Cape Town - The Grand White Dinner in Cape Town turned into a grand white flop for guests when organisers announced days before the event that patrons could not bring their own alcohol.
At previous Grand White Dinners, this was permitted.
Everyone is dressed in white for the event, which started four years ago. The location is kept secret until the morning of the dinner.
On Saturday, about 2 000 people gathered at a sports field in Walmer Estate for the event, which started at 2pm.
Unhappy ticket-holders said they were invited in November to bring their booze along, only to be told on Wednesday of the ban. They said they were angry because they had bought their drinks in advance.
They slammed the expensive booze they were expected to buy at the dinner, with some cancelling and others complaining on Facebook or at the event.
“It’s a rip-off, no doubt about that,” said Gretchen Pillay, adding guests should have been told when they bought the tickets. “This is absolute rubbish,” she wrote on the event’s Facebook page.
When the founder, Stephen Dau, responded by saying guests no longer had to carry heavy drinks along and could concentrate on their outfits and food they chose for their picnic, Deborah Saint wrote: “What a feeble excuse. We all managed to carry our own drinks in the past. Shameful Grand White”.
Dau apologised, acknowledging people were given short notice and said he would refund the full price of R450 to those who cancelled.
A group of friends who spent R8 000 on their table cancelled. “They’re sneaky and underhanded. People are shocked and unhappy,” said a member of the group, who didn’t want to be named.
Every attendee Weekend Argus spoke to at the event complained about the alcohol issue.
For Judy Abrahams, Doreen Heuvel, Norma Thomson and Esmerelda Patel, it was meant to be a double celebration as it coincided with Patel’s birthday, but they all expressed disappointment after paying R2 700 for their group of six.
Abrahams said they should at least have allowed people to bring a bottle of red wine and a bottle of spirits, and “anything more people can buy at the bar”.
“Instead, they’re running a bar with inflated prices. We should have known before we bought our tickets,” she said.
Other Grand White Dinners are planned for April in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, and Capetonians said they wanted to warn those in the other cities.
Dau said he wanted to sell “quality” alcohol and prevent people from getting “totally wasted” on cheap booze. But complainants said this didn’t align with organisers selling hard liquor by the bottle.
Dau said the event had to become more “luxurious, elegant and stylish”. After promising he would sell all the alcohol at retail prices, party-goers said prices were higher.
Thomson bought a bottle Johnnie Walker whisky for R270, but said she had bought a similar bottle for R180 at a liquor store to enjoy at the event, and “it’s totally off” that she couldn’t bring the cheaper one along.
Weekend Argus noticed they sold brands, including Johnnie Walker Red at R240, Johnnie Walker black at R370, Tanqueray No. 10 at R475, Don Julio Tequila at R570 and Moët&Chandon Nectar Rose at R690. Lindsay Yarrow complained he was forced to fork out R400 for booze he normally bought for R200.
