DEAR EDITOR:

Restaurant Inflation or rip-off? I think “rip-off extraordinaire.”

On March 11 my wife and her lady friends had their monthly luncheon at a restaurant at Eastwood Mall. During lunch, my wife asked the server what white wine they had. The server went to check and returned with a blue bottle of wine and said it was the only white wine they had left. After lunch, my wife brought the empty bottle home because it was pretty.

When entering the luncheon expense into my budget program a few days later, I was intrigued by the $39 price for the bottle of wine as listed on the receipt. Why? Because that specific brand & kind of wine is very inexpensive, commonly retailing for $9.99 per bottle or even less by some vendors.

Think about that: even if the restaurant paid retail for that wine, it represents a 390% markup, almost exactly double the normal restaurant markup (200% for common wines, 300%+ for finer wines).

You may say, “Caveat emptor” and be correct.

I say, “Rip-off extraordinaire” and I also am correct.

THOMAS METZLER, SR.Canfield

Canfield