 bottle of Newton Johnson will not be
R400 on a menu, but rather R360. A Caresse Marine will be R64. Does this make
sense?
Restaurant owners and managers should be getting excited
about tasting, swirling and smelling this red elixir that people come from far
and wide to taste. It should be exciting to introduce customers to a new wine
which they have never tried before, even if it is the cheap one.
Dear Ms Nel,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your query with regards to the price of the wine and the quality thereof which you were expected to pay for. I had to pay that exact price for a bottle of Tall Horse CabSauv the other night. Oh, and the other options were Nederburg Baron, Châteaux Libertas and I think (?) Nederburg Duet - all for the exact same price of N$95 per bottle. Ok, I probably should understand that the area in which I am currently living is about 2000km from the precious African wine-lands of the Cape. But, still N$95 for Tall Horse... Come on!
Anyway, that said, on a business level the restaurant did not rip you off so badly. They did, with a couple of bucks - but not sooo much as one would expect. Now, I am not making this point to challenge yours or to try and let you see the other side of the coin: no, on the contrary do I think that this becomes a bigger problem which exceeds the price of a bottle of wine. Because I am currently working in a the food industry, I can tell you that the ratio requirements for a profitable business is quite steep. Especially if you cater for the middle class. For instance, food costs should be 32% of food sales. Hard liquor costs should be 20% of the Hard liquor sales. This leaves you with a 400% mark-up on whiskey, brandy and all kinds of joyful delights. Now, conservatively, wine's costing should be 50% of its sale's price - in other words, a 100% mark-up. However, since 2012 financial advisers all over the world (but especially in the USA and Europe) has advised to clients in the culinary industry that the costing of wine should be 40% of the selling price. This concludes to a 150% mark-up. Which means, that to your bottle of wine (Caresse Marine in shop @ R32) should ideally cost R80 in an optimal restaurant running as a business. It is still ridiculous - because it means that the restaurant ripped you off with only R15 if we work on the global financial scale. Which is not that much..
Now, from the restaurant owner's perspective the problem arises: restaurants cannot keep up with the financial ratios as suggested by experts for a profitable business. Because, at the end of the day, ratios does not bring in the hard cash. It is customers that do. For instance, when looking at your Pizzeria Piccolo's - you go back there due to their hospitality and the fact that the do not 'over-price' their wine. Your customers are your most valued asset and you need to keep it that way. Hence, be cautious of implementing idealised profit ratios too freely. Fortunately for customers, but unfortunately for restaurants, it is not the rules set by accountants which makes your business successful. It is indeed your customers. [Oddly you do get snobs who go eat at places only to show the bill to their friends.]
And I think this dilemma roots in the difference between Southern African countries and fully developed countries such as the USA, UK and parts of continental Europe where such financial ratios are key to profitability. Here in Southern Africa, due to the very small segment of "comfortable economic earnings" in the population, businesses (such as the culinary establishments) are considered more 'luxurious" and thus do not have the privilege of a densely populated market. Thus, as a restaurant in a developing country you have to compromise on your ratios in order to expand your market.
So, my point after all this rambling Ms Nel, is that you and your overpriced bottle of wine is an actualised manifestation of the tension between the Southern African Middle Class culinary market and the "obligations" of a striving profitable restaurant. I hope that we can converse over a good (but very reasonably priced) bottle of red wine in the not too distant future!
*G