Having been a poor, city-dwelling college student who was welcomed to the real world by a big, fat recession, I’ve worked in my share of restaurants. And in my 7 years of restaurant experience, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to restaurant guests. Some have made very poor decisions that have cost them much more money than necessary. Some have most definitely come from other planets. Some, however, have made great, money-saving decisions which I’ve secretly applauded. I’d like to share one of the best of these with you today: How to enjoy wine in a restaurant without paying the restaurant’s exorbitant price.

Now, some may say that going out to dinner and enjoying luxuries like wine is not really part of a frugal lifestyle. But let’s face it; sometimes there are causes to celebrate. Whether it be Mother’s Day, a surprise birthday party, a retirement party, or just a good old-fashioned treat, everyone needs to cut loose now and then. We just need to do it in the smartest, most economical way possible. This is a gem of a tip for such occasions.

What Your Server Won’t Tell You (But, Luckily For You, I Will)

Did you know that it’s possible for two tables, with the same amount of people, to order exactly the same meal at the same restaurant, tip the server exactly the same, and one owe less than the other? How is this possible? you may ask. Well, Table A could have brought their own wine (feasibly, a comparable wine to the one that Table B ordered from the restaurant’s wine list) and saved significantly. Here’s a prime, real life example.

One Saturday night while working hard at a restaurant in Downtown Boston, I served two different large parties. One (we will call them Table A) had 10 people, and the other (Table B) had 12 or so people. Table A was on a work outing and the entire meal was on the boss. They ordered several bottles of red wine to start out with and ordered even more as they ran out. As they were all drinking, laughing and having a good time, they didn’t worry much about cost (I’m sure having the boss pay for the meal contributed greatly to that).

In the end, I ended up selling them 6 bottles of wine. Combined with 10 family-style meals (costing $27.95 per person for appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts), and coffee after the meal, their bill totaled to an astronomical $600 after taxes and before gratuity.

Now, Table B, who had more people at the table, was celebrating a woman’s 40th birthday party. They brought 5 bottles of wine into the restaurant and also ordered family style. Including coffee, tax and the corkage fees (which I’ll talk about in a bit) this table only spent about $400 before gratuity. Table B seems to have been on to something.

Restaurant vs. Retail

If you are a wine drinker, then you’ve most likely noticed that wine costs you a lot more at a restaurant than it does in a store. The standard mark-up for restaurant wine is about 3 times its wholesale price, or twice its retail price. Let’s test this information in the real world.

Here are four popular wines that I’ve selected. You can find these wines at my restaurant and also at your local Trader Joe’s. Keeping in mind that prices may vary from state to state, let’s take a look at how these Boston prices compare.

Penfolds Shiraz: one of Australia’s favorite names in premium red wine

• Trader Joe’s retail price: $8.99
• My restaurant’s price: $34

Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel: a sophisticated, inexpensive red wine from California

• Trader Joe’s retail price: $7.99
• My restaurant’s price: $32

Chateau St. Michelle Reisling: a sweeter, refreshing white wine from Colombia Valley, Washington

• Trader Joe’s retail price: $9.99
• My restaurant’s price: $34

And lastly, the pricey bottle –

Wild Horse Pinot Noir: a sweeter, sophisticated red wine from Central Coast, California

• Trader Joe’s retail price: $19.99
• My restaurant’s price: $69

So what does this information mean? It means that a person could purchase a bottle of Penfolds Shiraz, or a comparable Shiraz from Trader Joe’s, bring it into my restaurant, pay the $15 corkage fee, and save at least $10 dollars per bottle. It’s also possible to bring a really nice bottle of Wild Horse Pinot Noir or something comparable instead of purchasing the restaurant’s version and save about $35 per bottle.

You could also look at it this way: For those on a budget who have expensive taste, it is possible to purchase the “pricey” bottle of Wild Horse at Trader Joe’s and enjoy a more sophisticated wine for about the same price as the restaurant’s cheap red wine or “house red.”

What is This ‘Corkage Fee’ That Keeps Coming Up?

A corkage fee is the fee you pay the restaurant for bringing in your own bottle of wine. The fee helps cover the following expenses that the restaurant incurs:

1. Employing the server who will present, open and pour your bottle of wine
2. Providing stemware, or covering costs if glasses break (which, let’s face it, tends to happen when people drink)
3. The cost of having someone clean the stemware once you’ve left
4. The cost of the liquor license that allowed you to bring and enjoy your own wine

Note: The server’s gratuity is NOT included in the corkage fee. I’ll go into greater detail about this later.

Corkage fees vary from restaurant to restaurant. In all 4 of the restaurants I’ve worked at, the fee has been $15 per bottle. The fee usually does not exceed $20 per bottle.

Where Can I Bring My Own Wine?

Good question. It was extremely difficult to find which states allow you to bring your own wine (BYOW) and which do not. I’ve found that it is illegal in Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, Ohio and the city of Las Vegas. Some states require that the restaurant have a BYOW permit, such as Arizona. (If a state that you know of does not allow you to BYOW, please let us know in the comments below!)

In any case, always check the restaurant’s policies before you dine. Any restaurant should be glad to assist you if you just give them a call prior to your visit.

Your Server’s Reaction and Some General Rules

You may be embarrassed or hesitant to BYOW, but you shouldn’t be as long as you follow these guidelines.

• First and Foremost, Take Care of Your Server: Think about it. A server’s main priority is to sell, sell, sell. Servers across the US have a lower minimum wage under federal laws. For example, in Boston, servers make $2.63 an hour, so they rely on sales to boost their income. If you bring your own wine, they’ve missed out on a sale, and therefore, possibly the gratuity that goes along with that sale. Be sure to tip your servers as though you’ve purchased the wine in the restaurant. They do the same amount of work either way.

  If you promise to tip accordingly, my server friends won’t be mad at me for sharing this little-known tip with you – I guarantee it.

• Call Ahead Before you BYOW: You should do this to double check the restaurant’s policies and to make sure that their corkage fee is reasonable.
• Try Not to Bring a Bottle Featured on the Wine List: If a guest brought a bottle that the restaurant also offered, it wouldn’t bother me much, but some restaurants find it disrespectful. It is always better to bring a bottle that you couldn’t find at the restaurant. That way, it is more understandable why you brought your own. An example from earlier in the article: Enjoy a “pricey bottle” from Trader Joe’s for the same price as the restaurant’s overpriced “house red” at a fancy dinner outing.

So go ahead. Live in the lap of luxury once in a while, because now you can do it for less. If you’re in charge of that big dinner out, impress your guests by bringing that impressive bottle of Pinot Noir. You don’t have to tell them where you got it from. It’ll be our little secret.

A tip of the hat to the following sources: All About Wine Corkage & Corkage Fees and Buying Wine in a Restaurant.