Foie Gras Ban

[2infinityandbeyond]

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

 

[BriarRosie]

Does anyone have the email address that I can use to contact Disney about this?

Ditto, I'd like to write in as well. So glad that I got my Foie-fix at the Bocuse Grand Gala.

I sent my email to:
WDW.Guest.Communications@disneyworld.com

This is what I wrote:

To: WDW Food and Beverage
Re: Foie Gras removed from the menus

It has come to my attention that Disney has removed foie gras from the menus that usually had it, like California Grill and Victoria and Albert's. I have reservations next week on my upcoming trip for both places, and I'm disappointed that foie gras will not be available. I specifically go to these restaurants for that dish, so I wanted to share my voice of disapproval over this decision.

Please reconsider bringing foie gras back. Thank you for your consideration.

I got the auto-response back from them stating that they appreciate the feedback and will have someone review it. Whatever.

 

[heather360]

I just sent my email to disney about this. I am very unhappy with this. I'll be at V&A's in 3 weeks and I could already taste the foie gras.

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

I'll be at V&A's in 3 weeks and I could already taste the foie gras.

Me, too (V&A's in about three weeks and I was looking forward to the foie gras). The foie gras with Fuji apple bread pudding and apple cider reduction was the highlight of my meal at V&A's earlier this year.

 

[webray]

I can totally get on board with this theory, but then why remove it from V&A and Bistro? They aren't restaurants that participate on the dining plan. In fact, it's a supplemental item on V&A's menu.

After speaking with Chef Bocuse at the weekend event, I am hoping that foie will return to Le Bistro very, very soon.

Disney has got to stop this nonsense.

 

[webray]

THANK YOU! The last time I said this on here I was practically strung up by my toes! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way, especially someone I know has similar WDW vacation 'tastes' as I do and one of the top posters whose opinion I respect.

I do remember it being at PFTS in the past but guess that's out of the question now too, even for visiting chefs. IIRC, they did use Foie Gras pretty liberally at the Bocuse D'or competition dinner this year, and the VIP lounge webray posted about, but then it seemed to disappear. I wonder if it was in the works but the Bocuse visiting chefs asked for the ban to be postponed til after the competition.

They did not ask that the ban be postponed...they told them they were having it and that was pretty much it. We spoke with the chefs and the foie rep who sponsored it all (provided it for free for the entire event). We were thrilled and it was fantastic.

 

[webray]

I can't speak for the chefs. Some may want it off their menu and others may not. Aside from normal budget restrictions, I think a chef should be able to decide on his/her own menus (and they probably feel the same way). And this may be what's happening. Offering foie gras may simply be getting to be too expensive for a price point most of the restaurants can realistically charge. As a PP mentioned, the "PC" angle may be just an added PR bonus for Disney.

DisFlan

Foie is not expensive...we buy it for the house all the time (well quite often).

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

Foie is not expensive...we buy it for the house all the time (well quite often).

At D'Artagnan's website, it's $133 for a fresh 1.35-1.8 lb. lobe. That averages out to about $5.50/oz. I'm going to assume that restaurants don't pay retail. The upcharge at V&A's for the foie is $15 (on top of the $125 prix fixe), and the portion is pretty small (1-2 oz. would be my guess). I have no way of knowing how much they're making on each sale, but I'm guessing that at a place like V&A's, it's a popular item, so they've got to be making money on it.

I'm just not buying that WDW's decision was just a routine menu adjustment.

 

[jiminyfan]

We are canceling our California Grille reservation as the foie gras was the main reason my wife wanted to eat there. To us this is just another way Disney is dumbing down and standardizing the fool selections across WDW. We used to love the culinary diversity at WDW and now every restaurant has the same main meat choices with a slight variation on them.

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

I just sent this to Guest Communications:

I have recently learned that Disney World has decided to remove foie gras from its restaurant menus. I am not pleased with this decision. Frankly, I do not believe that this decision is a "routine menu adjustment" as has been indicated by your PR department. I do not think it is a coincidence that Disney has dropped what has become a controversial food item from its menus. It is shameful that Disney would cave in to a vocal minority of activists (most of whom I would guess have never spent a dime in Disney World) at the expense of Disney World guests who look forward to spending their time and money at restaurants like California Grill and Victoria and Albert's.

We are Disney Vacation Club members, and we visit Disney World once, sometimes twice, per year. We have enjoyed many of the Disney World restaurants, and have always dined exclusively in Disney World. Primarily because of the foie gras ban, but also because of the recent pattern of "dumbing down" the restaurant menus, we do plan to start spending our dining money outside of Disney World.

I urge you to reconsider this recent decision.

 

[dursin]

...It is shameful that Disney would cave in to a vocal minority of activists...

Problem is, it's a vocal minority on both sides of the issue. The ban really doesn't effect the 99% of the people in the middle who don't care either way about Foie Gras. It's also probably easier for the minority on the 'no Foie Gras' side to get people to sympathize with them then it is for the people on the other side. Don't see it coming back any time soon.

 

[TDC Nala]

Problem is, it's a vocal minority on both sides of the issue. The ban really doesn't effect the 99% of the people in the middle who don't care either way about Foie Gras. It's also probably easier for the minority on the 'no Foie Gras' side to get people to sympathize with them then it is for the people on the other side. Don't see it coming back any time soon.

I saw this a lot regarding the Adventurers Club mail campaign - the majority doesn't care, so why even bother, it's not going to work.

If you do care I would say I'm all for trying.

 

[Condorman]

It doesn't matter whether you're pro- or anti-fois gras. It doesn't matter whether you have ever eaten it, never intend to, have tried it and enjoy it or are completely disgusted by what part of the animal it comes from.

The fact remains, the signature restaurants have now removed a premium menu item that in doing so makes them less "signature." First it was the crab legs, then some filets, now the foie gras -- and I promise the lobster at most locations will follow. Once this happens, there will be no point in claiming that WDW has any 2-credit signature restaurants. They will have all reached parity, homogenization and indifference. Why bother with Citricos and Yachtsman Steakhouse when you could do Il Mulino and Shula's OOP and actually get what you pay for?

I hate making this argument because it makes me sound like a snob. I may never have ordered a foie gras app prior to the surf & turf, but at least the option was made available, and that is what set those few restaurants apart from the rest. Disney was already going to see lower attendance and dining revenue in 2009 anyway. They should've known better than to irritate the few people loyal enough to their dining program than to do something like this.

You don't have to have ridiculous cost-cutting maneuvers like this if you have people in charge who know how to extract profits from the appropriate places in less-than-obvious ways. Maybe one day someone will teach Disney how to manage a company correctly. Until then, this is only the beginning.

 

[TDC Nala]

First it was the crab legs, then some filets, now the foie gras -- and I promise the lobster at most locations will follow.

What do you mean "at most locations?" The only restaurant on Disney property that offers lobster as an entree and also takes the dining plan is Narcoosees.

Fulton's and Bluezoo have lobster and Shula's might also. But they are not owned by Disney and don't take the dining plan.

 

[Condorman]

What do you mean "at most locations?" The only restaurant on Disney property that offers lobster as an entree and also takes the dining plan is Narcoosees.

Fulton's and Bluezoo have lobster and Shula's might also. But they are not owned by Disney and don't take the dining plan.

My bad. Then it will probably happen sooner than I thought. If they only have to lose it from Narcoossee's, we're looking at six months or less.

 

[TDC Nala]

It's understandable - Cap'n Jack's only removed the lobster tails from their menu a week ago.

There is already an unsubstantiated rumor that Narcoosee's will remove the lobster by the end of the year.

 

[Condorman]

Removing it from the list of entrees is one thing, but I see YS and CG taking it away from the ingredients in their apps as well. YS has a chilled seafood salad and CG has a lobster dish as well. It's not the end of the world, it's just the end of the World.

 

[DisFlan]

It doesn't matter whether you're pro- or anti-fois gras. It doesn't matter whether you have ever eaten it, never intend to, have tried it and enjoy it or are completely disgusted by what part of the animal it comes from.

The fact remains, the signature restaurants have now removed a premium menu item that in doing so makes them less "signature." First it was the crab legs, then some filets, now the foie gras -- and I promise the lobster at most locations will follow. Once this happens, there will be no point in claiming that WDW has any 2-credit signature restaurants. They will have all reached parity, homogenization and indifference. Why bother with Citricos and Yachtsman Steakhouse when you could do Il Mulino and Shula's OOP and actually get what you pay for?

I hate making this argument because it makes me sound like a snob. I may never have ordered a foie gras app prior to the surf & turf, but at least the option was made available, and that is what set those few restaurants apart from the rest. Disney was already going to see lower attendance and dining revenue in 2009 anyway. They should've known better than to irritate the few people loyal enough to their dining program than to do something like this.

You don't have to have ridiculous cost-cutting maneuvers like this if you have people in charge who know how to extract profits from the appropriate places in less-than-obvious ways. Maybe one day someone will teach Disney how to manage a company correctly. Until then, this is only the beginning.

No, I don't think you're a snob. I agree with much of what you say.

BUT - according to several sources, as far back as the first of this year, all managers, including restaurants, were told to start cutting costs and spending, and to come up with more/new ideas to cut costs. WDW is gearing up for harder times. Deleting a number of higher end, higher cost menu items and offering fewer choices was probably near the top of the list. They have a mandate to keep dining costs as inexpensive yet profitable as possible and still keep MOST guests happy. Hence, the current round of "dumbing down" the menus. Or maybe "dumb-er-ing down" is a better term.

Some guests won't be happy (especially those willing to pay more), but the bulk of WDW's diners probably don't notice the changes, and if they do, they don't care. So the more experienced "foie gras/finer dining" crowd will be seeing changes that aren't necessarily to our liking - but we aren't the mass focus.

I'm willing to ride out the leaner times at WDW - and trust that the menus will improve again when things get better. We've done it before (food in the past has gone through low periods), and we'll probably do it again in the future.

DisFlan

 

[ElizabethB]

I agree Disney's focus is becoming very, very mass market. Those of us who enjoy fine dining are being left out in the cold. The same thing can be seen in the Food & Wine Festival -- the events that have been cut are the more expensive fine dining ones.

Some may be willing to wait out another nadir of Disney dining, but we're not. We'll spend our vacation dollars elsewhere.

 

[Fanoffun]

I am intrigued by this discussion. What does foie gras taste like?