Restaurants
with the highest mark-ups on low-end or mid-range wines include those
owned or founded by Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver.
Consumer watchdogs and wine experts accused the restaurants of greed
and said the high prices could deter customers from dining out.
The largest mark-up uncovered by The
Telegraph was at Blumenthal's
three Michelin-starred restaurant, The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire,
where a bottle of 2005 Bourgogne Aligote costs £58.
Berkmann Wine Cellars, sells a bottle for £12.12 per bottle – showing
that The Fat Duck is selling the wine at almost five times what it paid for it.
Taking VAT into account, that makes a profit of £35.73.
At the two Michelin-starred Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons, in Great Milton,
Oxon, owned by Raymond Blanc, a 2006 bottle of Corbière La Tour Château
Grand Moulin costs £26. The wine can be bought from their supplier, the
General Wine Company, for £5.37 – a profit of £16.08
after VAT.
And at Fifteen Cornwall, near Newquay, which was founded by Jamie Oliver,
a 2006 bottle of Belisario Verdicchio di Matelica sells for £27. The same bottle
can be bought for just £6.08 from the restaurant's supplier, Liberty Wines,
which means a £16.20 profit per bottle after VAT.
The mark-ups were calculated using the prices printed on the restaurants'
menus, without taking into account any service charge added later to
the bill, and using the suppliers' standard trade prices.
The restaurants argue that the large profit margins are necessary to
cover other costs, such as staff and wine storage. A spokesman for Le
Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons said its 384 per cent mark-up on wine was justified
by the "dining experience".
Of course, one minor factor that makes the situation different in
India is that the 5 star hotels get the wines at duty free prices
and they are expected to pass on the benefits to the consumers-editor
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