Profit margins are unjustified say critics
Restaurants and gastropubs have been slated for excessive mark-ups on wine, which see diners charged
up to five times the wholesale cost of a bottle.
Celebrity chefs are helping themselves to profits of between £10 and £35 a bottle, an investigation by the Sunday Telegraph revealed.
One Michelin-starred restaurant, the Fat Duck at Bray, Berkshire, run by chef Heston Blumenthal sold a bottle of 2005 Bourgogne Aligote for £58 against a cost price of just £12.12. Further down the scale, Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Claridges sold a 2006 bottle of Chateau Bauduc Bordeaux Blanc costing £5.42 for £20.
Critics say the profit margins are unjustified and point out other well-known restaurant operators survive on much lower mark-ups.
The restaurants have defended their prices and say they are necessary to cover costs such as staff wages and storage.
More middle-of-the-road pub restaurants work on far lower margins which typically work out at about three times the cost price of a bottle.
One operator, Steve Turner of Lancashire-based Mo-Yo, says the company's margins are about three times the wholesale cost.
"We work on between three and three and a half times the cost price at all four of our pubs," he revealed.
"We aim for an average 65% gross profit and we think that this is a reasonable figure.
"A fine dining tag should not give premises the excuse for charging huge mark-ups," he said.