Paying for Non-Alcoholic Drinks with dinner

My wife and I do not drink alcohol, so when we dine we like to have a soft drink or tea. My question is why do resturants feel the need to charge so much for these drinks when you are buyng a full meal. I could see a dollar for the purchase of the drink since they are providing glasses, but in some cases they have charged $2.50 for ice tea (and Just plain ice tea at that). I could see that if you had tea/soft drink with dinner and then you ordered coffee with dessert then getting charged once for the drinks or if you just had an appetizer, but when you are buying the full meal, maybe there should be a discounted price or even just include it with the meal. Does anyone else have a problem with this or is it just me being "cheap"

Beverages of all types, at any restaurant, at any level, are profit centers. I worked in food service for 24 years and this is a well known fact. Certain items help out the P&L statement at the end of the month and beverages are a sure score. The wine a person would order at any restaurant in town will cost them at least 2 times what they could buy it for at the local liquor store or wine shop. Why? Because it's make the business a lot of money. Same for non-alcoholic beverages.

Kris,

Sounds like

is it just me being "cheap"

Seriously, why would you expect the drink to less of a profit than anything else?- it costs the restaurant to buy it, serve it and clean the glasses. If you want a free beverage, almost all places will give you water for free (even though they still have to the last two.) And lots of places automatically refill your soda/ice tea for free. Just curious...

DEb

[Robin Garr]

The wine a person would order at any restaurant in town will cost them at least 3 times what they could buy it for at the local liquor store or wine shop.

Twice retail. Three times wholesale. It's a rule of thumb, but there are plenty of exceptions, like the Bristol that's currently selling at 1X retail.

I don't believe anybody in town is selling 3x retail, although I wouldn't be surprised if Morton's and Ruth's Chris come close.

The wine a person would order at any restaurant in town will cost them at least 3 times what they could buy it for at the local liquor store or wine shop.

Twice retail. Three times wholesale. It's a rule of thumb, but there are plenty of exceptions, like the Bristol that's currently selling at 1X retail.

I don't believe anybody in town is selling 3x retail, although I wouldn't be surprised if Morton's and Ruth's Chris come close.

Now that I look at that, I was incorrect and meant 2x. The bottom line is that food service establishments use beverages of any sort to prop up profit.

Kris,

Sounds like

is it just me being "cheap"

Seriously, why would you expect the drink to less of a profit than anything else?- it costs the restaurant to buy it, serve it and clean the glasses. If you want a free beverage, almost all places will give you water for free (even though they still have to the last two.) And lots of places automatically refill your soda/ice tea for free. Just curious...

DEb

To clarify my statement from earlier, I do not actually care about paying for for tea/soda, it is really more the amount we have to pay. I know I am cheap on many items, but why does it need to cost $2.50, even if you buy the whole meal? I normally do get water for the fact that I might finish 1 beverage while I am eating. My stomach is valuable real estate so no appetizer, bread, or liquids need to be filling in, just bring me my salad and entree!

I guess I can just chalk it up the same way I do for the "convenience" fee at ticketmaster....

I was just wondering if anyone else felt like places were sticking it to us!

you're paying for all the freaks that literally drink like 6 diet cokes

I agree that its lame to charge people for regular drinks. Its a lack of class to see a $2.00 coke on a $80.00 bill.

Kris,

Sounds like

is it just me being "cheap"

Seriously, why would you expect the drink to less of a profit than anything else?- it costs the restaurant to buy it, serve it and clean the glasses. If you want a free beverage, almost all places will give you water for free (even though they still have to the last two.) And lots of places automatically refill your soda/ice tea for free. Just curious...

DEb

To clarify my statement from earlier, I do not actually care about paying for for tea/soda, it is really more the amount we have to pay. I know I am cheap on many items, but why does it need to cost $2.50, even if you buy the whole meal? I normally do get water for the fact that I might finish 1 beverage while I am eating. My stomach is valuable real estate so no appetizer, bread, or liquids need to be filling in, just bring me my salad and entree!

I guess I can just chalk it up the same way I do for the "convenience" fee at ticketmaster....

I was just wondering if anyone else felt like places were sticking it to us!

For the same reason a $1.00 coke will cost $5.75 (but for a quarter more you get twice as much!) and 10 cents worth of popcorn costs $4.25 even though you've paid your $8.50 to see a movie.

I agree that its lame to charge people for regular drinks. Its a lack of class to see a $2.00 coke on a $80.00 bill.

As a percentage of the bill that's a bargain as compaired to what one would pay a a local fast food eatery. I'm not so sure what's classless about charging for a beverage - are you suggesting cokes and other such drinks should be free?

Just look at as everyone stated regarding the mark up of wine. If we look at a glass of tea what are the costs to make it? Water ($0.01), tea bag ($0.10), slice of lemon ($0.05) and possibly sugar ($0.05) that makes a total cost of a glass of tea $0.21! Given the $2.50 in the original post this calculates to a greater than 11x mark up. I've probably actually been quite generous in that costs I used, the costs probably actually cover a couple of glasses.

I do agree that Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks cost more but not iced tea! These outrageous prices are one of the reasons that my wife and I now drink water with lemon with most of our meals.

How about Heine Brothers where they charge you almost $2 for a glass of iced tea (Granted the tea is VERY good!) but then they also want to charge you $1.30 for a REFILL!?!?!

Many retail businesses have loss leaders (or at least profit-reduced items) and big profit items. Car dealers don't make much money off a stripped-down car. The profit is in the options. Wal-mart will sell you 2-liter Cokes below or near cost to get you in the store, and make $'s off other items.

In the case of dining, you have the option at almost all restaurants for a free beverage: water. A competing restaurant could hike the prices of entrees and lower the cost of drinks to more accurately reflect cost. And I bet they'd suffer as a result.

If it costs too much, don't order it.

A 20oz Coke costs $1.29 or even $1.39 in a lot of convenience stores these days so I don't consider $2.00 or $2.50 with free refills to be outrageous.

Not to be snooty, but I think it shows a lack of class to expect anything for free, whether it's a coke, coffee or a free desert on your birthday. I say shame on Applebees and the like for making consumers think that they deserve some free stuff just because it's their birthday. Ridiculous! And if you add up the number of refills people tend to get (our glasses are 16 oz and the average diner has me refill them 2-3 times) the cost is completely justified. 48 oz for $2 is just as much or cheaper than you would pay at a gas station. And also- Mark R: you forgot to factor in labor, lease, supplies (those glasses aren't free and when they get dropped they have to be replaced) believe me the cost is certainly much higher when you factor in a restaurant's overhead costs.