Have you recently had a buffet meal? I love them since in most cases they offer a good value for money during the lunch time especially. What makes me feel bad in buffet restaurants is that people do not only take advantage of eating as much as they can but also to take as much food on their plate as they can handle and then leave some or even most of it untouched.
Because of this I was really impressed about the news (in Finnish) about a restaurant where people are charged extra if they leave some food on their plate when they choose the buffet menu. Way to go I thought. People would need to think more carefully about how much they could actually eat. But what do the customers say? I also took a sneak peek on the discussion forum of the news and almost to fell of the chair.
The first comments set the scene: “Cheating!”, “Customers pay for and can do whatever they want with the food!” Well, this might be the truth. What can you do if a grown up people do things that are not illegal but only stupid? All the food consumed, eaten or trashed, is in any case paid by the customers.
Bad service they call it. It is true that this kind of pricing policy should be clearly indicated before the customer is charged or starts to eat. A more rewarding pricing policy would be to give some discount for people leaving with a clean plate instead of charging extra for the leftovers. I can understand, but not accept, the misery of the people told to pay for the food left on their plate after they’ve finished. I would definitely choose a restaurant with this kind of pricing policy. At least if they offer vegetarian and vegan dishes too.
The food waste issue in restaurants is interesting. I’d like to know if it is in the kitchen or in the dining hall where most of the food waste is generated. According to WRAP, in UK one third of the food bought by households is wasted, but what is the case in restaurants? I’d also like to know what customers can do to minimise waste in addition to taking a plastic box for the leftovers (not talking about the buffet meals in this case).
By the way, do you know which one is better if you want to minimise food waste, to go for a buffet meal or a la carte?
Monday, June 1, 2009
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1 comment:
If I go have lunch I like to go to the buffet as well. However, in Universities as well as Lunch Restaurants you often take two plates - one with salad, and one with the hot meal. Having realized a few years ago at the Uni that I don't tend to eat everything if I take two plates, I started to use only one plate on which I put salad AND the main course. This has worked out fine, and nowadays I seldom throw away food.
A useful proverb my parents used to say was "Take only as much as you can eat, and take more after that." I find that still holds true today.
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