Bottle shock: corkage fees are falling all over Toronto (Photo by Quinn Dombrowski)
Along with prix-fixe menus and pink slip parties (we’re looking at you, Globe), reduced corkage fees have become a popular recession-era tactic for restaurants trying to attract diners. Ontario jumped on the BYOB bandwagon in January 2005, it has never had the same success as similar programs in Quebec. That is, until now.
“We’ve certainly seen a rise [in BYOB customers] in the last six months,” says Vertical’s Rob Montgomery, who lowered his charge from $45 to $25 about a month ago. “Guests want to spend money on food rather than wine.” He’s not the only one noticing a change. Dropping fees—which also help the house when one bottle begets another or if there’s a cocktail craving—have been on Patrick McMurray’s mind, too. The restaurateur was considering a corkage cutback at Starfish when we called; an hour later, he lowered his decanting cost from $30 to $20. As part of his democratic makeover, Carlo Cattalo is changing Splendido’s charge from $50 to $30; and Table 17 recently added a second no-charge BYOB night by popular demand. Other restos are extending successful corkage promotions. Lee and Madeline’s got hip to the craze for an April promotion: both Susur-owned spots are extending their $1 corkage to three days a week.
Here is our cheat sheet to the corkage discounts at top restaurants:
• Table 17: No corkage fee Sunday and Monday (BYOB Sunday and Monday only). 782 Queen St. E. (at Saulter St.), 416-519-1851.
• Paese: No corkage fee Sunday to Friday for first bottle; regular charge $25. 3827 Bathurst St. (at Wilson), 416-631-6585.
• Cava: No corkage fee Sunday, regular charge $30. 1560 Yonge St. (at Heath St. E.), 416-979-9918
• Centro: No corkage fee Monday to Wednesday; regular charge $35. 2472 Yonge St. (at Castlefield Ave.), 416-483-2211.
• Nota Bene: No corkage fee after 9 p.m.; regular charge $40. 180 Queen St. W. (at Simcoe St.), 416-977-6400.
• Crush Wine Bar: Corkage $1 on Mondays; regular charge $25. 455 King St. W. (at Spadina), 416-977-1234.
• Lee: Corkage $1 Monday to Wednesday; regular charge $30. 603 King St. W. (at Portland St.), 416-504-7867.
• Madeline’s: Corkage $1 Monday to Wednesday; regular charge $30. 601 King St. W. (at Portland St.), 416-603-2205.
• Starfish: Corkage $20. 100 Adelaide St. E. (at Jarvis St.), 416-366-7827.
• Gamelle: Corkage $25. 468 College St. (at Markham St.), 416-923-6254.
• Vertical: Corkage $25. 100 King St. W. (at Bay), First Canadian Place, 416-214-2252.
• Splendido: Corkage $30. 88 Harbord St. (at Spadina), 416-929-7788.
[...] to Toronto Life for the [...]
May 27, 2009 at 1:55 pm | by Corkage fees dropping as EI claims rising « canadian wine geekDr. Generosity, a Bloor West fave of mine, also does $1, $2 and $3 corkage on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. I’m loving this trend!
May 27, 2009 at 7:40 pm | by Ck.Cafe du Lac in South Etobicoke offers $5 Wednesday corkage fees till the end of the summer.
May 28, 2009 at 8:46 am | by kjThe reason BYOB hasn’t caught on in Ontario the way it has in Quebec IS the corkage fee. Every BYOB restaurant I’ve gone to in Montreal has wondered what the heck I’m talking about when I’ve asked about what the corkage fee is. Last summer, my wife and I attended a restaurant with two other couples. We went through SIX bottles of BYOB wine (we all walked to the restaurant and back) and there was NO corkage fee whatsoever. And this was on a SATURDAY night. And the place was PACKED. Ontario restaurants need to learn a few lessons from this. Charging a corkage fee of $40(or even just $10)is INSANE.
May 28, 2009 at 9:20 am | by The WatcherI completely agree Watcher! I would eat out far more often if Ontario restaurants offered NO corkage fee. I truly believe their revenue would go way up if they did this.
Thanks to other readers who added their favs to the list.
May 28, 2009 at 9:59 am | by Dianai guess the restaurants should just have no corkage fee so they could all go out of business…in a very low profit margin business; sensible and reasonable mark up on liquor are what keep most restaurants going to offset their food cost, labour and overhead…..please wake up to the reality of the situation
May 28, 2009 at 10:16 am | by wakeupDear Wakeup, if that were true, the Quebec restaurants would all be out of business by now. If the no corkage fee policy works in one city, it can work in another.
May 28, 2009 at 10:34 am | by someoneBack from a little vacay. While I was away corkage fees dropped in Toronto – Good news! http://tinyurl.com/kjc2e9 http://tinyurl.com/kjc2e9
June 1, 2009 at 11:47 am | by @mjstringerIt’s true; thies article seems to suggest that it is ok to charge a mere $35 to open a bottle of wine. FYI it isn’t; it is a rip off and the sooner Ontario restaurants realize this, the sooner it will feel like a treat to eat and not extortion.
June 2, 2009 at 2:10 am | by Sandyi recently visited toronto and being from montreal i can honestly say that if and when toronto decides to have BYOB and not charge corkage fee i personally along with several other thousands of people will be ready to relocate in a heartbeat. toronto is now a beautiful cosmopolitan city with true ethnic diversity and its culinary tastes are delightful. already light years ahead of montreal economically, montreal’s BYOB evolved from a necessary means of survival for restauranteurs than were denied liquor permits because of language issues or zoning permit problems. toronto’s situation is much different, i can only imagine the positive impact if indeed such corkage fees were removed. combined with people having more spendable income a restaurants business would increase tenfold….
June 2, 2009 at 3:03 am | by marcoOne other main difference is the cost of alcohol in both Quebec and Ontario, and the cost of licensing the resto. In Ontario, you still have to be licensed to be BYOB, but in Quebec you can opt for a cheaper, easier to get, BYOB license. Also, restaurants have figured out how to make money by selling “food”, where Ontario restaurants make money by selling you a bottle of wine at 300% markup – which is why Fuzion is on some menus at $22.00.
June 2, 2009 at 8:13 am | by FoomanJust had a great meal at TEN in Port Credit. BYOB on Mondays and no corkage at all. Great food and service. Definitely will return.
June 2, 2009 at 9:37 am | by mjDIDIER Restaurant & Catering dropped our corkage fee to $20.00 eight months ago.
June 2, 2009 at 2:13 pm | by ToryFor my 60th, took my mum and the bottle of ‘45 Margaux she had given me, to Pegase, noted for its food and stemware. The waiter was hoping the cork would come out OK, but it started to disintegrate, so he produced some contraption that somehow removed the rest of the cork before decanting the wine – still delicious after all those years. And no corkage fees, of course!
June 2, 2009 at 3:40 pm | by peterI was in Philadelphia last summer for the May 24 long weekend and most of the restaurants in Centre City are not licensing and therefore BYOB. They charge no corkage fees and just about every restaurant we looked into was packed all weekend long. I did notice that they do seem to try to pack a lot of tables in though, I guess to recover some costs but it was worth being inches away from the table beside you to enjoy your own bottle of wine for no extra cost. I think it’s ridiculous to charge a $45 corkage fee.
June 2, 2009 at 5:21 pm | by KristaMy most fervent wish is for restaurants to simply lower the mark-up on wines to a reasonable level. 150% mark-up? 200% in some cases? That’s nuts. It’s appalling to be charged $46 for a $22 bottle of wine that I can easily buy from the LCBO.
This is a plea to restaurant owners to give us the best of both worlds: The convenience of buying wine from you, at a mark-up we can live with.
June 7, 2009 at 6:06 pm | by MicheleGreat service+food last night $20 corkage. ordered banquet burger. brought my own pinot noir. heavenly! ask for Alex at upstairs patio bar nice guy.
June 10, 2009 at 11:44 am | by Porgioops sorry about that…
June 10, 2009 at 11:45 am | by Porgiclick on my name for link to Globe Bistro!
[...] a week in Toronto where corkage fees are up to $50 per bottle, we were pleasantly surprised to be able to enjoy a bottle of Hidden Bench rose (brought from the [...]
June 30, 2009 at 2:17 pm | by About Thyme Bistro « wgwines.comEast Side Mario’s on Front Street here in Toronto – pleasantly surprised with no corking fee, impressed with the food and loved the service!
October 23, 2009 at 1:21 pm | by B. Newman“Wakeup” ’s comment about restaurants not being able to survive with no corkage fee simply does not hold water. There are hundreds of restaurants in Montreal and Quebec City who do VERY WELL with a no-charge corking policy. We have homes in both Quebec City and Toronto where we live roughly half the time each. The Quebec restaurants with no corking fee are always packed and obviously thriving. Some have been in business with this policy for over ten years. It is probably just a matter of time before Toronto restaurant owners wake up to this reality …
February 16, 2010 at 5:54 pm | by Richard M