French families are much more accustomed to taking their own supply of sandwiches and soft drinks into a bar before ordering alcohol to complete the meal. However, they are usually careful to ask permission before consuming anything brought into a bar because this is a privilege granted by the barman, not a right.

French restaurants are much more likely than those in the UK to allow a customer ordering dinner to bring his own wine - but they invariably impose quite a high corkage fee to compensate for the lost profit on the sale of a bottle from their own cellar. Since most restaurant profits come from sales of wine and spirits, their proprietors feel that charging for corkage is entirely reasonable.