MICHAEL FRIDJHON: How wine adds to the meal, and the bill
A conspiracy of silence around wine list markups has favoured the status quo
There’s enough going wrong in SA (and elsewhere in the world) that outrage about wine list markups seems positively frivolous. The fact that an exploitive beverage pricing policy has been the norm since time immemorial shouldn’t diminish the anger. Slavery does not become less repulsive for having been around for millennia.
We all know that, in theory, the market decides. Those whose margins scare off their customers either change their model or quit their businesses. In the case of wine list markups, however, a conspiracy of silence has favoured the status quo. Over the years — and not only in SA — liquor has subsidised the food side of the business. During the Covid lockdowns, restaurateurs traded at a loss — except for those that engaged in the sale of “special tea” to the customers they knew they could trust...
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