Wine merchants are constantly enjoined to look at the bottom line profits of their customers; those customers, however, are rarely capable of seeing how sustainable margins are just as vital for wine merchants.
Flip the relationship on its head to understand its true dynamic.A wine merchant goes to a restaurant and eats a hearty meal. He is presented with the bill, looks at it, and says, “Thanks, but I’m trade. First you must give me 20% discount. And then I would like a free glass of champagne with every meal. And every Christmas I want to take my entire staff here for a free meal”.
He then says, “I’m not going to pay the bill now but in 30-45 days. By the way I’ll probably forget so you’ll have to remind me. In the mean time I’ll come back and have lunch regularly on the same terms; I won’t pay because it is an honour for you to have me dining at your restaurant”. One day he comes in and sees that the prices have been put up: “I’m not going to pay the new prices; you must keep them the same as before otherwise I will stop honouring you with my business”, to which the restaurateur replies: “You come in here, you carp and criticise, you eat our food and drink our wine, and then you pay when you feel like it.” The wine merchant snorts and expostulates: “Well, if that’s your attitude I will take my business elsewhere.”
1 comment:
It's a shame he din't mention restaurant mark-ups, which is yet another scandal!!!!
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