Saturday 19 September 2009

Less is more

An irritating practice that seems to be becoming more common in pubs is charging more for a half pint than a strict half of the pint price. I am familiar with the arguments in favour of this, that the service costs of a half pint in terms of staff time, glass-washing etc are the same as for a pint, but even so it comes across as one of those niggly things that creates a bad impression out of all proportion to any benefit it may yield. What proportion of draught beer is served in halves anyway – I suspect well under 10%?

But it seems that the new Scottish licensing laws, while objectionable in many respects, may bring an end to this practice, as they outlaw any quantity discounts. As they say, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

3 comments:

  1. It's possible that they'll simply put up the price of pints rather than reducing the price of halves.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for that idea, I charge pro rata, which from a business point of view is wrong for the reasons you point out. I do sell quite a lot of beer in halves.

    Just off to update my pricing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You'll end up with more moans on BITE, Dave :p

    ReplyDelete

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