There’s usually a corkage fee if you BYOB in KC

As Fat City reported last month, Kansas City’s City Council recently — and quietly — repealed a long-standing ordinance that prohibited diners from bringing their own bottles of wine into restaurants. (It set off a firestorm of comments, by the way.)

Because a restaurant’s staff would still be legally required to open the bottles, pour the wine and re-cork the bottles, the amended ordinance gave individual restaurants the right to set their own corkage fees. That’s what a restaurant charges to pop those corks, provide wineglasses and serve the stuff. It’s one way for restaurants to recoup profits lost on not selling its own vintages. The national average for corkage fees ranges from $10 to $25 a bottle.