Do You Think This is Profiteering?
Other
Last week my son took his wife on a long day trip to meet up with her parents, 2 brothers and their wives and sons. One of the wives chose the venue as she is vegetarian but from what my son said it sounded like a glorified burger bar. He didn't eat much as not to his taste.
When the bill came it was £600 and even more shocking was that £70 was service charge!
Am I out of touch or does that seem over priced, they weren't dining at the Ritz after all and it was far enough away from Christmas to not be a seasonal menu.
Seems like they took advantage and ate as much as possible without paying for any. £600? Damn.
Unfortunately that happens when you dine out as a group and split the bill. We’ve been caught like that many times when others order extra wine or Irish coffees.
If there were 10 or more people it's not too bad for an occasional family get-together meal. Ordering a few bottles of wine can dramatically increase the amount you spend. But, if someone in the group doesn't order much then that should be taken into consideration by the others if they were planning to divide the bill evenly. Although, it will still feel like a waste of money if you were unimpressed by the restaurant.
oh wow!! 8 of us went to Miller and Carter last week the bill was £500 and i felt it was very over priced for what we had.
MelissaLee1963 I know restaurateurs have had a bad time lately but there still must have been masses of profit in that charge.
You don't have to pay service charge and your within your rights to ask for it to be removed. It does sound roughly right as it would be between 10-13% of Bill depending on the restaurant. Most restaurants will hope to make around 75% profit on food, which I know sounds huge but they make so little on drinks due to taxes that it often the vast bulk of their income and has to pay for all staff wages and running cost, including heating. Many restaurants can make a profit but its harder than you think, come January most will be empty and losing money. I wouldn't consider them good investments for making you millions.
Quidco had a recent £10 bonus cashback from certain retailers, one of which is groupon and they were doing 2x 3 course meals at harvesters for £30 so less than £20 with the £10 bonus and normal cashback. So that's a 3 course meal for £9.50 a head approximately. Yes I know Harvesters are similar to Hungry Horse (which I also use) but its nice enough grub. I'd never pay a huge sum for a meal and to be honest I like my food tasty but fairly simply presented. I have no interest in high end restaurants. When I had a classic italian pizza I felt it was massively inferior to a Dominos pizza I had. The Americanised pizzas are far more interesting with their flavours I find than the more classic Italian pizza's. I like ham and pineapple pizzas but that is an abomination to a Italian restaurant. Also it often seems like the higher the prices at a restaurant the smaller the portion sizes get.
BonzoBanana I agree, my tastes run more to carveries, harvester etc but the example given was a Christmas get together for my daughter in law and her family, so a one off and as I said, not high end.
Luckily none of the four families present are strapped for cash but personally I am not comfortable if my son spends too much on me for a meal out, I enjoy lower end a lot more....common as muck, me 
Lynibis If I spent 5x as much on a meal out as normal I'd expect it to be 5x better really so I think its about expectations and diminishing returns. I just wouldn't benefit from a high end meal and have been disappointed in such meals in the past. I'm trying to think of high cost food I'm happy to pay extra for but can't really think of any I don't see that as a negative though because more expensive food often means more expensive preparation and more expensive ingredients and that means more resources going into that meal which is why it costs more which is an indicator it is less efficient and more damaging to the environment. I think we should be comfortable about eating simpler cheaper food.
BonzoBanana very true but I think SOME restaurants are cashing in since Covid and economy giving low end food for high end prices. A colleague recently order a takeaway for two, main each and about four sides and they wanted £40........He told them where to shove it.
BonzoBanana I was told many years ago the head chef is the problem. Some command exorbitant wages for their "skills" and experience. Not all catering business - restaurants, take away, uses good quality food. I have seen "class 3" food prepared for customers in a 4* hotel. It all depends on the honesty of the owner or manager of the catering business.
Lynibis Many businesses now are loaded up with huge debts because of the pandemic so I guess part of their prices will be servicing that debt.
jam45 Oh I'm sure you are right but some ingredients by their very nature are expensive. It could be the location or how you get those ingredients. A lot of food is cosmetic nowadays with a lot of time spent on how it looks and those skills cost extra money as you have already stated. We really should try to move away from cosmetic stylised food especially if imported which adds more environmental and economic damage to the mix.
BonzoBanana we went to a Harvester last week and I was surprised how much it has increased. My son chose a burger, it was £17.99 and no early bird menu which I expected at 5pm.
Pjran To be honest I've never been to a Harvesters before but will be going there twice in the next couple of months because I bought those 3 course meals vouchers. I looked at the reviews and some compared it to Hungry Horse.
BonzoBanana I’ve not been to a Hungry Horse. The Harvester prices have increased considerably and maybe that’s why it wasn’t so busy.
Pjran I guess its lucky I've got prepaid vouchers. I typically only have water with a meal so they won't be able to claw back some money from the drinks.
Pjran I've now been to Harvesters for the first time. It was the Griffin in Taunton in fact just on the outskirts by the motorway. I really liked the ambience, very slightly posher than hungry horse with the meals costing a bit more normally. I noticed fish and chips was £12.99. I had nachos to start (excellent) and then a rump steak which was a bit fatty and hard to cut but overall the meal was nice. They give you a salad bowl to get your own salad and my bowl was not perfectly clean. It had a little lump/mark I knocked off. The salad bar was brilliant and very fresh. The dessert at the end was a sundae but really it was just a nice dairy ice cream with a toffee sauce it was lovely though. Generally super impressed but the staff while not rude were not the most friendly. One staff member was very friendly until the end when there was nothing to pay for as we just had the 3 course meal and nothing else he then looked a bit dead pan. Overall really enjoyed it and an absolute bargain for a 3 course meal for £9 each.
BonzoBanana you had a bargain meal out. The staff where we went were all vary helpful and polite especially when you think others in our party were half an hour late due to an accident.
BonzoBanana I am flabbergasted that you could get a 3 course steak meal for £9. Our local Harversters have nothing as cheap as that.
Lynibis It was this deal;
www.groupon.co.uk/deals/harvester-restaurants-16
but at the time Quidco had a £10 bonus on which included groupon plus normal cashback on top so effectively it was about £18 for the deal so £9 each for a 3 course meal. I did it twice as I had two Quidco accounts. So normally it would be about £15 if you didn't go through a cashback site.
It's a more limited menu but there was plenty for me to choose from. I didn't feel restricted.
BonzoBanana oh well done. I had 50% off Toby this last week but each time I tried to book I couldn't get in at the time I needed
Lynibis I've now used my second voucher at the Weymouth Harvesters, also had a lovely walk through the bird reservation that is inbetween the park and ride car park and Harvesters.
I realise one mistake I made and that is have 3 courses. 2 courses is enough because you have a all you can eat salad bar so you can have a salad as a starter then your official starter then your main which you can add another bowl of salad too. The dessert menu is quite limited on the deal as well. Also the salad bar is awesome, super fresh with lots of variety. You can easily make a lovely salad from it as a single course. The Weymouth Harvesters was a little nicer for me as basically the steak was much better. I've become quite the Harvesters fan now.
BonzoBanana must admit I like Harvester but haven't been for a very long time. They stopped the help yourself salad bar at ours some time ago and you had to have a server put in the bowl what you pointed out you would like. Made me feel like a child. However a friend said they are no longer doing it so I am thinking they got lots of complaints. I can't imagine how they could cope with serving everyone's salad with limited staff taken from other duties.
Lynibis Yes maybe that was a covid thing. Both times I went they just give you an empty bowl and clearly state you can use it multiple times. The bowl isn't that big so can be a bit of a balancing act for me at least. I'll admit I've yet to go back to refill the salad bowl as I had 3 courses but know I would with 2 courses. I'd rather have an extra bowl of salad than dessert when the salad is so nice with a huge amount of things you can add including salad toppings. Both times I had the sundae best for dessert with toffee syrup. Basically a high quality vanilla ice cream like the reema ice cream of the past with syrup added. It's lovely but I'm trying to reduce processed sugar so not ideal. Also its a very generous portion.
it's always the places with rubbish 'service' (or lack thereof) that try and charge a massive service fee too!
I don’t see the reason of choosing a restaurant because someone is vegetarian. All cafes/restaurants etc tend to have a good selection of vegetarian dishes. Where it says service charge can you opt not to pay it ?
suevernon1968 as I said the bossy wife of one guy chose and others didn't really have a choice. Essex, Berkshire and Suffolk involved so it was up to the ones who lived local and also as I said it was a burger joint, not vegetarian only.
Lynibis if this wife that chose was ‘bossy’ do any of them like her ? I think I would have politely declined to go if it was someone I didn’t like organising it.
suevernon1968 well I have never met her but haven't ever heard anything good, even from in law's lol. But my son would never have declined to take his wife to see her parents and brothers when my lovely daughter in law was having all of his family for Christmas.
I would consider it ultra expensive , however they knew the prices (I would hope) before they picked the place ? It may be nice to go somewhere nice for a special occasion but it can cost . After /during the meal you will pay £30 -£40 for a bottle of "House wine " (aka supermarket plonk ) and £2 for a glass of coke which certainly elevates the bill .
A mate of mine did similar last weekend with his extended family 8 adults and teenagers and about 4 kids . Came to £180 ish at a Hungry Horse pub (Greene King ) . I guess you get what you pay for . Ambience is all very well .... But 
.
Golfforall see above, I don't think anyone but the local family knew the local restaurants, the others just had to comply I think.
Lynibis We were talking about this down the pub earlier (sparked by your post which I recalled ) Another mate is taking his parents and close family to a local hotel (quite nice , but not the Ritz ) for Xmas Day dinner . 8 adults @ £90 a head (before the drinks ! ) ,so he knows it's going to cost well into 4 figures . He does it every year in lieu of Xmas presents so fair enough I suppose .
Just hope they get back in one piece , his parents are my lovely next door neighbours and they so look forward to it even though all live locally .
Golfforall That's about £20 a head for the adults and £5 a head for the kids which doesn't seem too bad to me especially if they have had a drink or two included. Some high end restaurants are charging up to £200 a head so would be £1600 for 8 adults plus extra for the kids. I guess something like £40 per head could be expected for a local mid priced restaurant. When I go to Hungry Horse I typically use discounted gift cards and spend about £9 per head. So in real terms probably about £7-8 per head. I would use the special offer of the day, big plate special etc. I'm definitely not their most profitable customer.
i think some comments on here are far off the mark, chef's don't get high wages, hospitality has always been one of the lowest paid industries. some head jobs are now offering a livable wage as they can't get the staff but still a lot less than some of these going on strike.
food costs have gone up look at what supermarket charge for food now, then energy prices, rent's they have all gone up. most decent chef's will use the cheapest cuts and produce a good meal. if a meal cost £3 to produce they need to sell at £12.. £9 profit is not a lot when you take into account wages and others costs mentioned above. the establishment will be lucky to make 25% on the meal.
£60 a head isn't bad, they could of knocked £10 a head off that if they said they want service charge removed. you can pay £20 for a burger, fries and drink to take out of five guys, so to sit in and be a big table which they normally add a service charge its not bad.
before covid i could go out for tea to a local italian and pay £45 a head for myself, wife and kids just on a teatime after school. i could of went to spoons for £45 total but sometimes people like eating better food. you get what you pay for and i'm not saying there's anything wrong with cheaper places. but i tend to stay away from chain restaurants and eat in local/independant restaurants.
Omg thats shocking
Most places do vegetarian dishes now she has probably picked the most expensive place , and to put a £70 service charge on top of it is ridiculous I know the price of food has gone up but this is just greed
Lady in my work went out for Christmas Dinner £75 a head she said the portions were tiny I small potato she got with her dinner and it wasn't a big fancy place
Pjran yes I have never went out for Christmas Dinner I prefer it in the house she said all the portions were tiny I wouldn't never pay that they were still hungry when they went home and felt rushed I have heard that from a few people they felt they were getting rushed for the next ones to come in
Assuming there was 10 of them, that's roughly £60 a head. I don't think that's overly expensive tbh. Depends what they ate/drunk. If it was just a main & 2 drinks..yes thats expensive. If there was starters/desserts it all soon adds up. A decent bottle of wine these days in a restaurant can cost from £15 upwards.
When me & my pal have our monthly evening out we can easily pay in the region of £60 each for a main meal, couple bottles wine & couple gins if there's no special deals on.
I'm in the North too, I always find it more expensive again the rare occasion I'm down south.
Wow, I would say it is well over priced especially the service charge. It really does depend what they actually ordered and had to drink, the party was over 8 people by what you said.
Join for free to get genuine deals, money saving advice and help from our friendly community
Chief Bargain Hunter
