Great idea - and think of all the exercise they'd get going back and forth to the counter.
I have a pet hate for any wasted food - what is wrong with people taking exactly what they will eat and never ever leave a crumb....... seems so simple

Good, I saw the picture of the woman and her children and thought they should have been charged double just for being simply awful.

Dogbert: Technically, it's all you can eat, not all you did eat.

Opposing Lawyer: Damn. You're good.

/GIS has failed me
/Memory too, I expect

orbister: Dogbert: Technically, it's all you can eat, not all you did eat.

Opposing Lawyer: Damn. You're good.

/GIS has failed me
/Memory too, I expect



Really?

So.................................... ................................ .


Don't eat there.

£20? What a bargain.

What if you get something that tastes awful?

mmm.... 2 onion rings and pr0n toast.

It's the DM so I'm not surprised that the article is a bit confusing, but it looks like in this case the customers were going up to help themselves to more food without finishing food they had already put on their plates.

FTFA: 'After we had our starters, we went up for our main course. But a member of staff came over and asked if we weren't going to eat the food on our plates, and said we would have to pay an extra £20 to cover food wastage costs.

I really don't have a problem with people being penalised in an all-you-can-eat restaurant where they do this. They might as well pick up a load of food from the buffet and put it in the bin, then go back for some more.

Of course you should still be able to refuse to eat food that tastes unpleasant, but if you (for example) pick up 5 pieces of prawn toast, eat 4 and leave one to be thrown away, then go back up to the buffet for your sweet and sour chicken, then the restaurant should be free to penalise you. Their offer is that you can eat as much as you like for £x, not that you can throw their food away for £x.

Also FTFA: "'I was furious and said we were already paying £18 for three meals, but the staff kept checking if we had eaten the food."

£18 for three meals?!!? Do you have any idea how cheap that is? Seriously, if you want to take advantage of the ludicrously cheap special offer then live within the rules and don't take the piss.

"I've paid virtually nothing to stuff my face with endless food and therefore should be allowed to do whatever the hell I like"

/still, £20 is quite a lot of money. I'd have thought that maybe £5 (the equivalent for one portion of wasted food) would be quite enough. I certainly don't see how they can charge more than the price of the all-you-can-eat offer.

skwerl: What if you get something that tastes awful?

You put it back, duh!

=Smidge=

GBB: mmm.... 2 onion rings and pr0n toast.

CJ Special?

FINALLY!! A John Pinette thread! This is the famous skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdwuiy O7hOU

RIP: John Larroquette

Slaxl: Good, I saw the picture of the woman and her children and thought they should have been charged double just for being simply awful.

one glance and Sonny the head waiter knew his suggestion of a ugly tax would pay off big that day

That's ignorant and I'd refuse to pay it. In fact, when I was finished eating I'd go pile my plate as high as I could and set it on my table as I left.

9 times out of 10 if I leave food on my plate at a buffet it's because I didn't like the food, it was over/under cooked or it simply tasted like shiat.

Once it's out of the line tray, it's gone. Doesn't matter if it's eaten, vomited up, or goes in the trash, it's gone. I don't see the big deal with not eating every grain on the plate, though to be honest, at a buffet, I do only try to only pick up things I eaten before and know I like.

they should be fined as well for taking onion rings at a chinese restaurant. seriously? apparently british people are as dumb as rednecks in amerique.

/maybe i'm just a self-hating lib-tard crybaby, but don't people feel any shame about taking food and then just leaving it behind without eating it?

ReapTheChaos: That's ignorant and I'd refuse to pay it. In fact, when I was finished eating I'd go pile my plate as high as I could and set it on my table as I left.

Oooooh... how passive-aggressive of you! I bet you leave a lot of notes on cars and feedback to sound-off columns in newspapers.

Yeah, but have they know what happened to my cat?

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

ive been to a few where i would get something that looked good, but ended up tasting terrible. yeah i leave it on the plate. but i don't get a bunch of any one thing at a time..... except coconut shrimp.... i will eat an entire plate of nothing but that.

gadian: Once it's out of the line tray, it's gone. Doesn't matter if it's eaten, vomited up, or goes in the trash, it's gone. I don't see the big deal with not eating every grain on the plate, though to be honest, at a buffet, I do only try to only pick up things I eaten before and know I like.

The restaurant foots the initial cost of food procurement and preparation. The more they procure and prepare, the higher the costs to the customer. They also risk running out and losing out on additional customers. So yes, wastage is a problem for buffet restaurants.

I will say that I don't think I have ever seen one run out of food. I don't frequent them often.

Buffets demonstrate how little humans have progressed beyond basic animal instincts. Placing most people in front of a buffet is like placing a dog in front of a mountain of Snausages.

Neither one thinks of the ramifications of their actions beyond jamming as much as possible down their food holes.

There is a sushi place here that does this. its $25 for all you can eat (not buffet style, you just mark your choices on a card and the staff brings them out) but its something like $2-$3 a pop for each piece of sushi left on your plate.

Seems fair to me.

That is something that irratates me. I limit my kids to 3 things per trip through the buffet. You can always waddle through the buffet for more.

ReapTheChaos: That's ignorant and I'd refuse to pay it. In fact, when I was finished eating I'd go pile my plate as high as I could and set it on my table as I left.

9 times out of 10 if I leave food on my plate at a buffet it's because I didn't like the food, it was over/under cooked or it simply tasted like shiat.

And I'm guessing this woman could have done the same if her family hadn't actually liked the the food, because otherwise the restaurant would be operating some kind of weird forced-eating policy.

She could even have PRETENDED that they didn't like those particular items, although I suspect that would be difficult if they've just eaten a load of them.

I reckon it went something like this....

Family pile plates high with loads of starters. Eat most of the starters then realise they're not going to have enough room for main courses, so decide to leave some of the starters.

That's really not very fair on the restaurant, and providing sufficient notice of the rule was given to them I don't give a crap that they were charged for leaving the food.

If this was prominently displayed then I'd say that these terms were incorporated into the contract between the customer and the restaurant regarding how payment works at the buffet...

Ed Finnerty: Buffets demonstrate how little humans have progressed beyond basic animal instincts. Placing most people in front of a buffet is like placing a dog in front of a mountain of Snausages.

Neither one thinks of the ramifications of their actions beyond jamming as much as possible down their food holes.

The pure gluttony I have seen at buffets is amazing. Plates piled so high with food that it is spilling over, etc. The people that do this are most likely to complain and be cheapskates to begin with.

I'll side with the restaurant here. Don't waste food.

Uh...

This is standard practice for Asian-style buffets.

Talk about First World Problems.

Ed Finnerty: Buffets demonstrate how little humans have progressed beyond basic animal instincts.

QED:


/try the one at LuLu's in Gulf Shores

bmihura: I'll side with the restaurant here. Don't waste food.

I think 20pounds is too high, but I have no trouble with the concept. You can't pay for one person and then take the food for 3 people and only eat one person's worth.

KrispyKritter: Slaxl: Good, I saw the picture of the woman and her children and thought they should have been charged double just for being simply awful.

one glance and Sonny Sunny Tan the head waiter knew his suggestion of a ugly tax would pay off big that day


/fixy

Fat People problems...

A Chinese buffet is where you line up all the scraps you were going to throw out anyway, and put some vaguely Asian looking description of the trash on a placard in front of the bin. It's cheeky enough to charge someone for the privilege of eating it, let alone charging someone for not eating it.

My grandma always told me to clean my plate because "Think of all the starving kids in China." It was always over something like lima beans with liver. Bleh!

zamboni: ReapTheChaos: That's ignorant and I'd refuse to pay it. In fact, when I was finished eating I'd go pile my plate as high as I could and set it on my table as I left.

Oooooh... how passive-aggressive of you! I bet you leave a lot of notes on cars and feedback to sound-off columns in newspapers.

Nope. It's just a stupid policy. Reminds me of parents who make their kids finish their plates even though they're not hungry, then turn around and wonder why they're kids are overweight.

There is a Korean buffet near me that does a version of this but they weigh the leftover food and charge based on that.

Ack. I hate buffets. People are pigs

ReapTheChaos: That's ignorant and I'd refuse to pay it. In fact, when I was finished eating I'd go pile my plate as high as I could and set it on my table as I left.

These pretzels are making me thirsty.

OregonVet: These pretzels are making me thirsty.



Seinfeld...four!

baorao: There is a sushi place here that does this. its $25 for all you can eat (not buffet style, you just mark your choices on a card and the staff brings them out) but its something like $2-$3 a pop for each piece of sushi left on your plate.

Seems fair to me.

I have some guys that I go to an all you can eat sushi place with. (I'm born and raised redneck. Sushi's probably never going to be part of my regular diet.) They get rolls and pluck the meat out of the middle. Then throw the rest away. Then they complain to me about eating too much rice. Eventually, the staff just started giving them sashimi instead. I even heard one of the guys that work there refer to me as, "The guy that doesn't like sushi."

I think this is a habit of a majority of buffet eaters. They all seem wasteful.

MBooda: Ed Finnerty: Buffets demonstrate how little humans have progressed beyond basic animal instincts.

QED:
[igadgetsreport.com image 488x360]
[www2.registerguard.com image 480x320]
/try the one at LuLu's in Gulf Shores

Love me some Lulu

Are we all so accustomed. To reading text that look like it's been prepare by imbeciles. That the ways in which the restaurant's sign is written doesn't even faze us?

Most people enjoy a decent meal for a good price. I think a lunch sushi buffet for $12 is a pretty good deal.

The owners and workers are probably from a place where white rice itself is a delicacy.

So yes they are going to be a little annoyed at any display of gluttony.

I realize thinking about someone besides yourself is a new and strange thing, but you should try it sometime.

Hypothetical Imperative: Are we all so accustomed. To reading text that look like it's been prepare by imbeciles. That the ways in which the restaurant's sign is written doesn't even faze us?

Apparently. So.

My wife leaves food on her plate all the time at buffets. I don't understand why. I think it's incredibly wasteful. If you're not going to eat it, don't get it.

Even so, the restaurant isn't always losing any money on the deals for a lot of people when they usually are charging at least $10 for what amounts to her getting about $4 worth of food. If they tried to tack extra on top of that, I'd be mad too. Greed is just as bad of a problem as gluttony.

LtDarkstar: FINALLY!! A John Pinette thread! This is the famous skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdwuiyO 7hOU

I see my involvement was unnecessary. Back to my meal then.

gadian: I do only try to only pick up things I eaten before and know I like.

Isn't a buffet a great moment to try new things? Just pick very little (bite sized portion comes to mind) of the thing you don't know along with the stuff you know you like. If you don't like the unfamiliar dishes you'll, at worst, have just the single bite to deal with.

OT:

Buffets mean you pick up a little, eat it and go back if you are still hungry. you don't fill up your plate in one go. Also: if you are hungry 30 minutes after dinner you should have eaten more of the actual dishes instead of the rice, which, contrary to popular opinion, is not the main part a Chinese dinner.

Could be worse... The fabulously beautiful planet Bethselamin is now so worried about the cumulative erosion by ten billion visiting tourists a year that any net imbalance between the amount you eat and the amount you excrete while on the planet is surgically removed from you body weight when you leave: so every time you go to the lavatory there it is vitally important to get a receipt.

Hypothetical Imperative: Are we all so accustomed. To reading text that look like it's been prepare by imbeciles. That the ways in which the restaurant's sign is written doesn't even faze us?

Engrish.