Beer Price

[max and kate]

Ok, most of know that beer prices started at $6.25 at opening and quickly dropped to $5.75. What can we do to lower the price even further? Doesn't management know there is a recession in Michigan? Don't they realize many people won't attend a second time because of prices? And come next year what mundanes will return because of these outrageous prices? We must act and do it now before they cement these prices for the rest of the year. Alcohol prices have not risen just the greed of the businessman.

[Shadbolt8]

$6.25....your bloody joking right?

Thats about.....hmmmm....dependant on beer choice, distributor, cut to the charity, cups etc. 5 bucks in profit.

Beer High End choice should be $5.00 maybe $5.50 if it's a really high end hard to get seasonal, lower shelf $4.00 or $4.25

WOW....$6.25 hard to fathom.

[Carl]

It's amazing the Kentucky Faire sells pop and water for a $1.00 and beer for $5.00 and they make money and that is with a 16 ounce or better pour. A keg of guiness costs 150.00 over the counter in Michigan I guess you could get a better price in bulk.Now this is one of the most expensive beers they sell.You get 137 14oz pours out of a keg and at 5.75 that equals $787.00,If they dropped the price to $5.00 they still make 685.00. I don't mind the Faire making a profit but this is highway robbery.

[sealion]

Hi .............(at Michigan Ren Fest,  Holly, MI)......
though I don't drink, I do occasionally buy drinks for friends. when I buy one, $5- $6.50 plastic glass of woodchuck cider, I have to apologize to my quartet of friends I'm buying for, saying I can only afford one beer for you guys.  Yes, the liquor prices are way too high.

Pop, for a 20 ounce twist off bottle here, in Mich., is $3.00 !!!! per bottle.  UGH!!!!    It's highway robbery.  pepsi products, root beer, ? brand bottled lemonade, certain gatorade -type products.  I think the bottled water is $3.00 /bottle too.  I usually concede to draggggginnnnggg  a covered collapsible cooler with me. around faire, all 13 acres of it.  being so poor these past years forces me to pack a lunch & pop, & save my $ for tipping my fave musical/ acts.
p.s.:  I have NOT seen any closed/bottle-snatching-proofed containers to put your pop  bottles into.  so all those .10 cent returnable bottles people don't wnt to carry around end up being thrown into the garbage bins.

You've brought up an important subject. The entertainers are already suffering and recieving fewer tips because of the poor economy. I'm afraid the high beverage prices are going to make it even worse for them because too many people will buy beer at any price and have even less to put in the hat/basket as it is passed.

[Lord Virgil]

Here's another couple of angles:  

At $4.50, if you go to buy yourself and your lady a drink, you can leave the barkeep a $1 tip and walk away for $10.  I still think $4.50 is rediculous for a 14oz beer, but it makes it hurt less.  

Another thought, fill a garbed patrons mug (up to a certain size, say 20-24oz) for the same price.  That would save a plastic cup and be a better value for the customer.  

I hate to admit it, but this is the first year that I brought a cooler with me to eat lunch and have a cold one at the car, rather than buy lunch at faire and my beer at the pub.  Until the price drops to a reasonable level, or they decide to fill a mug for the same price, I will be forced to continue to do so.

Wake up management, your customers have spoken, please keep the comments suggestions coming

[LadyAnn]

I can buy a 6 pk of HARP for $8.59, and at the local tavern by my house for $4.00.
This $5.75 is ridiculous and I have no answer to a solution. I thought the prices for any alcohol distribution/sale was regulated through the liquor commission.

[Lord Virgil]

LadyAnn, only wholesale/retail minimum prices are regulated, there is no maximum price set.  You can charge whatever you think you can get. 

Rediculous isn't even close to a strong enough word for $5.75/ 14oz. beer.  A standard keg (commonly called a 1/2 barrel) holds 15.5 gallons.  At teh current price, allowing for a 1/2 gallon of spillage during serving equals $813 taken in per keg.  Retail on a keg of Guinness (the most expensive they sell) is $150 and I'm sure they buy it for less than that.  Thats a whopping $663 profit PER KEG (minus whatever the nitrogen delivery supplies cost).
 
Rediculous...PUH-LEASE!!!!!

If nothing changes, the only other choice we have is with our wallets, don't buy it.

[LadyAnn]

Are you telling me the cups they served the beer in at fair are 14 oz cup?  They sure the heck don't look like 14oz cups. 

[Margaret]

However - let's not forget that some of those beer booths are, in fact, fundraisers for local charities and organizations.

If you are going to be fussy about where you buy your beer/wine/mead at faire, spend your money at those booths, then wander back to the Big Guinness or the other pubs on site.

[max and kate]

Hi .............(at Michigan Ren Fest,  Holly, MI)......
though I don't drink, I do occasionally buy drinks for friends. when I buy one, $5- $6.50 plastic glass of woodchuck cider, I have to apologize to my quartet of friends I'm buying for, saying I can only afford one beer for you guys.  Yes, the liquor prices are way too high.

Pop, for a 20 ounce twist off bottle here, in Mich., is $3.00 !!!! per bottle.  UGH!!!!    It's highway robbery.  pepsi products, root beer, ? brand bottled lemonade, certain gatorade -type products.  I think the bottled water is $3.00 /bottle too.  I usually concede to draggggginnnnggg  a covered collapsible cooler with me. around faire, all 13 acres of it.  being so poor these past years forces me to pack a lunch & pop, & save my $ for tipping my fave musical/ acts.
p.s.:  I have NOT seen any closed/bottle-snatching-proofed containers to put your pop  bottles into.  so all those .10 cent returnable bottles people don't wnt to carry around end up being thrown into the garbage bins.

Water is $2.00 a bottle, at costco I pay $.34 a bottle and your right they should have recycle bins for the pop bottles not dumping them in a land fill.

[Jon Foster]

I skipped eating all day so I could buy two "cups" of beer on Sunday. Yes, the beer pricing is a little ridiculous. I wanted a Scotch Egg too but I had to factor in cost vs. the ROI (return on investment). Beer won. 

Jon.

[Poldugarian Warrior]

Yeah, I hate that when faires, and other venues (concerts, zoos, air shows,) they serve bottled pop, but then have no recycle bins, I certainly don't want to carry the bottle around, but yet I don't want to waste what could be turned into 10cents and into another useable bottle, so I just pitch it, and at the end of my day I right in the suggestion box what coudl be better and that's on of them. The $6.00 beer has got to stop I bought a bottle of Budweiser, mind you Budweiser at the Selfridge airshow for that amount. So if you buying Guinnes for that price I see it does work, (sort of) I still think $5.00 is always a good set amount for a pint of Guinness on draught, and $4.00 for any other bottled beers or draughts that aren't imported or seasonal. I usually buy my beers/ales at the Knights Inn, because they serve some of the lesser known seasonals, Extra Stout Guinness in the bottle. Of course you get less, and it's around $5.00, but the quality of beer/ale you get is better. But, I'm talking last years, prices, I've not attended this year so I have yet to see how bad the situation is. Probably the only thing that will lower beer/ale/wine/cider/mead prices is the boycott of all said products at faire, until a suitable price is made. And as said by max and kate, its the greed of the businessman  that has really made these prices go up, not the faire. The faire wants you to come and enjoy food and drink, but they can only buy so much and loose so much in supplies of drink. And it is quite expensive out there. Give it a few more weekends, it may get better.

[robert of armstrong]

I noticed that the Guiness Pub was not as full this past Saturday when I was there.  Black Armor Warrior bought me a horn full of cider before we parted ways, I didn't realize the price was that high, I guess I really do owe him one.  That was my only drink of that nature that day, it was chilly and I was there with my new baby.

[Lims]

And as said by max and kate, its the greed of the businessman  that has really made these prices go up, not the faire.

As far as I know the fest sets those prices.  I worked at the smoker's hub and those prices were handed down by management, not my supplier.  So yes, it is the faire trying to get more money out of you in a time of economic decline.

I love beer, though, so I buy it anyways.

[gypsyqueenie]

Just a couple of notes:
Recycle bins are onsite just not near the main pub. I thought I saw them somewhere ah by the duck pond/Ded Bob area at least.

Management sets the prices and as of now they are staying where they are but are subject to change at any time. I will say they have more discounts on ticket prices than ever before and that is very nice in this economy.

I have noticed people set their own priorities and will pay what they deem they need or want at the time. In addition it's the company and entertainment they pay for with their ticket price not the food or drink. So I understand both sides of the predicament. Just like not opening up the bar after hours for cast and crew - I understand both sides and abide by their decision.