Everyone is out to make a quick buck; restaurants are not immune to this affliction. There is
lots of wastage in restaurants, it is not easy to make a profit, so they need all sorts
of tricks in order to succeed. Here are 10 Sneaky Ways Restaurants Try to Save Money.
Smaller Portion Sizes
Sometimes, things are beyond our control. In the restaurant business this is particularly
true as things can be volatile and fickle from one year to the next. It can be the
rise of beef prices or the increase in cost of vegetables from one year to the other.
It can be something like the recall of lettuce due to e-coli contamination or a shortage
of celery. Restaurants must adapt quickly and always find better ways to make a profit.
It’s not always easy, restaurants have to pay higher prices to keep up with the demand,
and wastage is high with profits low. So, they have to resort to some really sneaky
tricks to make money. For example, portion sizes can be decreased at the spur of the
moment, without people noticing. A restaurant can shave an ounce off a burger patty or use
a smaller bun, without questions asked. The same goes for plates--when food prices rise,
restaurants can switch from 12-inch plates to 11-inch plates without anyone noticing.
This doesn’t only happen in fine dining establishments but even your local fast food
counter. When there is a shortage of produce, they may switch to other cheaper alternatives
as well. Restaurants are also notorious for serving big portions upon opening but as time
passes, they downsize portions. Once they have you, they know you will keep coming back.
Unless you really notice you’re being gouged.
The Early Bird Specials
It's not just the plate size that can be an illusion. In Florida, there are many restaurants
that offer early bird specials. An early bird dinner which usually starts at 4 pm is popular
among seniors, as every typical sitcom cliché has shown us. This is usually the lunch specials
leftover from two hours ago. Many people are impressed with the cheap cost and it tends
to draw in big crowds. One restaurant in Florida wanted to give the impression that their early
bird dinner was in high demand, so they instructed staff to park in front of the restaurant to
give the illusion they were busy. People wanted to know what all the fuss was about and began
lining up in droves. As the restaurant filled up, the staff would sneak out and move their
cars to the back of the restaurant. Once you were there, it was too late, they would seat
you at the bar, up-sell drinks, which would increase your tab, which in turn means more
money for the restaurant. Some places would procrastinate and keep you in line waiting
till 6 p.m. It happens pretty often, and in the end you’re paying full price. A couple
in Sarasota, posted a complaint on Yelp that they were scammed. First they had to ask about
the early bird special, and when they got the bill it was enormous. The waitress offered
an excuse that they had changed the prices last month and now only offered a smaller
percentage off for early birds. Turns out it was not really a good deal after all!
Refill Old Condiment Containers
Before you reach for the ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise containers on the table, think
about this. If the Heinz Ketchup bottle looks gunky, it’s because it probably has been
refilled and sitting there for a while. It is common practice in a restaurant that at
the end of every shift the condiment bottles are to be removed from the tables, cleaned,
and replaced. But this doesn’t happen often. Many restaurants are guilty of marrying condiments,
they refill half-full bottles from bulk containers in the kitchen. Gallon sized containers of
ketchup are much cheaper than buying individual smaller-sized bottles. The problem with this
is, that ketchup can start to ferment after a while, and there's also no telling how old
the contents of the bottle are. Those in the industry say that the practice isn't against
health code violations, provided the bottles are completely washed and sanitized before
re-filling. But this rarely happens. It's not just ketchup and mustard, either. Restaurants
might even smooth out a dish of already-served butter to make it look fresh before sending
it back out with the next bread basket. Fast food restaurants do something similar by recovering
packets of condiments that have been left on the tables to save on cost.
Charge Premiums for Add-Ons
Paying extra for anything more on your sandwich, salad, or plate is pretty standard practice
in many restaurants. It’s common to pay extra for a slice of cheese on your cheeseburger,
or extra cheese on pizza. One investigation found out just how much more customers are
really paying for these little extras. Customers usually get charged a buck fifty for extra
cheese; this is close to a 400% markup. This is a fantastic way for a restaurant to pad
a bill and make huge profits, when that slice of cheese would only have cost them a few
cents anyways. Most items like cheese are purchased in bulk. Then again, restaurants
have complained that they lose money every time someone adds extra guacamole to their
burritos, even with the extra charge. It is important to check your bill at the end of
the meal. You’d be amazed at how easily an extra bottle of beer or order of sides
can find its way onto your bill, especially if you are a large group. If something you
didn’t order appears on the bill, make sure to tell your waitstaff. Some staff and dubious
business owners do this to get higher tips or make extra money. Extra premiums for sharing
portions is another practice that earns the restaurant lots of extra money. But the type
of premium that’s the best by far is when restaurants charge clients for not eating
everything on their plate.
Recycling Food
Another sneaky way that restaurants save money is by recycling food. Everything in a restaurant
that can be recycled usually is. Ever wonder what happens to the leftover bread in your
basket that is uneaten? Some restaurant insiders admitted that bread that is not eaten sometimes
returns to the kitchen, gets re-heated, and then served to us.
it's a good recipe for disaster with contamination and people getting sick with food poisoning or the norovirus.
But because bread loses its freshness quickly,
any good chef knows that stale bread is good for a number of things
the next day, like making breadcrumbs. Some restaurants do throw out bread that has been
served to customers, but there is always bread that doesn’t make it out of the kitchen.
Uneaten bread and stale bread are also turned into French toast, crostini with your foie
gras, or croutons for your Caesar salad. Extra meats and fish are recycled and used in casseroles
and non-descript dishes the next day. An example is the delicious beef bourguignon on the lunch
menu and fish and vegetable soups. Rice and vegetables are also recycled. They end up
in a mix of things. So next time you see French toast on the menu, you know the kitchen had
a lot of bread to get rid of.
Breakfast and Lunch Specials
Breakfast is the cheapest service to produce in the restaurant business. Eggs are inexpensive
and the meats served are usually pork items like bacon, ham, and sausages, which are not
costly. Another thing that consumers may not be aware of, is that many restaurants also
repurpose items that were not used during evening service. Aside from the bread, they
also recycle the potatoes to make hash browns, mask them with onions and hollandaise sauce,
and there you go. Breakfast also does not entail big labor costs, and is much faster
and easier to prepare, therefore less staff is needed. Whatever is not used for breakfast
is recycled for the lunch specials. Notice how the daily lunch specials always contain
something served the night before. Maybe spinach makes an appearance in a salad, sautéed as
a side dish, or pureed into a soup. Shrimp might be served up fried or in a mango salsa. Restaurants
might offer the same side dishes with a number of their meals. This is done to try to save
money by simplifying the ordering process and making sure that highly perishable foods
will be used. It's a trick called cross-utilization, and a profitable and smart restaurant will
use it often.
Dumpster Diving
Sounds disgusting, but we don’t mean fishing food out of dumpsters. Garbage can hold many
secrets to how a restaurant is wasting food and overspending. Owners of restaurants will
routinely dig through the trash at their restaurants to see what foods are ending up in the bin.
Both from what's being scraped off diners' plates to what trash is coming out of the
kitchen. If the owner sees lots of fries or too much of an uneaten item, he will tell
the employees and managers to serve smaller portions. He will make adjustments to the
menu and recipes to make it more appealing as well. The dumpster dive also might reveal
if the cooks are being careless with their meal prep by throwing out good food or produce.
For instance, they might be asked to be a little more vigilant or make sure to use all
of the vegetables they're prepping. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. This
will save a restaurant lots of money in food costs, as well as reduce their garbage-hauling
bill. These days many restaurants are also turning to ugly produce, which is much less
expensive because of the lack of demand. Some restaurants promote this and base their menus
on the items available at the market that week.
Alcohol, Cocktails, and Drinks
Alcohol is another way a restaurant makes big profits. One of the ways restaurants save
money is not only by diluting cocktails and colas with lots of ice, but also carefully
pricing wine, beer, and spirits with huge mark-ups. Next time you order a glass or bottle
of wine, do the math. You will be surprised at how much you are paying. Of course, bottles
are usually marked up higher than at your local liquor store. Granted the restaurant
needs to pay for a liquor license, cost of glassware, and staff, but a license can cost
what a restaurant makes in drinks alone in one night. For wines by the glass, there’s
an unwritten rule in the restaurant business: the price of a single glass of wine should
be enough to cover the cost of a whole bottle. The mark-up can be as much as 600%. And for
Cocktails? Mixed drinks cost a fraction to make. Restaurants knowingly serve weak cocktails.
There are lots of ways restaurants save money behind the bar, usually by giving customers
a little less. They create much fanfare with preparation of your drinks, meanwhile shortchanging
you a full shot in the process. Other dishonest bars and restaurants might slightly dilute
the contents of their liquor bottles, or pass off top-shelf liquor with a cheaper version.
Dubious bartenders’ resort to all kinds of tricks to make a fast buck. The liquor
usually is poured at the bottom of the glass, then topped with ice so the first sip you
take with a straw is a strong one, and the rest of the drink weak. You're most likely
not to notice.
Prepared, Ready-Made Foods
Another way restaurants save money is by purchasing prepared or ready-made foods from local distributors.
We all assume that when we dine out, restaurants make everything from scratch, but it’s a
far cry from that. Restaurants have tricks of the trade to save money and make you believe
they are serving you meals made totally in house. You are not only being served frozen
French Fries, but also dinner rolls, croissants, filled pastas, battered fish, and desserts. It
is cheaper for restaurants to order certain prepared foods, including sauces, soup bases,
and salad dressings. Making these from scratch can be time consuming and laborious, not to
mention will require lots of staff. They do not want to waste money hiring staff to sit
in the kitchen all day waiting for a stock pot to simmer. If you've ever been to a wholesaler
restaurant-supply store (like Costco) and have taken a peek inside the freezers, you'll
know that a restaurant can order ready to serve versions of many things. Then all they
have to do is heat them up and serve you. So, if you're looking for an authentic experience,
steer clear of many fast food restaurants and opt for finer dining. It may cost you
more, but then again, you can eat at home.
The old Switch-a-roo Trick
The many ways restaurants save money is by pulling the old Switch-a-roo trick on certain
menu items that are very expensive. This is not limited to just sushi bars who switch
out the yellow fin tuna for a cheaper version, but also some other fine dining establishments
that will say they have run out of an item and replace it with an inferior one at the
same price. Fancy restaurants have been busted for touting rare and exclusive Japanese Kobe
beef on their menu, when it was really a slightly less prestigious type of beef. Sushi bars
are also notorious for switching out the high-end species for less expensive fish. And you’re
still paying for it. Seafood fraud is a big problem, with one in three samples mislabeled.
In some cases, restaurants have been found to be serving a fish called Escolar, which
is known to cause serious digestive issues, instead of the white tuna listed on the menu.
Deadly for some.
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