Why can't I order off the kids' menu?

[Ansar]

Does she look like a hot 18 year old?

Would it really matter? But yes, many people think she's very attractive.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Wow, what an inappropriate question!

Also, yes.

What a totally appropriate question!

 

[Drewcifer]

Indeed, it's really quite simple. They want you to pay more money. Income isn't just about net profits.

That is exactly it, why let someone order the kid's pasta when the cheapest adult entree costs twice as much? The margin might be the same on both but the total profit is higher on the adult food.

It is bad business though. You should give people what they want, that way they come back.

In the restaurant I am chef of I have been playing around with making some of my entrees smaller and lowering the prices a corresponing amount. The results have not been good; a $19 entree with so much food that it is almost falling off the plate seems to be ok with people, reduce the portion and charge $13 for it and they think you are trying to rip them off even though it is fine dining quality (and cheap for that).

 

[candle86]

i have no idea why you couldnt, but i actully usally order to plates at a resturant or go to a buffet when im with my family or alone, but on a date, yea its a single plate of food, and i even take some home so i dont look like a pig.

 

[Drewcifer]

Eating at buffets is a bad idea. Buffets are health spas for bacteria.

 

[candle86]

Eating at buffets is a bad idea. Buffets are health spas for bacteria.

maybe, but i like my food, and i like to eat, so ill eat at a buffet, plus they tend to be cheaper

 

[ShannonCT]

That is exactly it, why let someone order the kid's pasta when the cheapest adult entree costs twice as much? The margin might be the same on both but the total profit is higher on the adult food.

It is bad business though. You should give people what they want, that way they come back.

I imagine it's easier for a busy restaurant to be strict about this policy. When people are lined up waiting to get a table, you want to weed out the low-profit margin customers. Parties with children have got to be bad for profit margin. Kids take up just as much space as adults and their meals are cheaper. And those costs saved by the restaurant in preparing the smaller meal can't be enough to make up for the lower revenue. What's more, I've noticed that parties with kids are slower than parties without.

If someone thinks that they can pressure a restaurant to budge on the 'no kids' items for adults' policy, they might consider that the restaurant might be happy to get rid of them and fill their seat with a higher paying customer.

If I'm going to a restaurant and I'm not feeling very hungry, I just order an appetizer and a beer.

 

[Nylan]

Most American restaurants like to give you way too much food. Even if you don't want to eat three meals in one sitting, you get a stupidly oversized portion that you won't finish. Then, there's this kids menu where the portions are smaller and the meals are cheaper. A kid-sized plate of whatever is usually plenty for me, and I'd rather just get less to begin with than have to take it home. Some places will let you do this, but other places adamantly refuse to serve you off the kids menu. They cite policies that "only guests 12 and under can order off that menu". What difference does it make whether I eat it or a ten-year-old eats it? They're producing the same thing, and charging the same price. But they won't let you get it if you're grown. I can't figure it out. What is the point of this?

Just give it to me! I'll eat it......and the next four people's as well...


It's the same principle for senior menus. If you really hate leftovers THAT much, then ask for a smaller portion.

 

[Drewcifer]

I imagine it's easier for a busy restaurant to be strict about this policy. When people are lined up waiting to get a table, you want to weed out the low-profit margin customers. Parties with children have got to be bad for profit margin. Kids take up just as much space as adults and their meals are cheaper. And those costs saved by the restaurant in preparing the smaller meal can't be enough to make up for the lower revenue. What's more, I've noticed that parties with kids are slower than parties without.

If someone thinks that they can pressure a restaurant to budge on the 'no kids' items for adults' policy, they might consider that the restaurant might be happy to get rid of them and fill their seat with a higher paying customer.

It is still bad business, even for a busy restaurant. Most busy restaurants are still only at full capacity for maybe 20% to 30% of the hours that they are open. While they might lose some money selling food from the kids menu to an adult at 7 pm on a saturday night, making their customers happy means they will be busier in general. That means there will be more people in the seats during the slow times as well. Being busyish during the slow periods really helps a restaurant get the most bang for it's labor dollar. It can make or break a place, you can't count on friday and saturday night alone.

 

[ShannonCT]

It is still bad business, even for a busy restaurant. Most busy restaurants are still only at full capacity for maybe 20% to 30% of the hours that they are open. While they might lose some money selling food from the kids menu to an adult at 7 pm on a saturday night, making their customers happy means they will be busier in general. That means there will be more people in the seats during the slow times as well. Being busyish during the slow periods really helps a restaurant get the most bang for it's labor dollar. It can make or break a place, you can't count on friday and saturday night alone.

I would expect a smart restaurant to allow the adult to purchase from the kids menu during slow periods and be more anal about it during busy periods. It should be easy to train the waitstaff to selectively enforce the poicy.

I guess another interesting aspect of the issue is the incentives of the individual waiter/waitress to allow the adult to order from the kids menu. If the waiter expects a standard 15% tip, he will want to compel the diners to spend as much as possible. But he doesn't want to piss off the diners so much as to receive a lower tip. The waiter can probably get away with letting the adult order from the kids menu without management knowing, so the diner needs to play the tip angle if he or she is looking to get the waiter to bend the rules.

 

[Plexus]

I work at a Macaroni Grill as a server. You can't order off the kid's menu because it drives down the total check amount and the restaurant makes less money off kids meals. Simple as that. It's bad for the restaurant's bottom line and it means that your server will get less tip money.

 

[warpus]

Why? I'd say this is just an inbuilt taboo. There's no reason why adults shouldn't be able to order off the kids' menu.

I say it's discrimination.

Take them to court!

If we are all equal in the legal sense, then anyone should be able to order anything off a menu, no matter what their race, religion, or age!

I have a dream?

 

[Drewcifer]

I work at a Macaroni Grill as a server. You can't order off the kid's menu because it drives down the total check amount and the restaurant makes less money off kids meals. Simple as that. It's bad for the restaurant's bottom line and it means that your server will get less tip money.

I am sure your managers told you this and they probably believe it but chain restaurants tend to have a lot of hacks on their management staff.

The thing is that the restaurant business is a hospitality business and the more hospitable you are to your customers wants the more customers you will have. Regular customers are what keep restaurants in business. Lucy can't find anyone to sell her food off of the kids menu. If you do it she might come to your restaurant every week. Let's say she comes in every week and spends $7 on a kid's pasta and a coke, she usually brings a friend and they spend the average amount a customer spends in your restaurant, we'll say $15. That is $1144 per year. 20% of the time she comes in you are on a wait so you lose $8 ten times a year or $80 per year. That is a net gain of $1064 per year from serving one adult food from the kid's menu and getting a new regular as a result. If you didn't serve her what she wanted that would be an empty table most nights.

I am the head chef of one of the busiest restaurants in Minneapolis. Part of how we got to be that is we have a reputation for being the Nordstroms of everyday restaurants in the sense that we try to accomodate every exasperating pain-in-the-ass special request our customers make. Obviously we draw the line at things that are physically impossible but in general if you want to buy something from us we try to sell it to you. Let's say this tactic gets you 100 new regular customers a year, using the math above that is a bit over $100,000 of revenue growth per year. We do more than double that but you get the idea.

 

[Godwynn]

Ramen noodles are way cheaper than restaurants!

2 packages of Chicken!

 

[Grisu]

Can't you ask for a small-sized portion?

I'd like to know that too In Switzerland, most restaurants will offer you a smaller meal for a slightly smaller price (hence they'll still make money), if you ask for it.

Personally I hate too large meals. It's a psychological thing with me, I think. If I see a huge plate where I'll know I'll never even come close to finish it, it totally kills my appetite, making me eat even less than I would otherwise (yes, I know, I'm strange )

 

[Narz]

My mother can order off the kids menu, but then again she looks like an 18yr old.

Yeah, she's cute.

 

[Brighteye]

I guess another interesting aspect of the issue is the incentives of the individual waiter/waitress to allow the adult to order from the kids menu. If the waiter expects a standard 15% tip, he will want to compel the diners to spend as much as possible. But he doesn't want to piss off the diners so much as to receive a lower tip. The waiter can probably get away with letting the adult order from the kids menu without management knowing, so the diner needs to play the tip angle if he or she is looking to get the waiter to bend the rules.

I knew someone who'd worked at a restaurant like that, where tips formed a large part of the waitresses income. She said that it was more to do with timing. If they looked like a party of cheap students, you served them quickly, because you knew that they wouldn't have pudding or any extras, and then you got rid of them, freeing one of your tables for a more customers.
If they looked rich and interested, you chat to them, recommend dishes and persuade them to have puddings and so on. Then you've raised the price, and therefore the tip; your tip might also be bigger because of the time you've put in with them.
With someone who wants a children's meal you know you're aiming for a quickie. I assume that you might allow it with a large group, but a lone diner simply isn't worth your time. After all, a waiter or waitress isn't that worried about the long-term prospects of a restaurant.

 

[candle86]

give me kids meals or give me death

 

[Mise]

They make more money charging you for food that you don't want. I heard somewhere that Colman's make more money from the mustard you don't eat than the mustard you do eat.

 

[Ansar]

Yeah, she's cute.

How would you know?