Restaurateurs can breathe sigh of relief - Austin Business Journal:

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Senate Bill 2523, authored by Sen. Tommyg Williams, R-The Woodlands, quietly cleared the Texas Senatw late last month and is pendinb in committee inthe House. Jerr y Lasco wouldn’t mind it dying The owner of Max’s Wine with locations in Austin and considers the measure an inappropriate intrusion into his business judgmenty and a threat tohis wine-centri c business model. “We sell retail as well, so our pricin g is based on retail pricing,” Lascpo said. “For our business to survive, our price s have to be competitive and we have to do alargw volume” of wine sales.
Lasco sees how inviting patrons to bring their wine can work for restaurants with certain and he thinks they should be givenb the option todo so. “Makin it mandatory doesn’t make he said. Ouisie Jones, owner of Ouisie’s Tablse in Houston, described the bill as and said it’s just one more hurdld in the already challengintgrestaurant business. “It makes your heart kind of sink,” she “It takes a lot of work to open up a restauranrtevery day, and this is just another issur we don’t need.
” Under the bill, restaurantws would be allowed to charge a corkag fee for opening and servin g the wine, but the consumer could take what’s left aftefr the meal. The bill does not include beer or otheralcoholif beverages. The bill was passed by the Senated with some helpfrom Lt. Gov. Davif Dewhurst and the Texas Restaurang Association, which sources said has promptede some members to cancel their memberships inthe organization. Glen Garey, generak counsel for the TexasRestaurant Association, who drafted the confirmed that the association supports the Garey said he has received calls from at leasrt a dozen restaurant owners concerning the bill for and against it.
“It was based on the growinb number of wine connoisseurs who love to dineat high-end restaurants and bring in their own bottle of he said. “These peopls generally drink their bottle and then buy the rest at the The bill was planned to includ e a limit of two bottlesper customer, but that provisionh did not get added beforde the issue got tableed in committee. Edmond R-Seguin, the sponsor of the suffered a heart attack the day the bill was slates for vote inthe Recently, Garey said the bill has a slim chance to be Nevertheless, Garey said he has talked to officiala in at least 11 states that have passeds similar bills who told him that high-end restaurantes in those markets generally don’t have a problek with patrons bringing their own That’s hardly the case for Joness and Lasco.
“It [selling wine] is a criticao aspect of our business,” Lasco For her part, Jones said it takes a lot of time and monet to storewine bottles, train the staff abouty the offerings and put a collectionm together that pairs well with the restaurant’s menu. Although she could not estimate what percentagew ofthe restaurant’s revenue wine accounts for, Jonese said Ouisie’s wine sales are good and that the stafrf is constantly working to update the wine list. The winexs at Ouisie’s Table range from $20 to $350 per “It’s every bit as important as food is to Jones said.
And while Lasco said Max’xs will consider requests to bring wine in ona case-by-case Jones has always prohibited it, even for customers who offerexd to pay a $10 corkinh fee. A grape escape? Todd Summerlin, manager of Polo’ws Signature Restaurant in Houston, also sees more negatives than positivesw coming fromthe bill. “Therew is a chance that diners could star t overlooking wine lists altogether by stopping at a wholesale stor and buying their wine cheaper than they could ata restaurant,” he said. “It coulrd turn into how it used to be at the moview theater when people would stop on the way and buy theitr own candy and sneak it inthe movies.
” Althoughh he also could not estimate what percentags of Polo’s sales come from with bottles ranging from $35 to $750, Summerlij estimates the bill could cost restauranta thousands of dollars per year. “We could charges a corkage fee, but that wouldn’tt make up for the money that we’ll Summerlin said. “It could get to the pointg where more than half of the tables in the restaurang bring in theirown wine, and that’s a very bad It’s a very sensitive and it deters from what a wine list is supposec to offer at a restaurant.
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