Patrons at Sashi 2000, James Bond Beach, St. Mary.
Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
THE night is young and you have just started to feel the beginning of thirst. Would you pay $500 for a plastic cup of drink?
If you are among those who must drink in style, you will have to fork out that amount for a cup of Alozade - the wine of rappers.
Are those who quench their thirst willing to do so at any price? It would appear so and event managers who lay on the drinks are making a 'killing'.
Even if you are not interested in brand name drinks, the cost of quenching your thirst and that of your partner's, may come to much more than the price of admission.
At a recent event at Damali Beach in St. James where the entry fee was $600, Alozade went for a 'Nanny'($500) per plastic cup and soda for $100 a cup. And, who can forget the $120,000 price tag each case of Cristal and Dom Perignon champagnes attracted at last year's Sashi concert?
Patrons of clubs, hotels and stage shows, have grown accustomed to the marked-up prices of drinks. But how much are events managers making off the drink they retail to patrons?
It is not unusual for patrons to pay $100 for a bottle of beer, up from $50 at a regular bar and $100 for a plastic cup of soda; usually priced between $30 to $70. In fact, one bottle yields two cups. A Corona can set back a buyer by as much as $200 a bottle
The more exclusive the show or setting, the higher the prices of drinks.
As patrons are not allowed to take food and drinks into entertainment venues, they must buy or die of thirst.
According to Paul Hill, a Kingston club-goer: "Dem expensive. Is bills ($100) for a beer and Heineken. Carona is for $200."
But, does he have to buy at those prices?
"I buy because you cannot bring drinks in these places. I would buy more if they were cheaper. With my friends I spend as much as $4,000 in one night for drinks, each man drinking a grand ($1,000). You basically drink until you run out of money. Guinness is the drink of choice because you know that is a macho thing. You drink not because you are thirsty, but because you want to build a vibe," he told Showbiz.
From our research, the mark-up per bottle ranges from 100 to 350 per cent and over.
Base prices at the wholesalers are as follows:
Red Stripe beer, $900-$950 for 24, or $40 each Soda, $510 per case - $22 eachHeineken, $1,150 a case - $48 eachGuinness, $1,150 a case - $48 eachRum, $333 per bottleChampagne, upwards of $30,000 for a case of 12 Moet, $2,600 per bottleA representative of Caribbean Bottles told Showbiz: "We may suggest a retail price, but the Fair Trade Act forbids us to fix prices. Promoters would be better advised to go low. After they have bought the first, they (consumers) may not be able to buy a second."
But why do event promoters sell at such exhorbitant prices?
From their ranks, one female promoter who did not wish to be named, called the practice "a raping of the business."
"There is no conscience in the marketplace. It is everywhere. At the airport they charge three times the regular price for food and drink, because they know you cannot go elsewhere to buy."
Promoter Jerome Hamilton, of Headline Entertainment, said he sells sodas for $60 at his events. He explained that the retail cost of all beverages was determined by the cost of the product, staffing at the bar and transport. "It's one of the ways to make money" at a show, he explained.
In an effort to encourage patrons to buy more, some show promoters offer all-inclusive food and drink packages which are becoming popular. With these, consumers are better able to budget their spending dollar.
Jamaica Carnival revellers were offered costumes, plus a meal ticket, and two drinks at the after-parade fete, as well as water on the road for an all-inclusive price tag of $4,000.
At the mound during cricket at Sabina Park, the organisers offered Red Stripe all day for the ticket price of $1,500.
At the Hilton Kingston hotel, patrons can buy a six-pack of beer in a bucket at a special low price on Fridays, but on regular nights a beer is sold for $110 plus tax and a soda for $88 plus tax. The Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel offers two drinks for the price of one on Friday nights and at other times a Red Stripe or light beer goes for $123.75 and soda $90.
Lyndel McDonald of the Fair Trading Commission told Showbiz that prices were not regulated in a free market economy.
"They will sell at what the market is able to bear. Distributors, retailers and wholesalers do not care two biscuits about morals. The FTC intervenes where there is a breach of the Fair Trading Act, for example where the price appears to be fixed by collusion. But there is no breach of the law here.
"Oftentimes promoters put themselves in charge of refreshments and make sure that no-one comes in with a lower price. When you pay to enter and pass the gates you have accepted the terms and conditions of that promoter. The FTC does not consider this an unfair imposition. You can jump and wave without a drink," he said.
Patrons who think it is their legal right to enter any of these events with a cooler of champagne or water, think again. Promoters may have every right to throw you and your juice out.
Yolande Rattray-Wright, of Wright Agency, feels there is no right or wrong in this issue.
" It is just a part of the business of making money and multiplying one's investment. It is only extortionate if you allow it to be that way. Yes, it is hard to swallow in times of economic difficulty, but one must turn over one's money. If I purchase Alozade for $4,000, I will sell it back for $5,000, because I must make a profit. Some wholesalers also hike the cost of drinks, so the bar or promoter has to sell high too.There is a reason and a root for what they do," she said.
But, she said, it is ultimately the buyer who determines what happens at these events.
"If I go somewhere and I do not wish to buy drinks at the going prices, I will ask for a glass of water. If I go somewhere and see a glass of wine for more than $200, I will not buy it. I am not ashamed to do that", she said.
