Sell the Best for Less

When you open a restaurant there are two things guests will not forgive – a lack of effort and a lack of value. The former is less common – if you open a restaurant thinking you won’t have to work 90-hour weeks for the first three months you are completely deluded. The latter is equally damning. Your restaurant will not be perfect, however many sleepless nights you have spent planning it. The deliveries will go to the wrong address, the walk-in fridge will break down, half the chairs will not turn up on time. All but the most cold-hearted diner will forgive the consequences of these nasty surprises, so long as they aren’t asked to pay as if everything is perfect. A bill that people find acceptable or better than acceptable will hide a multitude of sins. The easiest way to ensure this at the start was to be generous on the wine margins – particularly towards the higher end. Our first list had fine wines at prices that were frankly ridiculous. A wine merchant from Singapore memorably informed us that the price he had just paid for a Paolo Scavino Barolo on our list for was not far off the import tax alone he would pay on a similar bottle back home.