corkage charge at hotels.. help please

Total piece of string question. depends on the venue. anything from a fiver to 30 quid. ask them.

Totally depends on the venue I should think.

They have left it to me ? I think they trust me to make the right decision. gah, why do I volunteer to do these things.

Ths highest champagne corkage I have come across so far was £45, but that was a few months back so it could well be more by now! The average seems to be around £30.

They ve left it to you? but its a major decision in terms of operations, margins, cost, proft, you name it. not saying you dont have the experience of course, but to leave it to one person who may not have that information? how odd.

Impossible to answer, really, not even ballpark.

Well, corkage charges are made to cover the venue in terms of what they would have made if the client had bought the alcohol from them. Things to consider are staff costs (opening and serving the wine, clearing up afterwards etc) and use of the venue's glasses etc.

The venue I work at doesn't allow corkage.

Do you want someone to look over the brochure? I help to produce the ones at work so would be happy to have a look. ?

When we got married 4 years ago our hotel charged £17 corkage for still wine, £20 for sparkling wine and £25 for champagne.

It's not uncommon for corkage to be charged at the cost of the cheapest wine (in this case the cheapest sparkling wine?) on the venue's list.

I don't know what your job is but the fact that your asking on here sounds like beverage/catering price margins are not generally in your job description. Get back to the hotel and ask them, as others have said, it is influenced by a number of different factors and you'd really need several figures before attempting to calculate an appropriate amount.

£5 doesn't sound alot for corkage - it's more than that in our local Waitrose.

Why not call a nearby hotel and ask them?

The venue we got married at charges £7.50 a head for corkage (although it was £5 a head when we booked so thats what we paid)

Peppermint, why is your local Waitrose charging corkage?

Corkage is what venues charge, per bottle, if you supply your own alcohol rather than buy it from the venue. It makes up for the money the venue lose in revenue from selling you their bottles. Some venues don't allow it at all.

There is a wine bar, and also a Steak & Oyster bar inside the supermarket, both of which have a wine list. Their policy is that you can actually choose any bottle of wine that they sell and drink it in the supermarket but they charge corkage on bottles not listed on their wine list.

Watching people sit in Waitrose drinking £40 bottles of red is amusing. ?

Wow, I'm guessing you live in a city !! We'd never get anything like that here in the sticks, interesting idea though, is it really like a bar you'd go out to, or is it literally just drinking in a supermarket in a comfy chair whilst being gorped at by shoppers?

We are in Canary Wharf and yes it's basically a wine bar. The supermarket is pretty new and the bar is set to one side next to the wines and spirits department. They also have a temp controlled area for fine wines so you could (if you wanted to) sit and glug a seriously expnsive bottle.

People that shop there just take it as normal now. Some people leave work and go there for drinks and H and I often push the trolley to one side in the middle of a weekly shop and have a bottle of red!

The steak bar is cool as you sit up at the bar with your back to the meat and veg departments. They cook an awesome steak in front of you. It's my dad's favourite place to eat when he's working in London. ?

Thanks everyone. I'm going to go speak to them today. They are new owners still finding their feet, and hadn't thought of corkage charges until I mentioned them.. I'll go have a word today at work about them.

Can you tell I have no hotel work in me before a month ago!!!!