Bringing down the cost of restaurant bills

[eliza61]

If a restaurant can not make enough money because everyone orders the most expensive item which is allowed by the restaurant, then no one should be blamed except the restaurant itself, or maybe Disney as well. Bad budgeting and forecasting. I don't see why the customer here should get blamed in any sense.

Making your own drink in a restaurant is another story.

1) you can't forcast what you can't predict. You forcast on previous data. In the case of disney how were they to know people would get greedy and order some thing not because they wanted it but because it was the most expensive thing? LOL.

2) I'm in no way blaming anyone. Disney did the appropriate thing, they basically dumbed down the menu (taking off dishes that don't give them the profit ratio they want) and down graded the quality of their ingredients AND they have constantly raised the price of the ddp.

almost anyone who has gone to the world frequently will tell you food quality has decline percipitiously.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I notice that the condiment stations are very generous in the states. In the UK they generally are quite frugal or hand them to you. Maybe we cant be trusted! Sometimes in places such as Mcdonalds you see people take handfuls of napkins and too many little cups of ketchup then leave half of them on the table. Its such a waste. I wonder f restaurants are starting to cut down more on items such as this. Would make sense to keep those profit margins a bit more healthy.

 

[eliza61]

An interesting read on food costs / profit. In 2011 it was an avergae 5% profit margin.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sageworks/2012/01/11/restaurants-serve-up-higher-sales/


If we go out and get pizza...it's well less than that.

Great read. and if you noticed one thing that they emphasized is that owners are keeping tight control over areas, for some that may mean watching the sales of beverages like a hawk.

It also explains after my 35 years in the business my grandfather and uncle could not get anyone of us kids to take over the business. Sorry, way to much work for little profit.

 

[threeboysmom]

Feeling OH so cheap here!

My girlfriend and I ALWAYS order water with lemon for drinks (although now I'm getting freaked by the bacteria reports...). Neither of us drink soda or alcohol, so always water.

We also always share an entree. I guess people look down on us for being cheap, but that's not the reason we do it. One entree between the two of us is the perfect amount of food. Restaurant portions are HUGE. Why order 2 entrees if we're not going to touch most of the food?

No appetizers or dessert either. Again, not because we're cheap, but because we have small appetites.

Occasionally we might get a cup of coffee after our meal in lieu of dessert.

Guaranteed that the restaurants hate us, but certainly we can't be expected to not eat at restaurants. Dining out is my favorite thing to do, lol.

 

[KennesawNemo]

1) you can't forcast what you can't predict. You forcast on previous data. In the case of disney how were they to know people would get greedy and order some thing not because they wanted it but because it was the most expensive thing? LOL.

2) I'm in no way blaming anyone. Disney did the appropriate thing, they basically dumbed down the menu (taking off dishes that don't give them the profit ratio they want) and down graded the quality of their ingredients AND they have constantly raised the price of the ddp.

almost anyone who has gone to the world frequently will tell you food quality has decline percipitiously.

How is odering something that's included in the price "greedy"? If anyone is greedy, then it's the restaurant or Disney. They include things but only expect people to order the cheapest ones so that they can make a profit.

In no way, I see this comparable to making your own drink at a restaurant. One goes by the rule and one breaks it. The restaurant lose money in both case, but that's not the point.

 

[KennesawNemo]

I notice that the condiment stations are very generous in the states. In the UK they generally are quite frugal or hand them to you. Maybe we cant be trusted! Sometimes in places such as Mcdonalds you see people take handfuls of napkins and too many little cups of ketchup then leave half of them on the table. Its such a waste. I wonder f restaurants are starting to cut down more on items such as this. Would make sense to keep those profit margins a bit more healthy.

I come from China. At Mcdonalds or KFC, you usually get one or two pieces of napkin with every meal purchase. One or two packets of ketchup depending on the size of your fries. You can definitely ask for more, but you have to ask. I actually would love to see restaurants here rationing napkins and condiments. It's a shame to waste things.

 

[trasor]

Lol, interesting.


Eta: sorry 10 teenage boys just turned up here, lol.

I suppose that if you rate a lot in "family style" restaurants there is always something for even the newest mildest tastes. While mine learned to eat Thai and Hungarian, sometimes the tastes were too strong, so we resorted to carrying. Considering 90% of restaurants fail, I will still tend to believe that they would rather business than not. if they are failing because someone uses a tea bag if their own they probably need to relook at their pricing structure.

But I will happily admit you are better people than we are.

Posted from Disney Forums Reader for Android

 

[Granny square]

Disney meal profits for free dining are tied into the whole package though, so probably not the best example.

I hate seeing waste too. Buffets make me crazy because you see so much food wasted.

 

[eliza61]

How is odering something that's included in the price "greedy"? If anyone is greedy, then it's the restaurant or Disney. They include things but only expect people to order the cheapest ones so that they can make a profit.

In no way, I see this comparable to making your own drink at a restaurant. One goes by the rule and one breaks it. The restaurant lose money in both case, but that's not the point.

Ok, I'm going to go with the assumption that you have never own a restaurant, I apologize if I'm making the wrong assumption.

A well run restaurant operates on data. They get that data from tracking every thing and any thing over a specific time period. They track how many lobsters are sold per day, per week. they track manpower hours, how many servers they need on Friday night at 9 pm. they track how patrons come in. are they in groups of 2, 3's or 4's A friend of mine runs a sports bar in Center City. He can tell you with almost 99% percision, how many budweisers, how many Stella Atois and how many miller lights he will sell during the 4 hours the Eagles play. He can tell you that because he has to be able to order correctly. He has a good track of how much revenue and profit is generated from each beer. Yes he will definitely have enough to cover but if he suddenly gets a large surge in people ordering Stella Atois (more expensive beer) consistently he has to make adjustments . plain and simple.


So let's take Le Cellier, they EXPECT a certain number of prime ribs to be sold on Monday because for the last 6 months they tracked the number of prime ribs that were eaten on Mondays. Now, in the age of software a biz can darn near tell you exactly how many pasta primervaras it will sell on a Saturday night between 6-8 pm.

I once went to a trade show and they had this bar owner from Texas, he calculate profit by weight. He weighed his bottle of alcohol and he knew how much a 2 oz shot weighed so he knew exactly how many shots each liter of Jack Daniels held and he could calculate how much money that one bottle should generate. It was pretty interesting and pretty precise, so if a guy came in and kept insistening to have premium liquor in his drinks instead of the house whiskey, he definitely charged him for it.

A restuarant also tracks how many people they get in and what configuration the generally come in. A well run place EXPECTS 240 people in groups of 2's because the data they have collected tells them that is what they should expect. They can't run without that information. Why do you think they tell large parties to call ahead? they simply can't run willy nilly.

If within a week Le Cellier see's some thing going on that is not within their "normal" patterns an adjustment has to be made. for example if for some reason they start seeing family's of 5, begin to come in, in large numbers, consistently then management comes together and says "hey, we are now getting large parties of 5" what do we have to do to accomodate them.

Same thing with food, you make your purchases from your supplier based on what you expect to sell, using previous information. like the forbes article says, in order to be profitable you have to keep tight control of your expenses. You can't afford to have 60 lbs of rib eye laying around. You get those expectations from past data, past trends.

That is why the can make a certain "expectation". They have the numbers to tell them so.

PS. I donot, nor have I ever worked for disney, le Cellier or yachtsman, this is my take from managing family restaurants. I am not a CM

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I come from China. At Mcdonalds or KFC, you usually get one or two pieces of napkin with every meal purchase. One or two packets of ketchup depending on the size of your fries. You can definitely ask for more, but you have to ask. I actually would love to see restaurants here rationing napkins and condiments. It's a shame to waste things.

Good idea you have in China. That way you have to ask and I bet most people only then take what they need. Better for the environment too I should think. Thanks for your interesting post!

 

[pixiewings71]

If that family of 4 is getting out of the door spending only $40, then the restaurant is losing money on them, regardless. CPs (children's plates) are generally a money-loser for restaurants. The profit is in the beverage sales that are in addition to the CPs (when drinks are not included in the children's menu). CPs are under-priced in order to attract the adults to the restaurant where there is a small profit to be made on their food order. And the restaurant owner would hope to increase his profit margin by selling beverages to the patrons.

So, the answer is 3. The family stays home and spends nothing at the restaurant.

My family of 4 can eat out at a sit down place for $40 and that includes ordering drinks. But we don't order appetizers and we rarely order dessert (only for special occasions), it isn't that hard to spend under $10 per person. And my kids don't get kids meals anymore, they are too old now. So they get a full priced meal and then we end up with half as leftovers because they aren't big eaters.

I disagree. You can easily feed a family of 4 for $40 at the average family style restaurant without ordering child plaest. Most entrees are under $10. I get upselling and was good at it, but if a restaurant can't get by on the average entree they need to raise prices.

That said, I will, next i want a tea, will ask for a bottle of water or ask for a hot pot of tea minus the tea. I can't imagine people ordering a special and then asking that the drink be subtracted. It is like ordering one and asking not to pay for the side that will cost $2. For me this is not about cost, but about options. If they have something i can or will drink i order it. Many times, though, it isn't an option.

We have lived around the world and most of the places that charge for tap water are tourist haunts. My husband and son have been in bangkok, belgium and iceland in the last week and a half and haven't been charged anywhere. On a happier thought, though they spent last evening watching the northern lights.

I just order the hot tea and then use my own that I bring in, that way I'm paying for the hot water, lemon, honey but I'm using my blend that I like. Of course if I'm at the Thai place I'm all over the yummy tea they have there.

Lol! Yes we have some ginger powder resources over here. Works well for migraines too.

Really???? I get migraines with weather changes and hormonally as well, sometimes it's diet induced but I'm pretty good at knowing what might set one off and and being able to moderate that food.

I have fought that. I am fearful chocolate is on the list. but you are right. I need to. This weekend was horrible. Probably a combination of storms coming through and hormones. I was too sick to eat!

Luckily chocolate isn't one of my triggers, unless it's an insane amount of dark chocolate and since I prefer milk chocolate I'm usually OK. Red wine (not sweet red but dry), bleu cheese and certain spices can set mine off.

I notice that the condiment stations are very generous in the states. In the UK they generally are quite frugal or hand them to you. Maybe we cant be trusted! Sometimes in places such as Mcdonalds you see people take handfuls of napkins and too many little cups of ketchup then leave half of them on the table. Its such a waste. I wonder f restaurants are starting to cut down more on items such as this. Would make sense to keep those profit margins a bit more healthy.

I come from China. At Mcdonalds or KFC, you usually get one or two pieces of napkin with every meal purchase. One or two packets of ketchup depending on the size of your fries. You can definitely ask for more, but you have to ask. I actually would love to see restaurants here rationing napkins and condiments. It's a shame to waste things.

I take what I need and if I don't use all the napkins I take them with me. LOL I use them at work or in the car, you can never have enough napkins! lol As for ketchup, not a big fan, I'd rather order (and pay for) BBQ sauce for dipping my fries, I never ask for ketchup packets and I rarely get ketchup at the pump. My kids prefer no ketchup or BBQ sauce as well. I agree, I wish restaurants would start handing out things like napkins, straws, condiments (other then dipping sauces) because it would cut back on waste.

 

[Eastern]

seriously? I am just on the other side of a 4 day migraine. My meds just take the edge off and by yesterday I had added excedrin and vicodan, left over from my root canal!

Are you serious?!? I get them constantly...

Have you tried Maxalt? It's the only thing that works for me.

We always order water when we go out to eat, and rarely order apps or dessert, we just don't eat that much. Should we not eat out?

Lots of empty tables in the restaurants around here. Lots of coupons, restaurant.com, bogo, etc. I really don't think they'd care if you add crystal lite to your water if you at least come in and order some food.

 

[Granny square]

I haven't tried maxalt. I'll talk to my doc.


Unless we are celebrating we tend to eat small meals. I'd rather a bit of something wonderful then tons of average. So we might share a nice tuna app, but never order a blooming onion, lol. We don't split but I am always ready to take home leftovers. (Except ff or qs)

Our favorite local restaurants are about half empty. Frankly we have happily weathered price increases. I don't live in a big city, so we have to keep these places open!

Interesting thread. I came in with an attitude, and I apologize. I just didn't see a crime in wanting flavored water. But there are interesting sides all the way around.

 

[Fly4free]

I know some places have drink prices higher, to make up for profit losses on things like steak, etc.

I have never understood this concept. Why not price the steak correctly to have a slight profit? This way you are guaranteed the $ instead of charging prices that are too high for beverages that people may or may not order?

I have noticed the prices of beverages have been creeping up lately instead of the entrees. I don't like it when the beverage price is not shown on the menu either. I am more likely to order a special drink when I know the cost. Dare I say this on the budget board.... I enjoy having cocktail when I go out to eat. Yes, It's my guilty pleasure.

 

[pixiewings71]

I think they price beverages higher because people are more likely to just order a soda (or beer or cocktail) when they sit down and worry about the price later. Then you've already ordered your drink but you'll pick the steak because the price is lower. lol

 

[kaytieeldr]

The costs of a glass of tap water is likely a penny....maybe 2 at most. People are acting like the free glass of water is costing them $2. Next people will start saying that they are losing money on the ice they are putting in the drinks.


Costs of "free" stuff...be it water, peanuts, chips / salsa and the like that a place may give out to anyone is already baked into the price that is paid for other items on the menu.

So when you order an entree from the menu you've already paid for the water...even if you dont order one.

The cost of the water itself to the restaurant may be a penny or two. The total cost of serving that glass of water is much higher. Again, there's the glass, the wages, the energy to wash the glass, taxes... when a patron orders a "free" glass of water and flavors it with something they brought in, instead of purchasing a flavored beverage, that not only costs the restaurant the total cost of the water, it's also depriving the restaurant of revenue.

 

[kandb]

OP here again- Some of you posters are so argumentative and pull out things from a post that are not even there. People are writing that "I am changing my story". NO, I am NOT changing my story. If you see post #72, I said I STARTED using sweetners because I cannot have caffeine. Now, seeing how much it saves, I just wanted to share for you budget minded people. If you think it looks tacky or cheap, don't do it. I don't look at it costing the restaurant anything, because when I look around the restaurant alot of people have water with lemon. Are they costing the restaurant anything? If you people who find it tacky or cheap, drink your water or soda and move on. Geeessshhh.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Post 72? Seventy one posts after the initial post touting this action as a great way to save money - three, almost four dollars with tax and tip?
Post 72? The post that adds the previously undisclosed information about the lack of decaf diet drinks?
Post 72? Where we learn that several of your coworkers (without explanation) also bring their own drink flavorings when you all dine out?
Just checking.
Have you tried asking these restaurants for decaffeinated diet drinks?

 

[Granny square]

So a person has to give their entire life story in an op. who cares why she started using them?!

I started carrying my tea bags because I don't drink carbonated drinks past a fuzzy water or unless there is bourbon involved. I don't use caffeine after 2. I never drink sugar. A total waste if calories. Full disclosure.

 

[eliza61]

So a person has to give their entire life story in an op. who cares why she started using them?!

I started carrying my tea bags because I don't drink carbonated drinks past a fuzzy water or unless there is bourbon involved. I don't use caffeine after 2. I never drink sugar. A total waste if calories. Full disclosure.

It's not that we care Granny but when you start a thread we comment on the information you give us.
Op started this thread on the premise that she does this to save money, then when the majority of post disagreed with her, she back tracked and said it was now primarily due to the sweetner.

It reeks of basically whoosing out. When you post on a public forum you take the chance that people will not agree with you, if you can't take the criticism then maybe a public forum is not the avenue best suited to you. believe me I've taken flames for some of my opinions,

Sorry op sounds like he/she can't stand the heat and you know what they say about being in the kitchen when there is heat....