Winebits 777: Dog toys, restaurants, Winc

This week’s wine news: The Supreme Court will hear a crucial free speech case, plus more bad news for restaurants and Winc files for bankruptcy

WC note: Those of you who subscribe to the blog are supposed to get e-mails from Substack, offering the opportunity to give three, one-month, free subscriptions to the blog. I turned this on because Substack says it could lead to paid subscriptions, but the language is fuzzy about how often you’ll hear from Substack. If it’s too often, let me know.

• Dog toys and free speech: The Supreme Court will hear a dispute between Jack Daniel’s and a dog toy company that sells chewable “Bad Spaniels” whiskey bottles. We’ve written about this case on the blog – with a video featuring Churro, the blog’s associate editor – because the court’s ruling could limit what I can write here. Technically, it’s a trademark law case, with the whiskey company saying the dog toy will “confuse” consumers and so must be prohibited. But, as noted here, U.S. law and court precedent allows this sort of use, and has for decades. It’s called satire. If the court rules in favor Jack Daniel’s – and it has shown an amazing ability to ignore precedent – then I may have to give up a variety of regular features, including the April 1 post. Lawyers aren’t in the budget.

• Shorter hours? Restaurants are still dramatically decreasing their hours, a new study shows. Nation’s Restaurant News reports that the Datassential consultancy found the average restaurant is now open for 6.4 fewer hours per than it was three years prior, a decline of some 7 ½ percent. That means less demand, as well as staffing problems. The reasons for the decline in demand include less demand for in-person dining, as well as more people working from home. Independents and casual dining restaurants are shortening hours the most often. This does not bode well for the restaurant wine recovery we’re still waiting for.

• Winc files: Winc, the subscription wine club known for “bargains,” has filed for Chapter 11. Wine Industry Insight reports that the bankruptcy petition listed more than 100,000 creditors, “most of whom may be club members with unfulfilled orders.” Whoops. So much for those bargains. Chapter 11, for those of you who haven’t had to write these kinds of stories countless times over the years, allows a company to stay in business and restructure its obligations – sometimes paying off part of its debt, and sometimes not. I’ll try to keep tabs on this story; several readers over the years have told me they’ve used Winc.