Increasing support among restaurant owners spurred the B.C. government on July 19 to change its longtime policy and permit restaurateurs to let patrons bring their own wine to restaurants in exchange for a small fee called corkage.
British Columbia Restaurant and Food Service Association CEO Ian Tostenson told Business in Vancouver July 19 that his association in the past year conducted internal polling and held informal education sessions on the value of allowing corkage fees.
The result was a significant rise in the number of restaurateurs who supported the practice compared with two years ago, he said.
Still he was surprised that Rich Coleman, who is the minister in charge of B.C. alcohol policy, did not give the industry the heads-up that the announcement would be coming.
"Restaurants got a shock today because we didn't know that it would be announced today – and it's in effect now," Tostenson said.
Coleman told BIV last year that the reason he kept the longtime prohibition against customers bringing their own bottle of wine (BYOB) was because the industry opposed the change.
"Corkage fees have been brought up over the years but it's not supported by [the industry] to have it happen," Coleman told BIV last year. "Any time I've met with [industry representatives,] they've said, 'No that's not something we would want to support.'"
Tostenson said that any restaurateur who does not support corkage fees simply has not figured out how to use the new policy for their business advantage.
"The majority of restaurant owners who we speak with see the opportunity," Tostenson said.
Restaurateurs are not required to allow patrons to bring their own wine. If restaurant owners do allow the practice, they are free to set whatever corkage fee they want. The fee could be nothing or it could be $50.
Restaurant owners who have opposed BYOB in the past, such as Smoking Dog owner Darrell Hannibal, have said they were concerned with competing restaurants charging ever-lower corkage fees, thereby creating a pressure on other restaurants to follow suit.
