Should a restaurant waive corkage fees?

Selectively, and always for a reason.

What a restaurant sells for the price of corkage is service. Collectors may visit the restaurant specifically to drink current-release wines from producers they already had allocations of at home. They chose the restaurant over their own dining room because they knew they would get proper glassware and correct service. That is the product being sold, and it justifies the charge.

Three situations where waiving works. Waive one fee when the table buys a bottle from the list, which converts a one bottle table into a two bottle table for almost nothing. Waive it for a collector bringing something the floor team will learn from. And waive it when the relationship is worth more than the fee.

Don’t waive it broadly. A policy without structure teaches guests never to open the wine list at all.

The related opportunity costs nothing. A guest mentions a bottle sitting in their cellar, staff invites them to come back drink it in the dining room. That conversation happens effortlessly.