Chapter 16 — Self-Check Quiz
Twenty-six questions. Multiple choice and short answer. The key is at the bottom in a collapsed block — do the whole thing before you open it, and do the arithmetic on paper.
Multiple choice
1. A 750 ml bottle holds approximately 25.4 fluid ounces. A 5 oz house pour yields:
- A. 4 glasses
- B. 5 glasses
- C. 5 glasses and a short sixth
- D. 6 glasses
2. The three-tier system was created primarily to:
- A. maximize state alcohol tax revenue
- B. dismantle the pre-Prohibition "tied house," in which producers owned or controlled the outlets that sold their product
- C. guarantee small wineries access to national distribution
- D. standardize wine pricing across states
3. Bellwether's wine cost percentage target is 28%, against a bar running 18%. The chapter's explanation for the gap is that:
- A. wine is purchased less efficiently than spirits
- B. the ladder deliberately accepts worse percentages higher up the list, and wine's gross profit per minute of labor is far better than the percentage suggests
- C. the distributor charges restaurants more for wine
- D. wine spoilage is the entire difference
4. A \$14 bottle poured at \$14 a glass, 5 oz, sells four of five glasses. The pour cost on that bottle is:
- A. 20.0%
- B. 22.5%
- C. 25.0%
- D. 33.3%
5. Under Figure 16.2's ladder, a bottle costing \$18 wholesale is priced at:
- A. \$36
- B. \$50
- C. \$54
- D. \$63
6. "Bottle-price laddering" means:
- A. applying a higher multiple as wholesale cost rises
- B. applying a declining multiple as wholesale cost rises, so gross-profit dollars still increase
- C. adding a fixed dollar margin to every bottle
- D. arranging the list from cheapest to most expensive on the page
7. Bellwether's 12 by-the-glass selections carry approximately what share of wine revenue?
- A. 25%
- B. 38%
- C. 60%
- D. 85%
8. The chapter recommends organizing a list by:
- A. grape variety
- B. region and appellation
- C. producer, alphabetically
- D. style — what the wine does — with grape and origin on a second line
9. A bottle-list selection with zero sales in 90 days should, per §16.8:
- A. be cut from the list immediately
- B. go on notice with two weeks on the pre-shift board, then be cut or reduced to one bottle at 120 days
- C. be discounted 30%
- D. be moved to the by-the-glass program
10. The chapter's argument against a \$9,000 climate-controlled cellar unit at Bellwether is that:
- A. the storage room temperature is acceptable
- B. wine does not actually degrade at ambient temperature
- C. the equipment costs more than twice the value of the inventory it protects
- D. the landlord prohibits it
11. Corkage is best understood as:
- A. a penalty for bringing outside alcohol
- B. a fee recovering the glassware, service, and seat the restaurant provides when it does not sell the wine
- C. a legally mandated charge
- D. a way to discourage guests from returning
12. Which of the following is always true regardless of state?
- A. quantity discounts on wine are permitted
- B. restaurants may buy directly from wineries
- C. corkage is legal at a licensed premises
- D. none of the above — every one of these varies by state
13. Bellwether's \$96–\$135 shelf turns 2.7 times a year. In days on the shelf, that is approximately:
- A. 45 days
- B. 90 days
- C. 135 days
- D. 270 days
14. The most valuable move in wine service, per §16.7, is:
- A. reciting a tasting note
- B. recommending the most expensive bottle in the guest's stated range
- C. putting a finger on a price on the list and asking "something around here?"
- D. offering a taste of two options
15. A guest mispronounces a wine's name. The server should:
- A. gently repeat it correctly
- B. say nothing about the pronunciation at all
- C. spell it out for future reference
- D. compliment the choice and then correct it
Short answer
16. A wine costs \$26 wholesale. Price it on the ladder and give the gross profit and cost percentage.
17. A restaurant pours 6 oz from a 750 ml bottle. How many saleable glasses does it get, how much wine is stranded per bottle, and why does the chapter call the pour size "the arithmetic that sets itself"?
18. Bellwether's wine revenue is \$164,920 at a 28% cost. State the wine COGS in dollars, and state what share of the \$434,000 beverage line wine carries.
19. Bellwether's by-the-glass program has a theoretical cost of 19.6% and an achieved cost of 22.0% on \$99,000 of revenue. Compute the annual gap in dollars, and convert it to bottles at a \$13.20 average wholesale cost.
20. State the three fears that suppress wine ordering, and give one fix for each.
21. A distributor offers 10% off a ten-case buy of a \$22 wine you sell four bottles a month of. Without computing precisely, state the three costs the discount has to beat and say which one alone usually sinks the deal.
22. Bellwether holds 207 bottles worth \$4,068 and spends \$46,180 a year on wine. Compute turns and days on the shelf. Compare to a food inventory that turns about 33 times a year and say what the comparison means for cash.
23. A \$52 bottle sits 135 days at a 10.5% annual cost of capital. Compute the financing component of its carrying cost.
24. Why is the top shelf of a wine list described as "marketing inventory" rather than "selling inventory," and what does that imply about how deep to stock it?
25. Explain, in two sentences, why the \$28 bottle earning \$20 of gross profit and the \$135 bottle earning \$55 of gross profit both belong on the same list even though their cost percentages are 28.6% and 59.3%.
26. A quarterly staff tasting costs Bellwether \$1,980 a year. What movement in per-guest wine spend would it need to produce to pay for itself, and what does the chapter estimate a \$0.50 movement is actually worth?