On Monday, September 25, 2017 at 6:20:23 PM UTC-4, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2017-09-25 2:48 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
> >> So why not ask for a spare plate, divvy it up?
> >
> > A few times I've seen where they charge for sharing.Â* Usually a small
> > charge, like $3 or so, but I guess they figure they have to turn $XX
> > from each table each hour to make a profit.
> >
> > https://www.thestar.com/life/2016/04...-speaking.html
>
> For some reason I still subscribe to that newspaper, but I have been
> tempted to cancel for some time. It certainly isn't the first time that
> I have disagreed with that ethics columnists. They can spare us the sob
> story about paying for the restaurant experience when they have ruined
> that by gouging customers for an extra plate. There is minimal extra
> cost to providing a second plate. The extra work of carrying a second
> plate, putting it in the dishwasher and stacking it...... pennies... to
> small to charge for, smaller than the cost of providing a glass of water.

It's not about the plate. There are fixed costs for every table, which
they have to recover or they will go out of business.

> They like to point out the dollars and cents and percentages of various
> aspects of the goods and services provided, but their menu prices are
> all over the place. They may not make as much as they want one entree
> as they would on two, but they probably make up for it on the high mark
> up extras like soft drinks and coffee.

Menu prices are pretty much "what they think people will pay for something"..
Look at breakfast. A $15 dollar breakfast is a lot, but the cost to the
restaurant of providing breakfast is similar to other meals. So they
charge $8 and figure people will come in for other meals, since they
like the breakfast.

Cindy Hamilton