A few of my friends have been having the discussion of tipping on wine and
what if we bring our own.

How much would you tip if 1) you purchase a $200 bottle of wine and 2) you
brought a $200(menu price, probably cost $75) bottle of wine and they
charged $25 to uncork it?

I thought this is a worth while question for everyone to see the answer. I
do not want to be cheap, I like tipping on great service, but I would like
to do it right. So maybe the wait staff out there can reply.


Thanks,

R

I forwarded this riveting discussion to my brother. He has several years
experience serving and waiting for the most upscalse restaurants in downtown
Fredericksburg, VA. This may or may not apply in bigger cities but I'll let
him take it away on this one.



Respectfully

prsaxman





-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 2:40 PM

Subject: Fw: Corking Fee and Tipping



At the two high end resutrants that I work in this is how we generally

do it.

A bad tip is 15% or less of the final total, regardless of anything.

A good tip is 20% of the final total, reagardless of all that stuff you

said.

A great tip is 25%

Any more than 25% is considered improper or over flashy, with the

exception of a large banquet (>30 people) then up to 35% is acceptable

(but the service has to be really good)

We do not charge an uncorking fee at either of my resturants. HOWEVER

this is what I will say.

Wine and other such drinks account for a large portion of a meal cost.

That is why it is such a big deal for us to sell a bottle, it drives the

ticket price up which in turn drives up the tip. At the end, the server

is going to look at the ticket and say "it was a $300 ticket and they

tipped $60, thats 20%, they were good tippers" bottle or no bottle.

However, let your tip reflect their service, that way the server can say

"it was an $85 ticket, but they tipped $30.... oh they really liked the

service, especially since we let them bring their own wine... They are

really nice"

This is one of the few times it is ok to break the 25% tip limit.

Also remember that the resturant is doing you a favor by allowing you to

bring your own bottle in. (it is a big hassel to do that and requires a

lot of legal hoops to jump through)(along with the fact that they are

losing money). So tip them accordingly.



littledrummerboy



> wrote in message
. ..
> A few of my friends have been having the discussion of tipping on wine and
> what if we bring our own.
>
> How much would you tip if 1) you purchase a $200 bottle of wine and 2) you
> brought a $200(menu price, probably cost $75) bottle of wine and they
> charged $25 to uncork it?
>
> I thought this is a worth while question for everyone to see the answer.
I
> do not want to be cheap, I like tipping on great service, but I would like
> to do it right. So maybe the wait staff out there can reply.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> R
>
>

I don't usually separate it out in my mind. I tip 15-20% normally in a
restaurant(generally 18-20%). On the very rare occasions I order a very
expensive (over $100 to me), I probably tip closer to 15%. If I'm
allowed the privilege of corkage, it's at least 20%. If corkage is
waived, a bare minimum of 25%, usually more like 30%.

When they waive the corkage I go out of my way to be generous!!!! Good
Point!
"DaleW" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>I don't usually separate it out in my mind. I tip 15-20% normally in a
> restaurant(generally 18-20%). On the very rare occasions I order a very
> expensive (over $100 to me), I probably tip closer to 15%. If I'm
> allowed the privilege of corkage, it's at least 20%. If corkage is
> waived, a bare minimum of 25%, usually more like 30%.
>