There is something puzzling that we constantly found in the different restaurants we dined at in Greece: the inconsistent pricing of beer. Or rather, the consistent pricing of it in a different fashion as it is done in other places in the West.
Take a look at the menu below.
You may see that Alpha draft beer is sold in two quantities:
- 300mL for 2€ and,
- 400mL, for 3€ euros.
That yields a price of 6.7€/L for the 300mL and a price of 7.5€/L for the 400mL.
Read the previous line again.
Then, who would buy the larger quantity if it is sold at a higher price per litre (12.5% higher)? Normally, one would expect some discount linked to volume. Well, not in Greece with beer :-).
Pricing beer in Greece.
We found restaurants in which the differences in pricing were more striking but only took this picture.
Another puzzling fact which we didn’t record was that for a same beer (say Alpha) in most places they sold the bottled beer cheaper than the drafted one (for a same volume). Again this was surprising, as we normally see draft beer sold cheaper, and there are certainly cost advantages to selling draft beer. But then the difference in pricing strategy versus how it is done in the West could have been explained from the demand side (not the supply) if the Greeks value much more draft beer.
