Most sommeliers, if not all, have a good understanding and knowledge of the wines they sell. But designing and managing the wine list is a different job, requiring a different set of expertise. As such, the sommelier’s managerial behavior seems critical in the success of a wine list and can be a substantial contributor of the restaurants’ profitability. Part of the profitability of the wine list relates to the mark-up that is applied to the wines available on the list. A mark-up is the amount the restauranteur will charge in addition to the cost of purchase of the wine. The purpose of this study is to analyse empirically the determinants of wine price mark-up size in the case of restaurants and respond to the following question: what are the determinants of wine price markup size?
Thanks to an original survey conducted in 2014 with sommeliers, we regress the declared mark- up against restaurants characteristics, wine list characteristics and wine stewart characteristics. Following a few words about mark-up determinants and the research protocol, we present the findings of the survey and its main managerial implications.