ABSTRACT
This time cost of the table also explains why certain kinds of drinks are so much more expensive in restaurants than in stores. Restaurants charge particularly high prices for coffee, tea, and wine because people either linger over these items or linger longer over meals that include them. The mark-up is highest for beverages that people linger over longest. That’s why wine typically has a larger absolute mark-up than beer, and why both have larger mark-ups than soda.3
