A ‘BYO’ restaurant is a “Bring Your Own” wine restaurant where restaurant owners allow customers to bring their own wine. It was introduced in Australia and New-Zealand in order to offer the maximum pleasure to wine drinkers with the minimum price possible.
New Zealanders claim that the BYO name and concept originated in 1976, when the New Zealand authorities, who were still extremely cautious about the distribution of alcoholic beverages, devised the ‘Bring Your Own’ licence for restaurants, allowing customers to bring their own wines.
However, Australians in the state of Victoria, which is also notorious for its restrictive stance on alcoholic beverages, claim that Melbourne had the first BYO restaurants in the 1960s.
This arrangement, whatever its origins may be, has become common for a wide range of restaurants in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere, with the wine frequently purchased at a nearby store.
Sometimes, but not always, a ‘droit de bouchon’ can be charged (see ‘droit de bouchon’ for more).
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