An open letter to Greek restaurant owners

Written by George Costola

With the main question, for their part, addressing wine pricing. In other words, how do they justify reselling wines on their price lists at x6+ prices?

I believe that a restaurant’s wine list should meet three criteria: culinary, economic, and emotional. In this series. But Greek restaurateurs have a different opinion. They put forward the emotional standard, as if we all, every time we go “outside,” celebrate something. Or it’s a nice, romantic walk. The circumstances, however we do it, would justify an expensive wine, worthy of the occasion. This is where the distorted treatment of wine prices in Greek restaurants begins.

But let’s take things in order:

A happy and passionate product

Wine is a joyful and psychologically beneficial product, and its use and quality influence consumers’ habits and their degree of enjoyment of it. Typically, groups come together not to eat, but with the prayer “Let us meet and drink a glass of wine.” Therefore, one would expect restaurateurs to treat wine, on a professional level, as bark, as the old bar owners did with their wine. It is said that back then, when a pub opened a new cask, in the early days, a flag was raised in the store to inform all parties involved.

However, this sacred product is treated by many restaurateurs with incredible indifference and lightheadedness, whether in terms of choosing suppliers, brands or pricing.

Outside, everyone is entitled to good wine at a reasonable price

Wine is not an elitist custom, as proven in recent years in Greece. Of course, the list should include wines that, as I mentioned above, will accompany the exceptional opportunity for a picnic. But, as important as these wines are, it is essential – and even more so – that they are represented in the list and category with decent and affordable options, which, by meeting the needs of quality and quantity, will highlight the ordinary production of ordinary people.

Finally: Isn’t there a well-packaged wine in Greek vineyards, which has its place in the price list of an average Greek restaurant at around 15 euros!? My suggestion is: Restaurant owners should include and display two or three labels of this type of wine in their catalog. A price that is possible and fair to all parties: producers, restaurateurs, consumers, let’s say within the framework of logic, on the part of restaurateurs, “I choose in front of you for you.”

“Wine is tyrannical and enough is enough.”

I found the above phrase somewhere. Which means that it is not enough for a wine to be “dominant”, it is also sufficient. Here, I’m afraid restaurateurs have completely lost the game. Instead of guaranteeing their customers (beloved ones) by all means their “drink equivalent to their appetite,” by their pricing treatment of their wines they make it prohibitive, not only the extra bottle they want to drink, but also the first and brutally push them towards the bulk solution.

Is there good cheap wine?

Of course there is. But it needs research. For example, there are small producers who make very good wines that are worth bottling. But for economic and official reasons, they do not have the option to mobilize. So they are forced to throw away their wonderful product in large quantities – along with everyone else’s paste.

These producers should be sought out and found by a good restaurateur, or together, look for a packaging solution at a slightly higher price, for example. 15 euros per bottle, or placed in his store in bulk. but how; Responsibly, and even aggressively, know and disclose exactly what wine you are selling: Listing – describe in detail in the catalog the full identity of the producer and/or standardiser, the origin of the wine, the hectare yield of each grape, its performance and characteristics/characteristics, the designation of the variety/s, the details of its analysis, etc. And both the producer and the customer deserve it.

Disassembling the product is a good thing

And what do our winemakers do? I fear that, through their fault, they are missing the opportunity to move away from bulk wine and finally introduce bottled wine into our lives. This is a classic product cannibalism. With what this means for the national cause: Greek wine. This means that wine producers for sale and restaurateurs – have completely uncertified and uncontrolled wine in their stores, bought for 1 to 3 euros and sold for 8 to 15 euros per litre.

The reason they do this? a question. Do they not see that this unholy and unequal confrontation between good and evil, except for some (short-term) economic benefits, does not bode well for the industry? Those who know something about this, please contribute to the discussion. And know that: “Bad currency brings out good.”

Price x6+, in the name of what added value?

With the exception of the few restaurants, which have invested in the required equipment and special facilities, the rest of the restaurateurs, in the name of what added value do they justify reselling wine in their stores at x6+ prices?

I remember, in this regard, the answer to a relevant question of mine, by a leading restaurateur, that the high prices “cover the ‘large’ cost of replacing the broken heavy glasses in his store!”

Open bottle charm All educated wine drinkers everywhere respect wine. They bow before the magic of the open bottle, and honor the drinking of wine with all the rules it deserves. They enjoy wine in the right place, at the right quality, in the right quantity, at the right price, sometimes “giddy” and sometimes “pretending to study.” But always as befits, I repeat, a valuable, joyful and beneficial good for the soul.

The least one expects from restaurateurs is the corresponding treatment: properly maintained, courteous professional service, checking the cork when opening the bottle, proper glasses with stems always, and the correct temperature not only for white wine, but also for red wine. Even pour the latter into a bottle, if the restaurateur wants to take on another role, which would suit him wonderfully: that of an inspiring coach for the well-being of clients who frequent his physical, professional and aesthetic area.

Value for money rating: Below average

Calculating, more broadly, the total cost of visiting Greek restaurants, allow me (representing, I believe, a respectable majority of consumers) the following personal confession: Everything related to cooking that happens in my life, in recent years, falls within the context of domestic life, where My wife and I search for healthy, delicious and fair food (that is paid appropriately), as a result of our “culinary intelligence”. Regarding the “outside”, Greek restaurateurs, judging by the evaluation of their stores, in terms of “value for money”, still care, sometimes by actions and sometimes by omission of two things. First: He should not be a (regular) customer of any restaurant. The other: after every outing, you almost always feel the painful truth represented by the phrase: “Going out to a bad restaurant is always a dashed hope.”

note: We have occupied the subject before, expressing much the same views. It remains – in order to avoid misunderstanding – to highlight the chapter on “bulk wine”, about which we have a lot to say. I will come back.

* Mr Kostolas is a former managing director of companies in the wider financial sector. Email: [email protected]