Food prices have risen in the last year, causing a cataclysmic decline in dining out. This is having a negative impact on the sale of wine in restaurants.
If you’re a regular restaurant-goer, even to casual and reasonably priced restaurants, you are probably among those who are opting to avoid taking out a mortgage to continue dining out.
This is a major headache for restaurant owners, some of whom may have sown the seeds of their own ruin long ago by charging too much for wines when times were good. In many instances, pre-pandemic wine pricing was not in diners’ favor either.
Today, things are close to being a disaster, partly because wine prices have escalated from exorbitant to stratospheric.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently did a survey to determine if readers were dining out less often than they have been. Nearly 600 people responded to the survey, and 80 percent said they were not eating out as frequently.
Regardless of how accurate that number is, it still represents a shock to the system of anyone who owns a restaurant. And one of the obvious results of fewer diners is restaurant closures, which are on the rise.
Anecdotally, certain restaurant dishes that were once reasonably priced, such as pasta and chicken, have become more expensive in recent months. And once you add a bottle of wine, the cost of dining out is nearly prohibitive.
One major problem is how diners are being charged higher prices in restaurants, almost by deception. Unrevealed “service fees,” ranging from three percent to more than 20 percent, have been popping up on bills and go unnoticed by many diners.
- 2022 cafe experience: two salads ($12), two entrees ($30), one bottle of wine ($40), 9.5 percent sales tax ($7.79). Total without tip: $89.79. Total with 20 percent tip: $107.75.
- 2023 cafe experience: two salads ($15), two entrees ($36), one bottle of wine ($46), 9.5 percent sales tax ($9.22), service charge (five percent) $5.31. Total without tip: $111.53. Total with 20 percent tip: $133.84.
Starting July 1 in California, the hidden (never mentioned until the bill arrives) “service fees” will be a thing of the past. A new state law prohibits them. But that merely means that service fees will be camouflaged in other ways, such as in the form of even higher prices for entrees.
The obfuscation will be gone, but the pain will persist. What’s a frugal diner to do?
One strategy to consider is dining at home. And to make the experience a little more special, improve the quality of the wine. There should be a vast difference between a $17 chardonnay and one that sells for $26.
And although most people regularly spend moderate amounts for their wines, dining at home can be cheaper, and the quality of the wine improves the experience.
Here are two suggestions:
Sauvignon blanc: 2022 Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc is a classic example of this popular variety, and the wine can often be found at well under $20 per bottle.
