What is corkage?

Corkage is the fee a restaurant charges to open and serve a bottle of wine that a guest brought with them. The fee covers glassware, temperature correction, the labor of opening and pouring, and the cleanup afterward.

The practice traces back to European inns, where travelers carried their own wine and the house charged a small amount for opening, pouring, and cleanup. It took hold in American restaurants where liquor licenses were expensive or capped, as a way to bring wine drinkers through the door.

Most operators today mistakingly read corkage as leakage. A bottle carried through the front door is a bottle missed on the list, a lower check average, and a table occupying two hours while generating a fraction of the beverage revenue it should. That reading produces a policy written defensively, priced high, or revoked outright.

The most successful restaurants run the opposite interpretation. They treat corkage as an invitation to the guests most likely to buy wine, and they solve the legitimate problems, large parties and service cost, with bottle limits and proportionate fees rather than with a wall.

A guest who carries a bottle into a dining room has already decided wine is worth planning an evening around. That is the most qualified beverage guest in the building.