Portions that serve — the restaurateur
I spent the week at a conference of overeaters, and our group of about 200 was treated very well by the conference hotel. One of the ways that showed was in the breakfast buffet.
At home, I have oatmeal, fruit, and yogurt, pretty much every day, and all three were on the buffet. No prob. The yogurt was sugar free, of course, and the day it wasn’t out, they went and got some. No prob. The price was $11, not great, but not unexpected for the circumstances.
Sunday morning, the conference was over, and so was the honeymoon. No buffet. And the fruit and yogurt plate that substituted for two-thirds of my needs was $11 by itself. Additionally, the shredded wheat I substituted for the missing oatmeal cost $5 — for a bowl, not a box. Add in the $3 coffee, and it was officially expensive — but price wasn’t nearly the most notable part.
The fruit I needed was 6 ounces, and not surprisingly in supersized America, they brought more. But even in supersized America, what I got was outrageous. I decided to take the excess with me, since I’d be traveling all day and there was no point in letting it go to waste.
Upstairs, I pulled out my scale and put together another 6 ounces for midmorning. Then I put another 6 aside for mid-afternoon. That’s all I’d need, but a mound still remained, so I kept weighing out of curiousity. Including an estimate of what I had at breakfast, they had served me about two pounds of fruit for breakfast. Plus yogurt.
No one — no. one. — needs 2 pounds of fruit for breakfast. So why do they serve it?
I called the hotel and asked Isaac Nellums, the hotel’s restaurant manager, and he said, quite proudly, that “our portions in the restaurant are generous, and that coincides with the pricing.” (I wasn’t sure if he thought the price was generous, or if he was acknowledging that it was expensive, but at least you got a lot. His answer: fair pricing for the portions.)
But don’t most people throw a big part of it away? He said some people did as I did, taking it along in a to-go container. But I did it only because I couldn’t bear the waste, not because that’s what I wanted — in effect, the restaurant imposed two unwanted burdens on me — the cost, and the choice of carrying or wasting.
On large portions in general, Nellums said, “It depends on the individual. We have a pulled pork sandwich that’s pretty generous, and I’ve had several customers start on it and finish, and say, “Wow, I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it, but then I did!”
Is this what passes for achievement in the modern age?
In the vast majority of instances, there are only two outcomes — beyond the supposed boost to the bottom line: obesity (if it’s eaten) and food and resource waste (if it isn’t). True, I took most of it, but hey, you don’t want to make out menus with me as the paradigm — who else travels with a scale and unfilled Tupperware?
If they offered small and large, they’d clearly be serving their customer better — “supersize me” is still at least a clear expression of fast-food preference. But this is far nuttier: How many trenchermen do they think are ordering fruit for breakfast?
May 14th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Definitely a problem everywhere. You can’t even ask to have smaller portions served because they are afraid of their “reputation” and that someone should think that they are cheap or not hospitable enough and then as you pointed out it most often goes to waste or to waist.
May 14th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
the problem i have is when it’s a business lunch. i dont want the soup, ever, but when i say no soup, it take several minutes, always, to have the waitperson understand that i know “it goes with,” it’s free.” sometimes i am offered a salad instead. that i take. after all, it’s free.
May 16th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
What a wonderfully perfect example of Corporate Social Responsibility, (opportunity for)!
The typical restaurant manager’s primary responsibilities (and goals established for them by their superiors), are GROSS SALES and NET PROFITS. “Food Waste” is merely a label for one category of COST…and nothing more. In fact, their performance, and that of their department in a hotel environ, will be measured, in part, by how well they limit/control that COST category because of the profound impact on bottom-line profitability it can have.
Now add in the other primary objective, GROSS SALES. The exaggerated volume of food is being specifically used to drive/justify the greater price/value to us, the customers; which, in turn, CREATES WASTE. But THAT waste is ‘okay’, because the customer, you and me, pays for it…moving those dollars off the restaurant’s COST column and over to the GROSS SALES column and then down to their NET PROFITS.
Unfortunately, some customers respond to this manipulation by ensuring, (subconsciously or unconsciously?), that they get the full VALUE for their meal by consuming the entire thing regardless of how unhealthy for them that may be, (“Wow! I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it, but then I did!”). The wrong-thinking being that if they don’t eat it all, and leave it behind on the plate to go in the garbage, it means they bought more than they should have and then THEY wasted the food. If only we could clearly see that when we eat the “whole thing” we are eating our meal…and THEN WE ARE EATING THE WASTE, (what farmer’s threw to the pigs so that it WOULDN’T BE waste).
I applaud the extra step you took to call the restaurant manager, it goes a long way toward a better understanding of the problem. From here, though, the solution has to come from getting the message to the UPPER management people that define the Corporate Culture. They need to be helped in understanding how they can become more socially responsible, (i.e., your wonderful example of this particular area of opportunity); and, help them understand how that can be translated into differently measured departmental pro-forma’s WITHOUT adversely affecting the bottom line. It can be done…and THAT would certainly, “…pass[es] for achievement in the modern age?”!
May 25th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
mmmmm….. 2 pounds of fruit….. my kind of place….
June 21st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
In my mind, I’m with Margaret Ann.