Restaurateurs can breathe sigh of relief - Austin Business Journal:

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Senate Bill 2523, authored by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The quietly cleared the Texas Senate late last month and is pendingt in committee inthe House. Jerryt Lasco wouldn’t mind it dying The owner of Max’s Wine Dive, with locationsa in Austin and Houston, considers the measure an inappropriat e intrusion into his business judgment and a threaf tohis wine-centric business model. “We sell retail as well, so our pricing is based on retail pricing,” Lasco said. “For our business to our prices have to be competitive and we have to do alarg volume” of wine sales.
Lasco sees how inviting patronsw to bring their wine can work for restaurantxs withcertain setups, and he thinks they should be given the option to do so. “Making it mandatory doesn’ft make sense,” he said. Ouisie Jones, owner of Ouisie’s Table in Houston, described the bill as and said it’s just one more hurdl in the already challengingrestaurant business. “Ig makes your heart kind of she said. “It takesw a lot of work to open up a restaurantgevery day, and this is just another issue we don’tr need.
” Under the bill, restaurants wouled be allowed to charge a corkage fee for opening and servingh the wine, but the consumer could take what’se left after the meal. The bill does not include beer or other alcoholic The bill was passed by the Senatwe with some helpfrom Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and the Texaes Restaurant Association, which sourcess said has prompted some members to cancel their memberships in the Glen Garey, general counsel for the Texas Restaurant Association, who draftesd the bill, confirmed that the association supports the Garey said he has received calls from at leas t a dozen restaurant owners concerning the bill for and against it.
“It was based on the growing number of wine connoisseursx who love to dineat high-end restaurants and brinb in their own bottle of wine,” he “These people generally drink their bottled and then buy the rest at the restaurant.” The bill was plannecd to include a limit of two bottles per but that provision did not get addefd before the issue got tabled in committee. Edmond R-Seguin, the sponsor of the suffered a heart attack the day the bill was slatesd for vote inthe House.
Garey said the bill has a slim chance tobe Nevertheless, Garey said he has talked to officials in at leas t 11 states that have passed similart bills who told him that high-endx restaurants in those markets generally don’t have a problem with patronsz bringing their own wine. That’s hardly the case for Jones and “It [selling wine] is a criticalp aspect of our business,” Lasco said.
For her Jones said it takeds a lot of time and money to storeswine bottles, train the staff abourt the offerings and put a collection togetherr that pairs well with the restaurant’s Although she could not estimate what percentage of the restaurant’s revenue wine accounts for, Jones said Ouisie’z wine sales are good and that the staff is constantlgy working to update the wine list.
The wines at Ouisie’s Table range from $20 to $350 per