T.G.I Fridays now promising UNLIMITED food for only $10

[Arakhor]

Oh, I agree that drinks generally cost far too much at a restaurant, but all-you-can-eat/drink concepts are generally a very bad idea for anyone's bodies actually taking part.

 

[warpus]

Cost effectiveness.

You pay the same price and you fill your own cup. If you fill it twice the refill cuts into the profit margin a barely perceptible amount. To significantly affect profit you would have to have significant numbers of people going for multiple refills, and that doesn't happen.

On the other hand the time-labor savings created by staff not doing the 'one time fill' are substantial over the course of a day. Basically two counter workers in a fast food place with self serve drinks can process as many customers as three in a place without.

The thing is that most fast food restaurants here have a self-serve fountain, but no free refills (as far as I know).

Isn't that more cost effective than allowing free unlimited refills?

 

[Quackers]

Oh, I agree that drinks generally cost far too much at a restaurant, but all-you-can-eat/drink concepts are generally a very bad idea for anyone's bodies actually taking part.

Come on now, do you eat a perfectly healthy diet?

I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of the "grotesque" American food culture over here. We have a culture of "like it or lump it" in the UK. In the States they care about the customer.

 

[Farm Boy]

The Wendy's here used to have 13 cent refills. I found this annoying. I stopped going to Wendy's for years. Now, will occasionally go to one now since there is one close to my sister's house when I go to visit her, and they have one of those mega-mixer peach mellow-yellow or cherry/lime-ginger ale sorts of machines that is fun. That I don't have to pay more than once to use.

 

[Luckymoose]

So 7,700 calories, she ate almost four days worth of food

Only if you're an idle internet users and do no physical work. Real American heroes burn through four to six thousand calories in a day, no problem. You want a gold at the Olympics? Better eat 15k a day.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The thing is that most fast food restaurants here have a self-serve fountain, but no free refills (as far as I know).

Isn't that more cost effective than allowing free unlimited refills?

To the small degree that the beverage isn't free to the shop, yes...but the actual cost of the refill is a fraction of a cent and in truth very few people ever take even one refill, much less 'unlimited'. I mean how long are you willing to sit in a fast food place just to drink free refills? I would guess that the most common usage is getting soda with meal and then 'topping off' on the way out.

On the other hand if the policy is 'no refills' and the fountain is accessible you have the question of enforcement, which goes back to labor costs. Plus you are counting on a minimum wage worker to enforce policy with sufficient diplomacy that customers aren't given a bad impression, which is probably a bad idea.

 

[Goodfella]

The thing is that most fast food restaurants here have a self-serve fountain, but no free refills (as far as I know).

Isn't that more cost effective than allowing free unlimited refills?

Try filling the cup up more than once and see what happens.

 

[Traitorfish]

Oh, I agree that drinks generally cost far too much at a restaurant, but all-you-can-eat/drink concepts are generally a very bad idea for anyone's bodies actually taking part.

That's really besides the point, though, given that some of the restaurants in question are multi-nationals serving more or less the same selection of artery-filler on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

[warpus]

Try filling the cup up more than once and see what happens.

Probably nothing, this is Canada.

"Sorry, you aren't allowed to do that"
"Sorry, I won't do that next time."

 

[Goodfella]

Well, that's a relief. I feared you'd be responding from a prison cell. But how do know it's against the rules exactly?

 

[bhsup]

The Wendy's here used to have 13 cent refills. I found this annoying. I stopped going to Wendy's for years. Now, will occasionally go to one now since there is one close to my sister's house when I go to visit her, and they have one of those mega-mixer peach mellow-yellow or cherry/lime-ginger ale sorts of machines that is fun. That I don't have to pay more than once to use.

You know what I miss about Wendy's? The SuperBar. I don't think any have had any since the early/mid 90s at the latest, but they rocked. Basically an all you can eat buffet for IIRC $4.99. mmm... mass produced fast food pudding... mmm...


Link to video.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Probably nothing, this is Canada.

"Sorry, you aren't allowed to do that"
"Sorry, I won't do that next time."

That's why a no refill policy works in Canada. In the US that would be a minimum wage worker who is abused by approximately one customer in twenty and responds with a smile so he can keep his minimum wage job. Presented with the opportunity to enforce policy he will most likely approach the situation as some sort of cross between Dirty Harry and Rambo. You'd be lucky to get out alive.

 

[Farm Boy]

Are people really that miserable to cashiers outside the polite belt of the Midwest? I usually aim for a lower spittle quotient in my food.

 

[BvBPL]

That's really besides the point, though, given that some of the restaurants in question are multi-nationals serving more or less the same selection of artery-filler on both sides of the Atlantic.

It ain't necessarily so.

Heck, it ain't necessarily the case in North America.

I am such a poutine fanatic that, yes, I probably would try McDonald's poutine even though I know I would immeditely regret it.

 

[Farm Boy]

McDonald's puts together a surprisingly good salad. It also brews good coffee. The menu is much broader in terms of quality and selection these days. Plus, the ones around here put the calories for everything right on the menu next to the price.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Are people really that miserable to cashiers outside the polite belt of the Midwest? I usually aim for a lower spittle quotient in my food.

As an odd part of my odd lifestyle, I actually do sit in a Taco Bell for extended periods sipping soda on a somewhat regular basis. Yes, people treat the workers like lower life forms on a regular basis, about one in twenty, regular as clockwork. I suspect if you take the time to find out you will be surprised to find the 'polite belt' isn't all that much different.

By the way, I think the spittle content is generally controlled by the fact that most of the real jerks wait until their food is in hand to let loose.

 

[Farm Boy]

I have mandatory unpaid lunch for my day job and a close Taco Bell. Spent more time in there and McDonalds than I'd like to admit. The "rudes" are usually transplanted students at NIU. But not always. Service counters at Wallmart get it significantly worse.

 

[cybrxkhan]

It'll vary from person to person, I'd say. At the local Taco Bell near my house, cashiers have ranged greatly, from the young constantly smiling Miss Sunshine (which, now that I think about it, kind of unnerves me), to the chill dude, to the quiet and possibly bitter middle aged woman, to more. Since they're supposed to put a look of politeness and professionalism I wouldn't really know whether they're actually happy to serve me or wishing I'd just scram. My cousin, who worked at Costco for a while, told me a lot of stories about how he had to keep a bit fake smile plastered on himself when all he wanted to do was scream at X person.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I have mandatory unpaid lunch for my day job and a close Taco Bell. Spent more time in there and McDonalds than I'd like to admit. The "rudes" are usually transplanted students at NIU. But not always. Service counters at Wallmart get it significantly worse.

Take a count. Maybe you see one during your lunch, maybe you don't notice one, maybe like most people if you see one you think it's an anomaly that you just happened to be there for the only one of the day. But if you make a project of it I suspect you will come somewhere close to that one in twenty number, and it does project out over the entire day evenly as far as I can tell.

Even if the offenders are all imported students it's still a number. Wherever they come from eating <----> from customers on a regular basis isn't easy, and always strikes me as being worth more than minimum wage. And if your observational data adds up similar to mine you will recognize that those Taco Bell workers can pretty much count on having to take it at least once or twice every shift if they work the counter, and watch their coworkers take it as well. Since I really don't have it in me to not meet rudeness with rudeness I couldn't do the job myself.

 

[Farm Boy]

I rarely see people go snippy or hostile with cashiers at fast food places. It's uncommon enough they're sort of WTH moments. It's an especially bad idea when your food isn't prepared directly in sight like at Subway. Almost never at gas stations either. It's different at Wallmart or Shnuks. Part of that is people dealing with returns, part of it is the demographic that's trying to squeeze through shopping in the evening and is probably used to yelling at/correcting small children and they sometimes seem to treat everyone they encounter like they're a misbehaving 6 year old. Then again, I'm not in Chicago/Rockford/Naperville/Peoria/St. Louis. That might change things.