As a wine buyer I am always very careful to analyze the pricing of wines I procure for a restaurant client. Obviously some buyers aren’t. Naturally wines will be more expensive in a restaurant than at a store. Most restaurant clients realize that there are many costs to running a restaurant and serving wine that don’t exist in a wine store. But they don’t want to feel like they are getting ripped-off.
WIth a larger portion of the dining public carrying smart phones, there is more opportunity for them to see the retail prices of wines on your wine list so the bottom line is don’t be greedy and do your due diligence in sourcing great value wines and buying them right so you can price the wines appropriately. It is possible but it takes effort and knowledge and it’s what Sommeliers and Wine Directors get paid for.
Wine Buyers and Sommeliers that don’t do their utmost to achieve great value wine lists are not noble.
Maybe a course on wine could be helpful to understand these important concepts. Here is one from Sonoma State, that hopefully would covers some of these concepts on pricing in the on-premise market.
Noble Wines 