The other day I caught up with Rick Blanco, my old school chum and one-time contributor to Off The Record. After whinging a bit more about the Christian Brothers, as we always do (‘They’ll follow you to the grave,’ he says), I was relating him the story – already noted on this blog – of how at the venue dba, on Frenchman Street in New Orleans, you can buy a Coopers Pale or Sparkling Ale for US$5.
This contrasted rather strongly with the fact that I paid A$9 for a Corona at The Prince Bandroom in Melbourne when I attended the George Duke / Stanley Clark gig earlier this year. Not that I would ever drink the stuff. I was caught in a shout. Late wine/beer reviewer Mark Shield summed it up accurately once when he said he couldn’t understand how the Mexicans managed to get the cats to squat over the bottles!
While I was telling this sorry tale the barman reached below the counter and produced a voluminous booklet with all the wholesale prices of liquor suppliede to pubs. ‘I couldn’t help but overhear you,’ he said. Here I thought he was going to produce a figure that would justify what I still think is an exorbitant charge. Instead, he informed us that the offending beer in question is supplied to hotels at around $2.28 per bottle, giving a massive $6.72 profit to the venue.
Perhaps this was an early-adopter of Kevin Rudd’s scheme to curb binge-drinking suggested, as he reached for another beer. I think not.
Now, before I continue, I do have some sympathy for the venue in question. It was a jazz crowd and there was almost no-one drinking alcohol. Not quite as abstemious as some of the folk crowds but close. Had it not been for myself and two chaps who befriended me it is possible that the bar would have been largely bereft of drinkers.
However, I think a 250% profit is a little over the top, don’t you? Then again, VB was $6 a can – and I imagine that they buy that for about $1 per unit – making what could be a massive 500% margin. Are there any other businesses that can work on such a mark up?
Not that I am encouraging you to drink – and the prices certainly discouraged me from overindulging – but it is worth pondering when you are about to hand over your hard-earned.
